3Bar Biologics Wins the Inaugural Plant Nutrition Startup Showcase $20,000 Grand Prize
After an extensive global search, over 50 applications from all over the world, three days of presentations and a two-hour pitch session by seven selected startups, the International Fertilizer Industry (IFA) and Larta Institute today crowned 3Bar Biologics as the winner of the first ever Plant Nutrition Startup Showcase, for its innovative on-farm microbe fermentation technology.
"3Bar Biologics really impressed the jury and audience but our panel of global fertilizer industry judges, were taken by all of the presenters’ innovative plant nutrition solutions and really enjoyed providing feedback and recommendations from the perspective of large, established plant nutrition companies,” said Charlotte Hebebrand, Director-General of IFA.
Designed to foster closer awareness and relations between the fertilizer industry and the AgTech sector and showcase the cutting edge of plant nutrition technology, the Plant Nutrition Startup Showcase saw eight finalists chosen to present their innovations during IFA2019, the 87th IFA Annual Conference in Montreal from June 11-13.
Hailing from Africa, Europe and America, the high-calibre finalists of Atmonia, Elemental Digest Systems, Intrinsyx Bio, Phospholutions, Persistence Data Mining, Vulpes Corp., Zenvus and 3Bar Biologics represented an inspiring selection of fertilizer-focused inventions.
During a special Startup pitch session at the conference, each company had five minutes to present their solutions to an international jury of leading IFA member company experts, with audience members also taking part to vote on their preferred pitch.
Kicking off the event, a roundtable discussion featuring AgTech experts Rob LeClerc, Co-Founder of AgFunder, Cristina Rohr, Vice President of S2G Ventures and Rohit Shukla, CEO of the Larta Institute and moderated by Bob Morris of AndMore Associates, introduced IFA members to the broader AgTech landscape and discussed the emerging focus on plant nutrition.
The grand prize of $20,000 was presented by Samir A. Al-Abdrabbuh, Executive Vice President of Agri-Nutrients at SABIC, IFA2019’s Innovation Partner, who congratulated all the participants for proving an intriguing view of the multiple ways in which startups are working to increase access to fertilizers as well as enabling more efficient fertilizer use.
“We are thrilled and honoured to win the inaugural Plant Nutrition Startup Showcase,” said Bruce Caldwell, CEO and Founder of 3Bar Biologics. “We are passionate about helping farmers to reduce nutrient losses and increase their yields. Connecting with members of the fertilizer industry will help us to benefit from their plant nutrition expertise and experience and hopefully make our unique technology available to a wider audience.”
Launched this year, the Plant Nutrition Startup Showcase is part of IFA’s ongoing commitment to forge links with the wider agricultural value chain and promote ever improving nutrient use efficiency to increase plant yields and minimize nutrient losses to the environment.