The collaboration will increase farmer’s access to safe herbicide candidates
Enko, a global crop health company, and agrochemical company Nufarm have announced a partnership to develop novel chemistries and expand the supply chain of critical new herbicide solutions in Australia, the US and Europe.
The partnership will directly address the need for new chemistries and more access. Enko and Nufarm will be trialling the effectiveness of combining Enko’s leading herbicide candidate with Nufarm’s products to create unique, safe chemical formulations.
“Nowadays, most agrochemical companies are largely selling the same molecules. Both farmers and suppliers need new herbicide options to meet urgent challenges—issues that affect not just our favourite breakfast food items, but also crops that are essential to food security and economic prosperity across the world,” said Enko CEO, Jacqueline Heard. “Enko partnered with Nufarm because we share a vision for sustainable agriculture and each has unique strengths. Through Nufarm’s strong market access and customer knowledge, we can bring our target-based crop health products to more growers worldwide.”
With machine learning, Enko screens its chemical library of more than 140 billion molecules—a chemical space 15,000 times larger than what other companies can access—to find novel and unexpected product candidates at a scale that would otherwise be impossible. Enko is the first to create a library specifically designed for agriculture. Leveraging this technology alongside Nufarm will create herbicides with multiple modes of action that combat resistant weeds, broaden use cases and remain effective for farmers longer.
The partnership will utilise Enko’s discovery and development capabilities to advance weed control solutions for the most problematic global superweeds. While working in parallel the teams will expedite the development process of lead herbicide candidates.
