Defra, through The Farming Innovation Programme, funds FA Bio’s mission to reduce reliance on synthetic fertilisers in wheat farming
FA Bio, a pioneering agriculture microbial discovery and development company, has been awarded grant funding from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) to advance a feasibility project aimed at developing a bioproduct to protect yields of wheat farmers by improving nutrient-use-efficiency (NUE). The project is funded by Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme Nutrient Management Competition and is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.
Wheat is Europe’s most widely cultivated crop and the third largest by acreage in the US, covering 75-80 million hectares across both regions and producing over 300 million metric tonnes annually with an average yield of 3-5 metric tonnes per hectare. Despite nitrogen fertilisation being a common agricultural practice, only 40-60% of applied nitrogen is absorbed by plants, leading to environmental concerns such as nitrogen leaching and the emission of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a century. Addressing this inefficiency is crucial for both economic and environmental sustainability, especially as nitrogen-based fertiliser prices have experienced significant volatility over the past four years.
FA Bio is spearheading this project, combining its expertise in microbial discovery, isolation and culturing as well as product fermentation and formulation with leading experts from the UK Agri-Tech Centre in phenotyping, glasshouse trials, project management and knowledge exchange and plant root phenomics specialists from the University of Nottingham. By leveraging its proprietary AI, machine learning and bioinformatics algorithms, FA Bio will screen multiple microbial candidates from its unique library. The most promising strains will be fermented, formulated and tested in controlled glasshouse trials to assess their impact on wheat nutrient uptake and yield. High-performing candidates will be further refined into a granular formulation and validated in field trials to ensure practical on-farm benefits for cereal growers
This cutting-edge project aligns with FA Bio’s mission to discover and develop superior microbial bioproducts that can help growers produce more with less inputs, minimising agriculture’s environmental impact whilst sustainably increasing crop yields. By improving NUE in wheat crops, this innovation has the potential to drive meaningful change in our transition to regenerative agriculture.
Angela de Manzanos Guinot, CEO and Co-Founder of FA Bio, said: “We are thrilled to receive this support from Innovate UK, which allows us to demonstrate the power of microbes as wheat biofertilisers. This funding reinforces the importance of nature-based solutions in tackling agricultural challenges and underscores the potential of microbes in regenerating crop production. By improving nutrient use efficiency, microbes can help growers boost yields, cut costs and reduce their environmental impact. This project is an exciting step towards a future where sustainable agriculture and productivity go hand in hand. We look forward to collaborating with our partners to bring this innovation from the lab to the field.”
