Iktos, a French company specialized in artificial intelligence (AI) for new drug design, and Bayer’s Crop Science division announced a collaboration to expand the use of AI in the discovery and development of new sustainable crop protection products.
Bayer’ Crop Science division plans to invest €220 million in a new research and development (R&D) facility at its Monheim, Germany site. This is the company’s largest single investment in its crop protection business in Germany since the founding of the Monheim campus in 1979, Bayer said.
Syngenta Crop Protection has bought Macspred Australia, a specialist in weed management for the forestry, roads, rail, utilities and infrastructure sectors.
US agricultural chemicals and seeds group Corteva has agreed to buy Stoller Group, a compatriot producer of biostimulants and plant nutrition products, for $1.2 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2023.
US biotech AgBiome and Italy’s Lamberti are collaborating to develop biological crop protection solutions. AgBiome has expertise in discovering and commercializing new biological active ingredients for agriculture, while Lamberti supplies formulation technology and specialized chemistry.
Danish biotech Novozymes has announced a collaboration with US agricultural sciences group FMC to research, develop and commercialize biological enzyme-based crop protection solutions. The move is part of Novozymes’ entry into the biocontrol segment, using its new enzyme-based technology.
