Ag Tech Talk Podcast: ICL and Lavie Bio Lead the Charge in Biological Farming Innovation
5 June 2025 In this episode of Ag Tech Talk by AgriBusiness Global, we explore a major milestone in the evolution of biological crop inputs: ICL’s acquisition of Lavie Bio, a subsidiary of Evogne Ltd. — a strategic move poised to accelerate innovation and global adoption of sustainable ag solutions.
This acquisition reinforces ICL’s strategic move to become a specialty leader, focused on developing unique products for global challenges. It is integral to its comprehensive growth strategy – including internal investments, M&A, and collaborations – and is highly significant given the biologicals market’s rapid expansion, projected at a ~15% CAGR globally.
Joining the conversation are Dr. Elinor Erez, Vice President of R&D at ICL Growing Solutions, and Amit Noam, CEO of Lavie Bio. Together, they offer firsthand insight into the science and strategy behind this three-year collaboration, and why now was the right time to take it to the next level.
We discuss how Lavie Bio’s microbiome-based technologies developed using Evogene’s MicroBoost AI are being integrated with ICL’s diverse crop input portfolio and global distribution network — a combination that’s designed to deliver tailored, high-impact biologicals to farmers worldwide.
Dr. Elinor Erez, Vice President of R&D at ICL Growing Solutions
Podcast Transcript:
* This is an edited and partial transcript of this podcast.
ABG: Can you walk us through ICL’s thinking behind the acquisition of Lavie Bio? Why was this the right move—and why now?
Elinor Erez: This collaboration actually began around three years ago when ICL made an investment in Lavie Bio. We found Lavie Bio to be the most appropriate partner for us because their platform and methodologies had strong potential to accelerate our development in biologicals, a capability we are also strengthening internally, especially with the establishment of our new R&D hub.
As a results of the successful collaboration, it became clear that the time was right to take the next step. We saw the value in leveraging Lavie Bio’s unique platform to develop new products that could be integrated into ICL’s already diverse portfolio, supporting sustainable agriculture practices.
Amit Noam: As Elinor mentioned, this collaboration started three years ago and was always aligned with a shared strategic path and vision—particularly around advancing sustainable agriculture and biological solutions.
Amit Noam, CEO of Lavie Bio
Because the partnership was so positive and both companies were moving in the same direction, joining forces made sense. For us, as a smaller company, the opportunity to accelerate our technology and platform within ICL was a big advantage. It’s a win-win for both sides. This powerful combination of Lavie Bio’s AI-driven platform, and ICL’s global reach and on-the-ground agronomic expertise, enables us to develop integrated solutions that provide unique value to farmers worldwide, complementing our traditional product portfolio.
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