Inocucor Technologies Signs First Commercial Strategic Partnership with Axter Agroscience
September 10th, 2014
Montreal, Sept. 10, 2014—Inocucor Technologies Inc., the Montreal-based ag biotech company that develops biological products and processes for agriculture, today announced it has signed its first commercial strategic partnership with Axter Agroscience inc. of Mont St. Hilaire, Quebec.
Inocucor President and CEO Donald R. Marvin announced the collaboration with Axter, one of Canada’s leading providers of foliar feeding crop solutions, at the Ag Innovation Showcase in St Louis, Mo.
Marvin said Inocucor’s partnership with Axter follows two growing seasons of collaboration between the two companies that began in 2013. The companies intend to finalize field studies on the combined action of IN-M2, Inocucor’s second-generation cell-free growth stimulant, and Axter’s biostimulants, CropBooster® and RR SoyBooster®.
Inocucor and Axter have worked on corn and soybean trials, collaborating with academic partners both at McGill University’s Department of Plant Science and at sites across Quebec and Ontario. These collaborations and others have accumulated 12 site years of data to date on the impact of Inocucor’s IN-M2 on early plant growth and yield. Axter and Inocucor plan additional studies amounting to 26 site years of data by next year.
Field studies show that the addition of Inocucor’s cell-free IN-M2 increases yields in corn and soybean in excess of 10 to 15 percent. Axter and Inocucor are collaborating on final product development in order to do farmer trials and initial sales next spring.
“This collaboration gives Axter a short-term, prime-mover marketing advantage in the use of IN-M2 to increase corn and soybean yields,” said Marvin.
The collaboration will lead to a long-term ingredient supply and licensing relationship with Axter, the first of many such arrangements that Inocucor intends to forge with partner companies, Marvin said.
Marvin said Inocucor chose to partner with Axter because Axter products have a solid reputation for quality and performance across Canada. Axter has tested Crop Booster in tank mixes with multiple herbicides for yield and quality increases since 1995. Inocucor and Axter are pursuing a research program to investigate the impact of the new formulations when used in routine production agriculture programs.
Axter products have been used on over half a million acres in Eastern Canada. Since 2007, the company has also developed extensive distribution in Western Canada’s prairie provinces.
About Axter Agroscience Inc.
Headquartered in Mont St-Hilaire, Axter has been developing and marketing innovative foliar applied biostimulants and nutrient solutions since 1981. Axter’s products are used by farmers throughout Canada and have provided them with technological solutions to enhance the yield and quality of their crops.
