BASF and AgBiome sign an agreement to bring a new biological fungicide to the European market and in key countries in the Middle East and Africa. Developed by AgBiome and marketed under the Howler brand in the US, this biological fungicide with multiple modes of action has a long-lasting preventive function on a wide range of soil and foliar diseases. BASF will contribute to the other phases of its development and registration and will be the exclusive distributor for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. After obtaining registration, the first launches are expected to be from 2024/2025.

“Thanks to this collaboration, we are going to expand our portfolio of biological solutions, especially in Europe,” says Marco Moorfeld, Market Manager in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. "We are convinced that the complementarity between traditional crop protection products and biological solutions is what marks the path towards sustainable agriculture and that collaborations with other partners in our sector are key to introducing more innovations to the market. ”.

“The addition of Howler to our catalog confirms BASF's firm commitment to bring a new, more sustainable production model to the market and to provide our farmers with tools for balanced protection, which is what the market demands. Serifel, the first biological fungicide developed by BASF, with its more than successful entry into the biological solutions market last year, has represented a key milestone for the company, opening the way to other solutions such as Howler. Serifel has been successfully launched in Spain in 2020 ”, adds Jose Ferre, Head of horticultural crops at BASF in Spain.

The new biological fungicide Howler is effective against Pythium, Fusarium, Rhizoctonia and Botrytis, as well as acting against many other diseases, and is based on the strain AFS009 of the bacterium Pseudomonas chlororaphis. The fungicide can be used in horticultural crops, ornamental plants and will also have applications in lawns, such as golf courses. It can be applied at any stage of plant growth, from the greenhouse to pre-planting and harvesting.

All of this makes this fungicide a very valuable addition to traditional crop protection products within an integrated pest management program. "AgBiome is very pleased to be collaborating with BASF to develop its newest and most effective biofungicide in Europe and other countries in the Middle East and Africa," said Toni Bucci, Head of Operations at AgBiome. "With BASF we share the goal of offering sustainable solutions for crop protection, as we increasingly see great growth potential for organic products in Europe," adds Bucci.

With a rapidly growing and constantly growing world population, the planet is increasingly dependent on our ability to do agriculture sustainably and preserve the environment. BASF's Agricultural Solutions Division works with farmers, agricultural professionals, pest control experts and others to make this happen. For this reason BASF invests heavily in R&D and a broad product portfolio, which includes seeds, chemical and biological crop protection, soil management, plant health, pest control and digital solutions for agriculture. Thanks to highly professional teams working in the laboratory, in the field, in the offices and in production, BASF is able to unite innovative concepts with concrete actions to shape ideas that have real application and success - for farmers, society and the planet. In 2020, BASF's Agricultural Solutions Division generated a turnover of 7.7 billion euros.

AgBiome collaborates with the world of microbes to make our planet a better place. AgBiome researches and develops innovative biological products and traits for crop protection. Its own GENESIS research platform captures different and special microbes for important applications in agriculture and selects them through the best tests in the industry for the control of insects, diseases and nematodes. Through its commercial subsidiaries, AgBiome develops and sells its own solutions for crop protection. Among them the first is Howler, a revolutionary fungicide for the control of diseases present in many crops. AgBiome Innovations International is a subsidiary of AgBiome aimed at commercializing the AgBiome portfolio internationally, being present directly outside the US and Canada or through collaborations with other leaders in the sector in these countries.