AI novel crop solutions: ICL & Agrematch target plant nutrition development

11 Sep 2023 --- ICL Group, a global specialty minerals company and its agri-food innovation and investment platform, ICL Planet Startup Hub, is leading an investment round in Agrematch, an AI agri-tech start-up. The two companies have agreed to launch a joint, multiyear program to use Agrematch’s AI system to discover novel crop nutrition solutions that optimize plant and soil processes and maximize plant yield, quality and resilience.

The move comes amid rapid development and interest in AI across the F&B industry.

Founded in 2017, Agrematch has been developing and refining its unique AI4AI – Artificial Intelligence for Active Ingredients platform. ICL Growing Solutions, the agriculture division of ICL, is partnering with Agrematch as part of its strategic investment designed to be complementary and synergistic with long-term goals. 

The Agrematch platform is expected to produce proprietary compounds developed as unique biostimulants and plant nutrition products, ultimately optimizing overall plant and soil health.

Speaking to Food Ingredients First, Hadar Sutovsky, vice president of external innovation and general manager of ICL Planet Startup Hub, says the AI predictive system dramatically reduces the time, costs and risks inherent to the traditional agriculture inputs industry discovery and development.

“By predicting factors such as toxicity profile, mode of action, environmental impact, and cost of goods sold early in the discovery process and only choosing compounds that are more likely to become crop nutrition products, Agrematch accelerates the process while greatly mitigating the downstream development risk.”

“ICL Planet Startup Hub has been making significant investments in AI-driven start-ups in ag-tech and food-tech. Except from investing in Agrematch, we also invested in Protera, our precision fermentation partner, an AI-driven foodTech start-up and designer of novel proteins that develop sustainable, highly functional protein-based ingredients for food manufacturers,” Sutovsky explains. 

“We believe that in order to make it possible to push agri-food systems toward sustainability and resilience, innovation is needed, and ‘more of the same’ is not enough anymore, and there is no doubt that AI-based solutions can bring that breakthrough.”

Exploring long-term discovery processes 
Despite the urgent need for new sustainable crop nutrition products, there are concerns that the current discovery process cannot meet current demand. 

The prohibitively risky, costly and lengthy product development cycle – coupled with increasing regulatory requirements calling for sustainable products with a lower environmental footprint – has reduced the number of new product launches. 

A faster and more efficient methodology to identify new active ingredients for use in the development of ag products is crucial.

“The increasing demand for food by an ever-growing population is no doubt spurring a new digital revolution in the agricultural space,” adds Sutovsky. “In the world of agriculture, identifying and tailoring compounds to the specific growth needs of crops has always been very challenging, prohibitively expensive and inherently carries a high risk of late-stage development failure.”

Sutovsky sees huge opportunities emerging in many areas of biotechnology and software, including product simulation and testing, molecular databases, and gene sequencing and editing. “The integration of AI both in ag-tech and food-tech is revolutionary,” she maintains. 

“These will have an impact on better crop nutrition, high crop yield, better crop quality and durability will translate downstream the agri-food value chain to more food, nutritional and better for you food, quality ingredients for F&B manufacturers to work in lower costs and sustainably sourced. It will also help food manufacturers and retailers to better meet food safety regulations.”

AI ignites discovery 
In recent years, AI has emerged as a critical technology in discovering and developing innovative compounds. 

There has been a flurry of developments in the last few months whereby AI has played a key role in the future of food and nutrition. Some recent examples include bio-functional proteins targeting gut and immune systems, improved beekeeping and antimicrobial resistance surveillance in livestock in China. 

Despite the urgent need for new sustainable crop nutrition products, there are concerns that the current discovery process cannot meet current demand.Frequently, AI has been used in drug discovery. According to a study by Insider Intelligence, pharmaceutical companies have been saving nearly 70% of their discovery costs by using AI.

This new method could eliminate up to five years of the average seven-year time frame for bringing a candidate compound to trial.

“This partnership brings the rapidly evolving application of AI into ICL’s agricultural development ecosystem,” explains Sutovsky. 

“Agrematch’s AI4AI prediction platform has the potential to streamline our compound discovery process, reduce the time and costs involved, and lead to the development of more effective and efficient crop solutions.”

Eyeing functional compounds 
Using data science, especially AI, has helped Agrematch to dramatically alter the discovery process by eliminating both its sequential nature and the barriers that make the classical high-throughput screening methods costly, risky and time-consuming, says Eyal Ben-Chanoch, CEO of Agrematch. 

“Our AI4AI platform was designed and built to discover new functional compounds that meet defined specifications.”

Within the AI4AI system, Agrematch models are trained to fulfill the specifications of a well-defined product concept. The system’s predictive algorithms run through billions of molecules in a massive proprietary database. 

Novel compounds can thus be designed, creating a shortlist of candidates with the desired functionalities.  

“This collaboration will focus on developing novel biostimulant products that provide superior results for plants,” adds Elinor Erez, vice president of R&D at ICL Growing Solutions. 

“It supports our strategy to invest in the ag-biologicals market and aligns with our existing agriculture business and the future of our specialty crop nutrition portfolios.”

Erez believes ICL brings “a huge contribution to this strategic collaboration,” as this start-up will enjoy access to the global crop nutrition market. 

In 2021, ICL launched ICL Planet Startup Hub. The platform was initially designed to propel innovative food tech and agri-tech start-ups to the market while providing enterprises with a broad network of support, including investment and mentorship.

By Elizabeth Green