The agricultural sector has in recent years come under increased pressure to decarbonise. Respective governments are looking at targets that they have signed up to that by 2050 their economies will produce net-zero CO2 emissions and considering how to implement them. This is a challenge for all sectors of the economy but it is particularly acute for the farming sector. It raises important questions, how do you simultaneously reduce carbon emissions while maintaining food security? Advances in technology have been purported by some as having the potential to answer this complex question. The AgTech (Agricultural Technology) sector has been growing in recent years and has made some interesting advancements.
One Irish company, CropBiome, is developing environmentally friendly ways to cut fertiliser use in arable farming. The business is a spin-out from a joint venture between researchers at University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. The concept that they have created relies on naturally occurring microorganisms. These organisms are used to treat seeds and create and seed dressings. This results in healthier crops and less chemical fertiliser use. Trials carried out by the company on mass-produced crops have shown an increase in yields in both field and greenhouse trials. The trials also showed that the plants became more resistant to harsh conditions such as drought. The organisms used for the coating, known as endophytes, come from the wild relatives of crops growing in the natural environment.
The company recently secured investment of €1.3 million from a number of investors including HBAN. The Halo Business Angel Network is an Irish joint initiative of Enterprise Ireland, InterTradeIreland and Invest Northern Ireland. The funding will help the NovaUCD based company to expand their team from eight to twelve. The new roles will include scientists and personnel tasked with bringing the business forward. The company hopes that with a growing team that they will be able to carry out larger trials with major seed distributors around Europe to bring the product to market by mid 2025.
In February this year, the company was recognised at the Trinity Innovation Awards. The awards are given out to campus businesses that have invented innovative products across a range of different sectors. In a press release, Sean Daly, the CEO of CropBiome, said that “Pressure is mounting on food producers across the world to move to a more sustainable food model,” and that “A key aim of the EU Farm to Fork Strategy is to reduce chemical use in agriculture – including fertilisers, fungicides, pesticides. It also targets the reduction of nutrient losses by at least 50%, while ensuring that there is no deterioration in soil fertility. The European Commission has indicated that a reduction in fertiliser use of at least 20% by 2030 will be needed to achieve these targets across the EU.”
