The ecosystem of sustainable agriculture takes a step forward with the creation of Biological Solutions for Sustainable Agriculture, a joint research unit launched by Tradecorp, now a company under Rovensa Next umbrella, specialized in crop biostimulation and sustainable nutrition that now becomes an aggregated company under Rovensa Next, in collaboration with the Centre for Plant Biotechnology and Genomics (CBGP), a joint center between the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) and the National Institute of Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA/CSIC). CBGP is a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence. The goal of this initiative is to develop global bio-based products and solutions for a more sustainable agriculture.
The alliance will work as an innovation accelerator, expanding the ecosystem of action in the field of biostimulants, promoting research, generating knowledge and developing product solutions.
In this context, the Biological Solutions for Sustainable Agriculture research unit aims to offer solutions to the challenges established in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is aligned with the European strategy Farm to Fork which aims to achieve most of the objectives defined in the European Green Deal. These pillars «constitute the European drivers for this new sustainability strategy, which is an opportunity for the CBGP and Tradecorp to respond and contribute to achieving these ambitious objectives», says Antonio Molina, Director of the CBGP (UPM, INIA/CSIC).
For the CBGP, the alliance «represents a boost in the development of new technologies and products that derive from the excellent R&D activity of the CBGP groups», adds Molina.
From its side, Tradecorp, as Rovensa Next, will provide its broad experience in testing the efficacy of products and new technologies in real conditions of agricultural production, and in the formulation and industrial production of high-efficiency biostimulants. The first projects in the joint unit will focus on biomolecules and microorganisms as new solutions, which are characterized by being safe and sustainable and have been shown to contribute to reducing the use of chemical-based inputs and the pollution of soils and the environment and to improve the production of healthier and quality food.
The research unit will be located in the facilities of the CBGP, which is a Centre that belongs to the Alliance of Centres of Excellence Severo Ochoa and Units of Excellence María de Maeztu Units (SOMMa). The CBGP is internationally positioned as one of the benchmark centres of excellence in Europe in agriculture and plant biotechnology.
CBGP has extensive experience and success in developing agrobiological solutions in partnership with other companies and through its spin-off companies. In fact, «our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of plant nutrition, adaptation of crops to environmental conditions and the interaction of plants with microorganisms (microbiota) have progressed remarkably in the last decade and this knowledge can now be transferred to the agricultural production with new products and technologies, which is our goal with this initiative with Tradecorp”, concludes Antonio Molina, Director of the CBGP.
