November 2021 - 9

PLANT & SOIL HEALTH
BioConsortia bids to make a mark on industry
By Gary Pullano
Editor
The Mosaic Co. and BioConsortia
Inc. drew industry attention nearly
a year ago when the companies
announced a $9 billion collaboration
to develop and launch nitrogen-fixing
microbial products for corn, wheat and
other major non-legume row crops.
Through a process called " biological
nitrogen fixation, " beneficial
plant-associated microbes are able
to naturally produce nitrogen (N)
in forms that are desired by plants,
thereby reducing the reliance on
synthetic inputs of nitrogen.
Beyond this efficient fertilizer
development, BioConsortia has two
new microbial biofungicides and
two new microbial biostimulants,
discovered using its Advanced
Microbial Selection approach, which
have been under evaluation at the EPA
for about two years and could receive
approvals at any time.
Earlier this year, BioConsortia
announced an expansion of its R&D
laboratories and team with a new,
state-of-the-art facility in Davis,
California.
Marcus Meadows-Smith, CEO of
BioConsortia
Inc., is the
former CEO of
AgraQuest and
former head
of biologics
for Bayer
CropScience.
He recently
discussed
BioConsortia's
ascension in the
BioConsortia Inc. has relocated to new, larger R&D facilities with expanded gene-editing staff. Photos: BioConsortia Inc.
of phosphorus and potassium
solubilization microbial products
that could be combined with Mosaic's
existing range of potash and phosphate
fertilizers.
" We are excited to partner with
Mosaic, a proven leader in agriculture, "
Meadows-Smith said. " We believe
their established expertise and market
access in the field of fertilizers and
crop nutrition is the perfect route to
market for ground breaking nitrogenfixing
microbial products.
All about research
" We have a revolutionary R&D
MARCUS
MEADOWS-SMITH
biologicals sector.
" We are now in field trials, initially
on corn and wheat, but these trials later
this year will go on to high value fruit
and vegetable crops, " Meadows-Smith
told Vegetable Growers News (VGN).
" Our deal with Mosaic is actually for
the row crop business. We will be
looking for other partners for fruit and
vegetable, turf and ornamental, and
garden. It's a very exciting time for us. "
Mosaic and BioConsortia are
collaborating to develop beneficial
microbial products designed to reduce
the amount of conventional nitrogen
fertilizer application, while increasing
crop yields and grower revenue.
BioConsortia has already discovered
naturally occurring spore-forming
microbes capable of fixing atmospheric
nitrogen. With strain improvement and
gene editing technologies, the company
is developing natural and improved
strain microbial products that will
increase crop yields while maintaining
or reducing N fertilizer inputs.
In addition to nitrogen-fixing
products, Mosaic will also have
access to BioConsortia's pipeline
platform - a very remarkable approach
to microbial discovery, " Meadows-Smith
told VGN. " Our first approach is to
operate more like plant breeders and
actually grow thousands of seeds and
seedlings on different soils with thick
microbiomes in order to evolve the
microbiomes. That's how the company
started about seven years ago.
" We've added a powerful toolbox
where we've added things like
fluorescent tagging of our microbes as
a production tool, and added genetic
microbiome analysis. We've even
added gene editing in more recent
years, " he said. " Our first products will
all be natural microbes that are now
in the registration phase. We are not
genetically modified. We aren't taking
one gene organism and putting it into
another. We are unleashing the natural
power of the microbe. "
Meadows-Smith said BioConsortia
has " discovered a number of
microbes. The remarkable thing
about our pipeline is that it's getting
products with very high efficacy and
consistency. The other remarkable
thing is we are not just discovering
one that happened by chance; we're
discovering multiple products that are
very close to the chemical standard
and are much better than the leading
biological product on the market
today. "
BioConsortia conducts root
colonization robustness tests. When
the team goes into the greenhouse,
they test a wide range of crops,
different soils and conditions. Once
they have a product that's going to
work, they then determine what
the mode of action is and what
metabolites it is producing to deliver
this beneficial effect.
" A lot of complaints that growers
have about microbes is that sometimes
they work, and sometimes they don't.
We make sure we have a microbe that
pollinizes in all soils, all temperatures
and all pHs. If you don't colonize, it's not
going to work, " said Meadows-Smith.
Data on two fungicides in the
registration phase show " if you compare
that to the leading biofungicide today,
the big advantage here is we have higher
efficacy, higher consistency and it also
leads to a lower cost of goods. So there
are benefits all around by having these
more efficacious microbes. "
" The base products are looking very
similar to Serenade in its finished
product, " Meadows-Smith said.
" But after we do the fermentation
improvement, we are actually able
to show an improvement in disease
control. After we formulate it, we get
an even better performance of the
product. We will have a new wave
of products with higher efficacy and
consistency. "
The company has several
nematicides coming that look very
similar to the leading biologicals and
the leading chemicals. The same for
biostimulants, showing a 15% yield
increase, which, Meadows-Smith said,
is a very robust pollinizer and highly
consistent across a wide range of fruit
and vegetables.
Postharvest addressed
The company has developed
microbial products that are now good
enough for application in other crops.
" We've got a microbial product that has
enough efficacy to even protect soft berries
postharvest, " Meadows-Smith said.
" There isn't a biological today in
the postharvest market, " he said.
" Just after harvesting, the fruit and
vegetables are treated today with
chemicals if they're conventional
crops. If they're organic crops, then
they're untreated. If you take organic
and conventional strawberries home
from the store on the same day, you'll
see that the organic strawberries - if
you leave them out of the refrigerator
- will start to go moldy within 2-3
days. The conventional strawberry
won't. The scary thing about the
conventionals is you leave it on the
window sill for two months and it still
doesn't go moldy. "
BioConsortia is looking to bring
forward a natural product that
can be used effectively for both
conventional and organic fruit, and
this natural microbe would provide
this protection. The company has
seen similar efficacy on apples and
oranges.
" With 45 scientists, including 15
Ph.D.s, we're spending about $10
million a year on microbial R&D,
which puts us in a category of a very
high spender for R&D and investment
in R&D. There are other companies
out there spending $10 million a year,
but they've probably got a sales and
marketing team and that's the bulk of
their spending.
" We are not planning on going
direct to market ourselves. Our
partners are going to be sort of sales
and marketing companies, " MeadowsSmith
said. " Mosaic is obviously a tier
one fertilizer company. When we talk
about our pesticide products, we will
be looking for tier one. We will also
be looking at the tier twos who have
very highly sophisticated sales teams
that also would be great partners for
us in certain crops and segments of
the market. There are a small number
of distributors who also have the
ability to market products. Growers
will not be buying directly from us,
but rather from our partner. " VGN
VGN | NOVEMBER 2021 | 9

November 2021

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