Ginkgo Bioworks and Exacta Bioscience partner in crop protection product

Ginkgo Bioworks and Exacta Bioscience, a biotech company that harnesses the power of microorganisms for crop protection, announced that Exacta is leveraging Ginkgo’s end-to-end agricultural R&D services to run a fermentation optimization and scale-up program to enhance one of its crop protection products, FitoRoot, paving the way for large-scale commercialization. FitoRoot is designed to help crops better absorb water, nutrients and strengthen their defenses against abiotic stress. This can lead to overall better crop health, improved yield and increased resistance to stress conditions. Through this partnership, Exacta will use Ginkgo’s fermentation and formulation optimization services to reduce the cost of goods to make its FitoRoot technology more competitive. FitoRoot is currently marketed in Chile and is expected to expand to other Latin American markets, with a planned launch in 2023.