Explore the Agenda

8:30 am Registration & Coffee

Understanding the Regulatory Landscape to Avoid Costly & Delayed Approvals

9:00 am Roundtable Discussion: Reconciling Cost-Efficiency with the Need for Regulatory Control Through Accelerated Testing

Senior Scientist, Novonesis
  • Discovering methods to ensure accelerated tests mimic real-world conditions
  • Balancing the need for accelerated testing with the need for realistic shelf-life predictions of stability, safety, and performance
  • Developing existing methods to increase both speed and accuracy

9:45 am Clarifying the Legal Definitions of Product Categories to Enhance R&D Progress

Vice President, Product Development & Regulatory, Plant Health Care
  • Delving into the confusion around defining biostimulants and biofertilizers
  • Navigating the issues that this presents for bringing products to market
  • Updating and creating new guidelines that establish cohesion and one aligned label among US states

10:15 am Moving the Needle into New Global Markets & Adapting Strategies Accordingly

Team Leader, Foliar Biologicals (Global Insecticide Group), BASF Corporation
  • Working across islands of regulatory frameworks to bring a product to market
  • Strategizing to overcome hurdles faced by companies looking to expand globally
  • Balancing the desire to innovate with cost-efficiency in the face of differing global definitions

10:45 am Morning Break & Speed Networking

Maximizing Product Longevity & Efficacy When Formulating a Product for Market

11:45 am *New Data* Overcoming Formulation Stability Challenges to Maximize Product Longevity & Revenue-Potential

Research Director, TerraMax
  • Exploring formulation variables that can influence the long-term efficacy of biological products
  • Brainstorming ideas to ensure product viability across different conditions
  • Closing the gap between controlled research environments and unpredictable field conditions to guarantee product success

12:15 pm *New Data* Translating Innovation into Commercially Viability: A Pathway for Scalable Biologicals

President & Chief Operating Officer, Kula Bio
  • Enabling consistent product purity and performance using innovative advancements in manufacturing
  • Examining strategies for reduced production costs to make biological solutions cost-competitive with chemical inputs
  • Emphasizing the role of rigorous, data-driven validation in demonstrating efficacy across diverse crops and regions

12:45 pm Lunch

Optimizing Microbial Synergy for Enhanced Yield & Consistency

1:45 pm Is It a Single, a Double, or a Triple? Stacking Technologies for Increased Yield

Global Research Lead for Crop Physiology, UPL
  • Smart Matrix Technologies for enhanced resource utilization and abiotic stress tolerance
  • Synergistic effects of mixing biological products
  • Omics technologies can guide mode of action research

2:15 pm Solving the Microbial Consistency Challenge by Choosing the Right Partner

Chief Science Officer and Founder, Jord BioScience
  • Considering the key role of microbial partners in determining inoculant success
  • Leveraging microbial species interactions to enhance product effectiveness and consistency
  • Innovating within product development to provide more consistent outcomes for growers

2:45 pm Roundtable Discussion: Balancing the Benefits of Microbial Diversity with the Risk of Contamination to Create More Effective Products

Chief Operating Officer, CHONEX
  • Exploring the pros and cons of synthetic vs. naturally sourced biologicals and combination vs. single-strain products
  • Managing risks of contamination when scaling up microbial diversity in formulation
  • Evaluating whether less is more to achieve targeted success

3:30 pm Afternoon Break & Networking

Enhancing Crop Growth & Environmental Health Through Nitrogen Fixation

4:00 pm *New Data* Revolutionizing Fertilizer Efficiency & Environmental Impact Using Nitrogen Fixation

Director, Microbial Discovery, Switch Bioworks
  • Outlining problems related to the traditional way of producing synthetic N fertilizers
  • Painting the big picture on how the biofertilizer space looks like now and what are current challenges
  • Presenting sustainable and affordable ways of building an efficient N biofertilizer and introducing Switch technology
  • Addressing the need for a mode of action evidence for products marketed within the nitrogen fixation categories

4:30 pm Looking Beyond the Rhizosphere to Maximize Nitrogen Fixation

Vice President, Research, Pluton Biosciences
  • Utilizing photosynthetic nitrogen-fixing microbial consortia acting on the soil surface
  • Prioritizing synergy and compatibility with other N-fixing biologicals
  • Achieving greater synthetic nitrogen fertilizer replacement without added cost

5:00 pm End of the 9th Microbiome AgBioTech Summit