Lavie Bio, based in Rehovot, Israel, focuses primarily on developing biological solutions for combating pest insects in crops. Syngenta, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is a major player in crop protection and seed technology.
The collaboration enables both companies to expand their product portfolios with bio-insecticides, especially as objections to the use of chemical agents and pesticides in agriculture and food production have increased in recent years.
The goal of the partnership is to develop new bio-insecticides that are effective against harmful insect pests, while also being safe for the environment, sparing beneficial insects, and complying with increasingly stringent environmental standards regarding food safety.
The collaboration between Lavie Bio and Syngenta comes at a time when demand for biological crop protection agents is rapidly growing. Consumers and regulatory bodies worldwide show an increasing preference for sustainable agricultural practices and reducing the use of chemical pesticides.
In the European Union, plans have been presented to halve the use of synthetic fertilizers in agriculture, and eventually to ban the use of chemical pesticides. Although there is not yet consensus among the 27 EU countries and political groups in the European Parliament on this, there is increasing pressure to allow environmentally and climate-friendly (‘natural, green’) agents.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), insects represent a major global challenge for plants and crops. The damage caused is estimated to cost the global economy 70 billion dollars annually. Experts predict these losses will worsen as global warming expands insect distribution and increases resistance to currently available insecticides.
For these reasons, the collaboration between Lavie Bio and Syngenta is being closely watched by stakeholders in the agricultural sector and is seen as a new development paving the way for sustainable crop protection.