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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MICROREAL (Microbial Remediation of Agricultural Land)

Teaser

Summary

EU INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIETAL PROBLEMS:
The abusive use of pesticides in modern agriculture has extremely toxic side-effects on the environment, the living organisms, the human health and the soil fertility. Among others:
Pesticides accumulate in the soil and reduce soil biodiversity and land fertility: only 3-5% of the pesticides reach their targets and the rest 95-97% accumulates in the soil or is carried away to further locations.
Pesticides can affect non-target organisms and destroy natural predators. If this occurs, a secondary pest will appear, producing important crop losses and the need for new pesticides.
Excessive use of pesticides has resulted in pesticide resistance development in insects, plant pathogens and weeds. In US, an average of 10% crop losses are due to pesticide resistance resulting in $1.4 bn in economic losses every year.
Instead of protecting crops sometimes pesticides damage them. This occurs, for instance, when pesticides drift onto nearby crops (by runoff or wind) and damage them, producing important crop losses.
Farmers and agricultural workers directly in contact with pesticides are at greatest risk to suffer health conditions, e.g. acute pesticide poisoning affects nearly 1 in every 5,000 agricultural workers.

OUR SOLUTION:
MICROREAL is a first-in-class biostimulant that sustainably boosts agricultural sector productivity while limiting the negative effects of pesticides on agricultural land. It is a unique formulation of 3 natural, non-genetically modified soil microorganisms with fertilization and conditioning capacities. MICROREAL can:
Bioremediate 14 pesticides, including organophosphates.
Inrease crop yield by i) enhancing root and canopy development; ii) enhancing flowering of the plant; iii) boosting shoot growth via triggering nucleic acid and protein synthesis; iv) Improving seed and fruit development; v) maintaining the pH balance of the soil and increasing chelation rate, vi) enhancing development of hairy-roots and increasing the efficiency of fertilizers.
Trigger induced systemic resistance (ISR) and compete with other microorganism for nutrients, thus enhancing the plants immune system and giving a reduced risk of pathogenic attack.
Restore the health and fertility of agricultural land, making plants more tolerant to the abiotic stress factors and improving the soil condition and its biodiversity.
Enhance plant immune system and reduce the risk of pathogenic attack by competing with other microorganism for nutrients.
Suppress pathogenic fungal growth, by releasing siderephores that sequester iron away from fungi.
Be applied in situ, not requiring any expenditure other than the product cost;
Secure a microbe friendly environment for beneficial microorganisms in the rhizosphere.
Provide a 100% biodegradable, organic and safe solution to users or consumers of treated crops.

Work performed

Our key objective for this Feasibility Study was to verify technical, commercial and financial viability of our product. Therefore, we conducted the following activities:
1. Technical feasibility: We have confirmed that MICROREAL can degrade most widely used pesticides and can boost yield production by 25% in diverse crops. We have drafted a plan to fine-tune product formulation and validate the final prototype in large-scale field trials. We have also studied EU regulatory pathway to register our product as a microbial biostimulant.
2. Commercial feasibility: We have carried out a full market study by revising target regions, market trends, customer segments, commercialization channels and competitorsâ€™ landscape. We have selected the best business model for MICROREAL with a mix commercial plan of direct (to farmers) and indirect (to distributors) sales. We have already engaged multiple customers interested in acquiring MICROREAL once the product is ready.
3. Financial feasibility: We have revised the investment required to complete development of MICROREAL and launch it at the market. We have updated our cost and pricing strategy and prepared a financial forecast to demonstrate the profitability of our product. Finally, we have finalised a business plan including targeted market segments/countries, risk assessment & mitigation plan, communication plan, budgeting & economic forecasting.

Final results

Our key objective for this Phase 1 Feasibility Study was to verify the technical, practical and economic viability of MICROREAL for the markets in which we want to launch our product. More specifically, we aimed at verifying that our solution challenges the current status quo on the market and provides a superior performance in soil fertilization and remediation capacities, while decreasing the use of toxic pesticides by 50% and promoting extra revenues for farmers of â‚¬11,000 every year. Therefore, we conducted the following activities:
1. Detailed product development plan with technology maturation activities and full large-scale piloting/validation to elevate our product to TRL8 and prepare it for commercial deployment;
2. Documentation detailing the legal frameworks and regulatory approach for MICROREAL approval as a biofertilizer and biostimulant;
3. Comprehensive report on the market, competitor landscape and commercialisation plan;
4. Elaborated business plan, including full cost breakdown;
5. Establish final requirements for undertaking maturation and large-scale demonstrations under real operating conditions to be implemented in the envisaged Phase 2 project.
With the goal of confirming MICROREAL commercial viability and finding early adopters, we met with major potential partners for large scale piloting for the phase2 project, as well as potential customers in the greenhouse market such as Agriges, Novagro and Pavoni & spa in Italy, Aspe AgrobiolÃ³gico, Artal Agronutrientes and Sustainable Agro Solutions in Spain, Jost Group, Tribodyn AG and Tilco-Alginure in Denmark, Fertiplus, Agritel and Amaltis in France and FMC in Greece. During these meetings we introduced them the superior performance of MICROREAL and how it improves the results of soil remediation, plant health and growth compared to any SoA solution.