COLOSSAL PARTNERS TO SOLVE COLOSSAL PROBLEMS
Protecting our food supply with four of the world’s leading organizations
When we first started developing our mustard-based technology at MustGrow, we needed to be narrowly focused on our first target within the North American preplant fumigation market on strawberries and tomatoes. This was a great start, but there were many additional potential markets and applications that our technology could capture. But how? – Being a small company in these complex global markets. We own the technology but needed help accelerating R&D and commercialization globally.
“I have seen too many small organizations lose sight of their initial target markets, becoming side-tracked with the alluring prize of global expansion,” said Colin Bletsky, MustGrow’s COO. “This loss of focus can happen without a clearly defined strategy on how to balance technological advancement while expanding geographically. Our partnerships help us do this, by leveraging their expertise.”
We are particularly fortunate to own a platform technology that is potentially effective at safeguarding both the production and storage of food. We are now driving forward with four massive and capable partners – Janssen (pharmaceutical division of Johnson & Johnson), Sumitomo Corporation. Bayer and Univar’s NexusBioAg – that are helping us expand into global agricultural markets.
Most recently, we have granted Janssen PMP the exclusive right to test our mustard-based technologies for certain postharvest storage preservation of fruits and vegetables globally, with Janssen PMP funding and driving all application testing and development work. More than one-third of fruits & vegetable produce (approximately US$1 trillion) is lost or wasted in postharvest operations (1), which includes loss attributed to fungal and bacterial diseases. Postharvest fungal and bacterial diseases can cause annual vegetable crop losses of 40–60% (2). We’re working with Janssen PMP to potentially reduce postharvest food losses, which could substantially increase food availability, reducing pressure on the mounting food supply shortage and resulting inflationary pressures, and the environment.
Janssen PMP is a division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson are dedicated to addressing and solving some of the most important unmet medical needs of our time in oncology, immunology, neuroscience, infectious diseases and vaccines, and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Janssen PMP is a long-established world leader in the development and formulation of new and highly effective active substances and end-use products for the protection of materials and food, especially fruits and vegetables. With more than 50 years’ experience in postharvest treatments and plant protection, Janssen PMP has developed strong technical and commercial expertise.
Sumitomo Corporation, a Fortune Global 500 company with over 72,000 employees, has partnered with us in the Americas to develop our technology for various diseases, pests, and weeds, across many crops and regional countries. This company has close to US$75 billion in assets, and a strong business presence in several key global agricultural regions. Our partnership pairs our mustard-based crop protection technology with Sumitomo Corporation’s extensive expertise in field development, regulatory prowess, end use formulation, application, market intelligence and potentially commercial access. We have seen effective and expedient work so far by the Sumitomo Corporation team which has already produced great field success with our technology in the US. This has sparked further excitement within their organization, and they are accelerating development work in other countries such as Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador. With the combined resources of our two organizations – our technology with their team – we have made significant strides in moving closer to providing a natural solution to farmers in important agricultural countries across the Americas.
Bayer, a life science company with more than 40 billion EURO in sales and core competencies in the areas of health care and agriculture with close to 104,000 employees, is now our exclusive partner in Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa. Bayer is focused on sustainability which is abundantly clear within the Crop Science Division. Bayer’s regional teams have tremendous capabilities in the global areas that perfectly complement our technology platform, including field development, regulatory, end use formulation, application, market intelligence and potentially commercial access. With Bayer, trials are in various progress stages in three different continents within various crop protection categories, highlighting the scope of our technology.
Simply, here’s why we’re so excited: We at MustGrow, a company from Saskatchewan, Canada with only three employees, a handful of advisors, and a remarkable natural mustard-based biopesticide, are now working with four leading global organizations with true global expertise, reach and influence in complex markets. This is a spectacular leap forward in our mission to help the world grow and protect food in a more sustainable way.
Sincerely,
The MustGrow Team