8:30 am Registration & Morning Coffee
8:50 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
UNDERSTANDING THE EVOLVING REGULATORY SPACE
9:00 am Striving for Regulatory Consensus on Biostimulants, Biopesticides and Biofungicides
Synopsis
• Outlining the current legislative situation around microbial-based products
• Approaching the development of new biostimulants to comply with approval standards
• Exploring how we can achieve a more standardized approach to regulating and defining biostimulants
9:20 am Exploring Regulatory Case Studies from Around the World
Synopsis
• Deciphering how products are used and regulated across different regions
• Uncovering international regulatory issues regarding agbiologicals
9:40 am Panel Discussion: Navigating the Agbiological Regulatory Landscape
Synopsis
• Understanding how legislation for biological products is evolving
• Addressing how to improve communication and cooperation with the regulatory authorities
• Realizing requirements from the regulatory bodies for product approval
10:30 am Speed Networking & Morning Refreshments
Synopsis
This session is an opportunity to connect with peers working within the agricultural world to have important conversations to overcome shared challenges, and plot paths to see future successes within the fiel
ENHANCING FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE PLANT-SOIL MICROBIOME
11:30 am Understanding How Plants Use Soil and Endophytic Microbes for Nutrient Absorption
Synopsis
• Exploring the potentials of endophytic microbes for plant health
• Deconstructing how endophytic microbes provide an additional benefit of reducing stress tolerance
• Harnessing microbes for disease control and reducing virulence of plant pathogens
12:00 pm Using Microbials to Improve Plant Health
Synopsis
• Utilizing microbial functionality to maximize nutrient use efficiency in row crops
• Determining how specific microbes affect and drive plant phenotypic changes
• Comparing microbial functionality within the rhizosphere vs phyllosphere vs endosphere for enhancing plant health
12:30 pm Characterising Microbial Functionality at the Molecular Level
Synopsis
• Understanding how plants attract and maintain beneficial microbes
• Exploring novel tools to measure the activities and interactions of rhizosphere communities
• Utilizing fabricated ecosystems to examine the mechanistic basis of beneficial plant-microbe interactions
1:00 pm Lunch & Networking Break
OVERCOMING THE FORMULATION, MANUFACTURING & SCALABILITY BOTTLENECK WITHOUT COMPROMISING PRODUCT QUALITY
2:00 pm Highlighting the Importance of Formulation
Synopsis
• Deciphering the best and most appropriate ways to formulate products with consideration of non-spore forming capacities
• Developing scalable preservative systems to tackle microbial instability
• Ensuring adequate product shelf-life
2:30 pm Optimized Continuous Drying for Microbiome Applications
Synopsis
• One of the main issues concerning the formulation of API is the reduced efficacy after processing and during storage
• To enhance their long-term stability and deliver them easily, a dried form is desirable. To dry, several processes can be used: well-known like freeze drying and spray drying or innovative electrostatic spray drying. These methods however, can induce thermal stress, dehydration, shear stress, and oxidative stress.
• In response to these challenges, we evaluate electrostatic spray drying in continuous low temperatures compared to spray drier in different microbiome applications to evaluate advantages of this process
2:40 pm Poster Session & Afternoon Break
Synopsis
This is an informal session to help you connect with your peers in a relaxed atmosphere and continue forging new and beneficial relationships. You will have the opportunity to present your work, and review posters displaying novel approaches and findings
3:10 pm Case Study: Successfully Scaling a Grower-Friendly Dry Methanotroph Inoculant
Synopsis
• Highlighting the importance of the interplay between fermentation through DSP through formulation to final product efficacy
• Challenges in scaling a non-spore forming, slow growing, Gram negative organism
• Successful formulation and subsequent adoption of a grower friendly dry product
3:40 pm Panel Discussion: The Difficulties of Scaling Up Production
Synopsis
• Discussing the routes and resources available for scaling up production
• Achieving controlled and stable bench to field scale up
• Avoiding risks of product contamination during scaled up fermentation