(Bloomberg) -- Agricultural-sciences giant FMC Corp. will purchase pheromone pioneer BioPhero ApS for about $200 million as part of the buyer’s expansion into sustainable pest control.
The move comes as the agribusiness industry searches for alternatives to chemical pesticides and manmade fertilizers, with farmers increasingly under pressure to adopt environmentally friendly practices. Pests and crop diseases also are growing more resistant to synthetic chemicals. BioPhero has developed a way to produce pheromones for insect control through yeast fermentation that it says makes it cheaper to produce at commercial scale.
“This is a perfect way to help biodiversity, help lower the total use of chemicals,” FMC Chief Executive Officer Mark Douglas said during an interview. “All those things are top of mind to people. And I think as we really get ramped up in this area we will be able to convince growers, through our own trial work, that these products really do work and work well.”
Pheromones are used in pest control to disrupt mating. Today, pheromones are used on vegetables and are expensive to produce synthetically. But BioPhero’s technology can lower the costs, Douglas said. FMC, which began investing in the company through its venture-capital arm in 2021, hopes to bring the technology to multi billion-dollar row crops like soybeans and corn, he said.
`It’s very insect specific, so you maintain the ecosystem.’ — FMC plant-health director Bénédicte Flambard
Bénédicte Flambard, global director of FMC Plant Health, expects to bring around five products to market between 2024 and 2027 as it scales up and accelerates production. The first product launch will target the cotton bollworm, which threatens cotton, soybeans and corn. The products will be sprayable using equipment farmers already own, she said.
“It’s very insect specific, so you maintain the ecosystem,” Flambard said. It also doesn’t impact any “beneficial insect,” she said. “It does not have a negative impact, so you have a very strong sustainability profile.”
FMC will continue to expand its plant-health business and the company will announce more deals around technology and market-access in plant health, Douglas said.
“We see a much greater value as we go over the next decade with this technology,” Douglas said.
Denmark-based BioPhero was founded in 2016 at the Technology University of Denmark and began operations in 2018. FMC expects to complete the acquisition by the end of the third quarter.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
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