BioConsortia, Inc., a leader in agricultural technology specializing in advanced microbial solutions to enhance crop productivity and reduce agriculture’s ecological impact, has announced a commercial agreement with New Zealand-based H&T (Hodder and Taylors Ltd). H&T, known for improving crop and forage systems on New Zealand farms, will introduce BioConsortia's FixiN 33 microbial seed treatment during the 2024/2025 season. This innovative seed coating will be available for corn, brassicas, and cereals, helping growers optimize nitrogen fertilizer use while reducing runoff and environmental impact.

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New Nitrogen-fixing seed treatment extends shelf-life to 2+ years in package/warehouse, plus additional years life on seed, increases yield with reduced fertilizer on multiple crops, and comes in easy-to-use product formats. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Since 2023, BioConsortia and H&T have conducted successful field trials in New Zealand, demonstrating nitrogen-replacement results consistent with earlier trials conducted since 2021 in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and Europe. Paul Oliver, H&T Managing Director, stated, “This technology highlights an opportunity to reduce nitrogen fertilizer usage in New Zealand, delivering both economic and environmental benefits while maintaining crop yields.”

Marcus Meadows-Smith, CEO of BioConsortia, added, “Our proprietary microbes effectively colonize crop roots, ensuring there is always nitrogen available to influence crop yield. These microbes remain active in the root zone throughout the growing season, converting atmospheric nitrogen into plant-accessible forms even after synthetic fertilizers dissipate.”

Setting a New Standard for Shelf Stability and Seed Life

BioConsortia's nitrogen-fixing seed treatments boast a shelf life exceeding two years and maintain on-seed stability for an additional two years—far surpassing industry norms.

“Our use of Gram-positive microbes, known for their inherent stability and reliability as root colonizers, underpins this breakthrough,” explained Dr. Hong Zhu, Senior VP of R&D at BioConsortia. “Through our proprietary R&D platform, we’ve unlocked the nitrogen-fixing potential of these microbes, creating ideal candidates for seed treatment products.”

Revolutionary Microbial Discovery Engine

BioConsortia’s flexible microbe discovery platform played a pivotal role in this innovation. Given New Zealand’s regulatory restrictions on gene-edited organisms, BioConsortia identified wildtype microbes from its extensive library that naturally fix nitrogen. These microbes, with intrinsic genetic traits enabling nitrogen fixation, deliver reliable yield performance.

A Game-Changing Innovation in Agriculture

Combining cutting-edge discovery and advanced gene-editing capabilities, BioConsortia’s platform represents a breakthrough in microbial seed and fertilizer treatments. “Our seed-applied products offer unmatched ease of use for growers, ensuring strong yields without relying on increased synthetic nitrogen,” said Meadows-Smith.

The collaboration between BioConsortia and H&T marks a significant step forward in sustainable agriculture, providing New Zealand farmers with tools to achieve higher productivity and reduced environmental impact.

ABOUT BIOCONSORTIA

BioConsortia, Inc. develops transformative microbial products in agriculture, pioneering the use of directed selection and advanced genomics techniques within microbial communities. BioConsortia’s microbial products deliver superior efficacy, higher consistency, and easier grower adoption because of their focus on microbes that deliver extended shelf- and on-seed life. The company’s rich biological pipeline includes nitrogen fixation microbes to replace or reduce synthetic nitrogen fertilizers; nutrient use efficiency and biostimulants to increase crop yields; and bionematicides and biofungicides to protect crops from pests and diseases. BioConsortia’s patented Advanced Microbial Selection (AMS) process and cutting-edge GenePro platform enable the company to predict, design, and unleash the natural power of microbes.

For further information, please contact info@bioconsortia.com.

ABOUT H&T

H&T is a New Zealand seed company that specialises in developing new seed technologies to improve productive and environmental outcomes. H&T supplies seed and crop management solutions to farmers with a focus on pasture, forage, maize and arable crops. H&T’s agronomists are dedicated to working with farmers to improve the profitability of animal production systems while reducing emissions and nutrient loss. H&T has successfully developed seed treatments such as Optimised® and Rappel® to improve crop yield and nutrient efficiency as well as providing patented crop establishment methods in the presence of pests.

For further information, please contact info@hnt.co.nz

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