AgroSpheres and FMC Corporation Take Bioinsecticide Pipeline From Lab to Global Field Trials Across Three Continents
AgroSpheres, a biotechnology company focused on developing sustainable crop protection technologies, and FMC Corporation, a global agricultural sciences company, have announced a major new stage in their ongoing collaboration. Two proprietary RNA-based biomolecule candidates from AgroSpheres’ development pipeline are moving into global field trial development, marking an important transition from laboratory and controlled-environment research toward testing under real-world agricultural conditions.
The candidates will now be evaluated across major agricultural regions in the United States, Brazil and Asia. The international field program is designed to assess how the technologies perform across different crops, climates, pest populations and growing conditions. The move also represents a significant milestone in the companies’ collaboration, which began in 2024 with the goal of developing innovative biological crop protection solutions.
“Moving these candidates into the field is an important moment for this partnership,” said Payam Pourtaheri, Co-Founder and CEO of AgroSpheres. He explained that field development provides an opportunity to test technologies that have undergone extensive laboratory validation under the much more complex conditions encountered by growers. According to Pourtaheri, evaluating the candidates side-by-side with established crop protection technologies will provide important information about their performance in practical agricultural settings.
Addressing Major Global Pest Challenges
The two candidates are being developed as part of a new class of bioinsecticides targeting economically important lepidopteran pests. Moth and caterpillar species represent some of the most challenging insect threats facing growers worldwide, with pests such as fall armyworm and diamondback moth capable of causing substantial damage to agricultural crops.
The companies estimate that a relatively small number of major moth and caterpillar species collectively contribute to nearly $14 billion in crop losses and pest-control costs every year. These losses highlight the need for crop protection technologies that can provide effective pest management while supporting more sustainable agricultural production systems.
The upcoming field trials will take place across three major global agricultural regions. Testing in the United States, Brazil and Asia will expose the candidates to a broad range of environmental and production conditions. These locations also represent important agricultural markets and areas where growers face significant insect pressure.
The international scope of the program is expected to provide researchers with valuable information about how the RNA-based candidates perform beyond controlled laboratory and greenhouse environments.
From Laboratory Validation to Field Development
The advancement into global field trials follows several years of research and development. Before reaching this stage, the biomolecules underwent laboratory testing, greenhouse evaluations and small-scale field-plot trials.
During these development stages, the candidates were evaluated against established industry-standard insecticide chemistries. The companies said the biomolecules consistently met or exceeded the performance benchmark established by those conventional products before being selected for advancement into broader field testing.
This progression represents an important part of biological product development. While laboratory studies can demonstrate biological activity under controlled conditions, agricultural environments introduce additional variables, including temperature fluctuations, sunlight, rainfall, crop growth stages and differences in pest populations.
The upcoming trials are therefore intended to determine how consistently the candidates perform when exposed to these real-world variables.
Dr. Seva Rostovtsev, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at FMC Corporation, said the company views field trials as a critical step in determining the practical potential of new crop protection technologies.
“Innovation in crop protection is about finding new ways to help growers manage pests safely, effectively and sustainably,” Rostovtsev said. He added that field testing allows promising technologies to be evaluated across different crops, climates and pest pressures.
Introducing AgroSpheres’ Biomodality Platform
At the heart of AgroSpheres’ technology pipeline is its biomodality platform. The approach focuses on designing biomolecules capable of interacting with specific biological pathways in target pests.
Traditional insecticides can work through broader chemical mechanisms. Biomodality, by contrast, is intended to provide a more targeted approach by designing biological molecules around specific biological processes.
The goal is to develop crop protection products that can selectively interfere with pest biology while potentially reducing unwanted effects on beneficial organisms and the surrounding environment.
The technology may also provide new opportunities for resistance management. Insecticide resistance is an ongoing challenge for farmers and crop protection developers because repeated exposure to the same modes of action can allow resistant pest populations to emerge and spread.
By developing products based on different biological mechanisms, companies can potentially expand the tools available to growers and support integrated pest-management strategies.
AgriCell Designed to Improve Biological Product Performance
Another key component of AgroSpheres’ technology platform is AgriCell, the company’s proprietary delivery system. The platform is designed to address some of the challenges that have historically limited the performance and commercial use of biological crop protection products.
Biological molecules can be sensitive to environmental conditions after application. Factors such as ultraviolet radiation, heat and moisture can contribute to degradation and reduce the amount of active material available to affect a target pest.
AgriCell is designed to encapsulate active biomolecules and provide greater protection against these environmental stresses. By helping stabilize the active ingredient, the technology is intended to improve its durability following application.
The platform also incorporates controlled-release capabilities. Rather than releasing the active biomolecule immediately, the delivery system is designed to provide more targeted release at the appropriate location and time.
This combination of protection, stability and controlled delivery is central to AgroSpheres’ strategy for developing biological crop protection products that can function reliably in agricultural environments.
Potential Role Alongside Conventional Crop Protection
AgriCell’s flexibility could also allow biological actives to be incorporated into broader crop protection programs alongside existing chemical technologies.
Combining different modes of action can be an important element of resistance-management strategies. Biological products may offer growers additional tools that can be integrated with established crop protection programs, potentially helping diversify pest-management approaches.
The companies’ field trials will provide an opportunity to evaluate how the two RNA-based candidates perform independently as well as within practical crop protection systems.
A Significant Milestone for the Collaboration
The move into global field development represents a substantial milestone in the relationship between AgroSpheres and FMC. Their collaboration brings together AgroSpheres’ biotechnology and biomolecule-delivery capabilities with FMC’s agricultural science expertise and global commercial reach.
The field program across the United States, Brazil and Asia will provide a broad testing environment for the candidates as the companies work to determine their potential as future crop protection products.
Ultimately, the results from these trials will help determine the next steps in development, including additional testing, regulatory considerations and potential commercialization pathways.
For AgroSpheres, the transition demonstrates how its biomodality and AgriCell technologies are progressing from research-stage concepts toward practical agricultural applications. For FMC, the collaboration adds another potential source of biological innovation to its crop protection development efforts.
As agriculture continues to face pressure from evolving pest populations, resistance challenges and demand for more sustainable production practices, technologies capable of delivering precise and effective pest control could play an increasingly important role. The upcoming field trials will provide the next major test of whether these RNA-based biomolecules can translate their laboratory performance into reliable results in commercial agricultural environments.
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