Replacing chemical fungicides with innovative, cost-effective plant-based solutions, to cut food waste and carbon emissions and enhance food security

Globally, over 45% of fruit and vegetables are lost in the supply chain each year. The economic and environmental cost of this avoidable food loss is high.

Producers, distributors and retailers report annual losses of €30 bn because of food waste caused by moulds, a subset of fungi, and this food waste ends up in landfill where it generates greenhouse gases.

Conventional control of fungal infestation relies on synthetic fungicides, linked to declines in insect populations and increasingly subject to restrictions. There is an unmet need for efficient, natural alternatives.

AgroSustain has identified and patented over 60 antifungal plant-derived compounds, to develop a portfolio of highly efficient, cost-effective, natural fungicides.

In this project, we will commercialize our product, AgroStore, which has unprecedented fungitoxic efficacy against a broad spectrum of moulds.

Our solution provides similar crop protection in the pre-harvest phase to the currently available synthetic fungicides and extends the shelf life of fresh produce post-harvest, by a minimum of 7 days and up to 4 months.

This will allow food producers, retailers and distributors using AgroStore to greatly reduce their food loss costs and improve food quality for consumers. By reducing food waste, AgroSustain also cuts the associated carbon emissions in landfill.

Studies have demonstrated that our product has no adverse effects on insect life, soil or water.Following the successful outcome of our Phase 1 H2020 project, this EIC Accelerator project aims to complete the development of the marketable version of AgroStore, secure toxicity certifications, regulatory approval and product registration.

We will conduct extensive pilot trials with producers, large retailers, distributors and branded fruit companies, paving the way to full market entry in 2023. This will enable us to become a leading supplier of innovative, sustainable and nature-inspired fungicides.