Certis Belchim and Elicit Plant Form Strategic Partnership to Co-Develop an Innovative Biostimulant for Potatoes
Certis Belchim, an innovative Crop Protection company with a market-leading portfolio of biological products and Elicit Plant, a pioneering agri-biotech company jointly announce a strategic partnership for the co-development of an innovative bio-solution for potatoes, designed to address rising challenges due to climate change faced by farmers across Europe.
This collaboration combines Elicit Plant’s cutting-edge R&D expertise, with Certis Belchim’s strong position in innovative crop solutions and recognized leadership in potatoes across Europe. Together, the two companies aim to enhance farmers’ profitability by safeguarding yields and quality, even under increasingly challenging climatic conditions.
Improving crop tolerance to abiotic stress, especially drought‑related stress in potatoes
This partnership addresses critical challenges faced by potato growers across Europe due to increasing climate uncertainty and resulting water scarcity and allow them to adopt sustainable farming practices that strengthen crop resilience.
The co-development agreement will accelerate the creation of a potato-specific formulation combined with an application method that fits usual spraying programmes, ensuring optimal yield and quality. This collaboration is a key success factor in bringing a solution to market quickly while balancing environmental sustainability, crop resilience, and economic viability.
In the first phase of the partnership, Elicit Plant achieved an important initial milestone with its EliTerra® Platform, delivering several product candidates based on its disruptive phytosterols technology. These bioactive compounds have shown their ability to enhance
the resilience, productivity and quality of potato crops under climate stress. Elicit Plant and Certis Belchim will carry out an expanded field‑trial programme to refine the solution and confirm its performance across a wide range of soil and climate conditions. Together, the partners aim to co-develop a solution designed to meet potato growers’ needs and practices that is grounded in proven scientific advancements and results, and which will allow them to transition to sustainable and resilient potato production.
An ambitious collaboration for sustainable agriculture
This strategic alliance reflects a shared ambition to support the transition toward more resilient, high-performing and sustainable agricultural systems. By focusing on a crop-specific co-development approach and leveraging complementary expertise, the partnership aims to deliver tangible value to potato growers while addressing environmental and water availability challenges.
“Innovation will play a critical role in helping potato growers address the agronomic challenges posed by climate change and in driving more sustainable potato production. This partnership reflects our commitment to supporting modern, high‑performing, and environmentally responsible agriculture. The co‑development of a biostimulant specifically designed for potatoes underscores our determination to deliver cutting‑edge innovation for this key crop and to strengthen our leading, seed‑to‑store potato plant‑health portfolio,” said Mark Waltham, CEO of Certis Belchim.
“Developing crop-specific bio-solutions is central to Elicit Plant’s strategy, and partnering with Certis Belchim, a leader in the European potato market, reflects our new approach to expanding our product portfolio by co-developing innovative solutions for new crops with leading crop experts, combining our phytosterol-based scientific expertise to strengthen agricultural resilience in the face of climate challenges,” said Jean-François Déchant, CEO of Elicit Plant.
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