BugBiome, the Norwich-based agri-biotech company developing biological alternatives to synthetic pesticides, has secured a 24-month Innovate UK grant to fund a collaborative project aimed at tackling cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB) in oilseed rape.
The £500,000 award will support a partnership between BugBiome, the John Innes Centre, Harper Adams University and Applied Insect Science to develop a new biological insecticide targeting the pest, which has become one of the biggest threats to UK oilseed rape production since restrictions on neonicotinoid seed treatments.
The project represents a significant broadening of BugBiome’s technology platform. Last year, AgNavigator reported on the company’s efforts to develop a biological aphicide designed to protect crops including potatoes and sugar beet from aphid infestations and the viruses they transmit. The new programme moves BugBiome beyond so-called “sucking pests” and into the control of beetles and other coleopteran pests.
Turning attention to oilseed rape’s biggest challenge
BugBiome CEO Dr Alicia Showering said the company was keenly aware of the challenges facing growers struggling to establish oilseed rape crops.
“We are excited to apply our biological insecticide platform to a new pest target as we are keenly aware of the problems facing UK farmers struggling to establish oilseed rape since the ban on neonicotinoid use nearly 10 years ago,” she said.
“At BugBiome, we have already made great progress with our aphicide product and this project, working with the best expertise in the industry, will mean we can make significant progress in developing treatments for coleopteran pests such as cabbage stem flea beetle, which we aim to commercialise post-project.”
Bringing together specialist expertise
The project draws on several of the UK’s leading CSFB researchers.
Dr Rachel Wells and her team at the John Innes Centre will provide insect material from experimental CSFB colonies and support validation work through plant-based assays. Meanwhile, Professor Tom Pope at Harper Adams University will lead behavioural characterisation studies of candidate products.
Applied Insect Science, a specialist contract research organisation focused on biopesticides and low-risk crop protection technologies, will contribute microbial ecotoxicology expertise aimed at supporting future regulatory approval and commercialisation.
Demand grows for biological crop protection
The project comes at a time when farmers face increasing pressure from a shrinking crop-protection toolbox and growing regulatory scrutiny of synthetic pesticides.
James Warner, managing director of farmer cooperative United Oilseeds, said new solutions were urgently needed.
“With the huge demand for rapeseed oil in the UK, there has never been a more important time to find sustainable solutions to CSFB which can cause complete crop failure if left unchecked,” he said.
For BugBiome, the project also highlights the strategic rationale behind its move to Norwich Research Park last year. The company said closer access to expertise at the John Innes Centre and across the wider agri-biotech cluster is helping accelerate development of products aimed at bringing biological pest control alternatives to mainstream arable farming.
