UK and Italy team up to tackle $50billion weed resistance crisis

Oxford-based agricultural biotech company Moa Technology has joined forces with Italian natural products firm NAICONS to find new, naturally-derived herbicides to help farmers worldwide combat herbicide-resistant weeds

Under the partnership, Moa will use its advanced screening technology to evaluate around 70,000 microbial extracts from NAICONS’ extensive natural products library. The goal is to discover biological compounds capable of controlling problem weeds without harming humans or the environment.

Herbicide resistance is a growing global threat. Worldwide, more than 273 weed species are now resistant to at least one commercially available herbicide. Annual losses caused by resistant weeds are thought to cost UK farmers around £500 million each year, US farmers over $11 billion, and Australian agriculture about $3.3 billion—resulting in total estimated worldwide costs of up to $50 billion.

Moa Technology, originally spun out from Oxford University in 2017, specialises in developing innovative herbicides designed to tackle the toughest resistant weeds facing farmers worldwide. Over the last three years, Moa has tested more than 700,000 synthetic and 100,000 naturally-occurring compounds, discovering more than 70 promising new herbicide candidates. Three synthetic herbicides identified through Moa’s research have already shown strong results in international field trials conducted over two consecutive growing seasons. In July 2024, Moa also signed a significant partnership with agrochemical firm Nufarm to jointly develop and commercialise one of these new herbicide discoveries.

NAICONS, based in Milan, specialises in discovering active molecules from microbial sources. The company’s proprietary micro4all platform combines a diverse bacterial library, ready-to-screen microbial extracts, and advanced molecular annotation tools. NAICONS regularly collaborates with global partners across agriculture, human, and animal health sectors, using microbial diversity to develop innovative solutions.

The new partnership agreement grants Moa exclusive rights to develop and commercialise any new herbicides discovered from NAICONS’ microbial library, with future profits shared between the two companies.

Dr Virginia Corless, CEO of Moa Technology, highlighted the benefits of combining the two firms’ strengths: “Our technology rapidly identifies whether a compound is safe, effective, and commercially viable as a herbicide. NAICONS’ library of high-quality bacterial extracts has huge potential, and we’re excited to see if we can uncover natural solutions that help farmers effectively manage weed resistance.”

Stefano Donadio, CEO of NAICONS, added: “Our microbial extracts have never previously been tested specifically for herbicidal properties, so this collaboration opens up exciting new possibilities. Using our micro4all platform, we’ve already identified more than 150,000 distinct molecules within the extracts supplied to Moa. We’re eager to support Moa’s search for promising, naturally-derived herbicides to help farmers tackle this pressing global issue.”

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