CORNPROTECT SIGNED

Project "CORNPROTECT" data sheet

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 Partnership

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Map

 Project objective

The Western Corn Rootworm (WCR) is a pest that has turned into a major threat to Europe’s corn production. WCR has spread to most of South East and Central Europe, affecting now 7 million hectares (37% of the European corn cultivation). With an average yield/hectare of €1,800 and damage potential between 20 and 80%, possible yield losses amount to €2,52-10,08 billion. After the ban of the highly toxic neonicotinoids within the EU, there is currently no effective protection against the WCR. Due to a lack of other solutions, today some unspecific chemical pesticides are marketed and used against the WCR with very limited effectiveness. To make it worse, these products are toxic and harmful for the environment and for beneficial insects (like bees). LITHOS has developed and patented CORNPROTECT, a biological and highly effective solution for protecting corn against WCR. It works target specific due to the release of the specific pheromone of the WCR. As a natural solution it is absolutely non-toxic and harmless for all other organisms and the environment. The specific combination of the pheromone and a highly porous mineral (zeolite) as a carrier allows a slow release of the pheromone and mating disruption over the active period of WCR adults. It’s also easy to use and affordable (costs to farmers are € 50/hectar, similar to conventional solutions). CORNPROTECT can be used in conventional and organic farming. The main objective for LITHOS in this phase 2 project is to bridge the remaining gap to commercial deployment by optimizing the current formulation, registering CORNPROTECT as EU plant protection product, scaling up existing production, and validating the product in the EU market.