Elicit Plant has been named Climate Adaptation Solution of the Year in the seventh annual AgTech Breakthrough Awards programme, with judges highlighting the company’s approach to improving crop resilience in increasingly unpredictable growing conditions.
The France-based company was recognised for its proprietary phytosterol technology, which is designed to help crops prepare for environmental stress before it occurs rather than simply responding once drought or heat stress has already taken hold.
Prevention rather than reaction
At the heart of the company’s offering is its EliTerra® platform, which uses naturally occurring plant compounds known as phytosterols to activate a crop’s own defence mechanisms.
The technology is designed to improve water-use efficiency through a combination of partial stomatal regulation, enhanced root development and improved cellular water retention. According to the company, the approach can reduce crop water requirements by up to 20% without affecting growth or yield.
Elicit Plant’s foliar solutions are currently used across major arable crops including corn, wheat, barley, sunflower and soybean.
The company says its products have been validated through more than 1,000 field trials across multiple geographies and growing conditions.
Growing commercial footprint
The technology has now been deployed on more than 2 million acres (800,000 hectares) across Europe, North America and South America.
According to Elicit Plant, farmers using the technology have recorded yield improvements of up to 10% under water-stressed conditions, while achieving an average return on investment of at least 2.5 times.
“Farmers cannot control when the rain comes, but they can prepare their crops for the season ahead,” said Jean-François Déchant, co-founder and chief executive of Elicit Plant.
“Our teams see it in the field every year: a crop prepared in advance holds its potential when the dry weeks arrive.”
Industry recognition
Bryan Vaughn, managing director of AgTech Breakthrough, said climate adaptation was one of the most challenging categories to assess because growing conditions vary significantly between seasons and regions.
“Elicit Plant stood out in our evaluation for performing across that variability, taking a patented discovery from the lab to working farms on three continents,” he said.
The award comes as climate adaptation technologies attract increasing attention from farmers, investors and policymakers seeking solutions that can maintain crop productivity amid rising weather volatility.
With commercial expansion continuing across Europe and the Americas, Elicit Plant said it plans to extend its EliTerra portfolio into new crops and markets as demand grows for tools that help crops cope with climatic uncertainty.
