Partnership for technology geared to help growers secure yields

•  The new technology provides farmers with an insight into crop stressors prior to visual symptoms appearing.
• Bayer researchers will use the technology to accelerate discovery of innovative crop protection chemistry.

The announcement comes at a time when farmers worldwide report losing as much as 50 percent of their crops to stressors such as weeds, insects, diseases, and adverse environmental effects. PhytlSigns biosensors detects these problems using a plants' own signals.  Growers then receive alerts regarding the stressors so they can take immediate corrective action.

"Helping grow more food through real-time detection of crop responses to environmental changes and a wide range of threats is the foundation of our technology" said Carrol Plummer, of Vivent. "Our sensors record these signals and with our unique analytical approach which uses machine learning, the signals can be interpreted."

Bayer will leverage PhytlSigns' early detection of plant stressors to potentially accelerate the research and development of new crop protection products needed by farmers around the world.

"Bayer scientists consistently challenge themselves to quickly discover new generations of crop protection substances that meet the expectations of farmers and society," said Sybille Lamprecht, a researcher from Bayer Crop Science in Monheim. "PhytlSigns allows us to speed up our decision-making on potential crop protection products."

About Vivent

Swiss start-up Vivent was founded by well-known serial entrepreneurs Carrol Plummer and Dr. Nigel Wallbridge, who have now applied their information processing and telecommunication system skills to biological networking, with an initial focus on plant signalling.  The pair have worked with leading agricultural institutes, universities, crop protection companies and growers to validate this innovative approach.  The company's initial focus is on high-capital indoor growing operations.  Their next step will be permanent crops with successful trials completed this season. For more information visit www.phytlsigns.com or  www.vivent.ch.

Source: Goedemorgen