Mycelium Networks: Fungi and the Collective Power Behind Agriculture’s Biotech Revolution

The agricultural biotechnology sector is experiencing unprecedented growth. The global agricultural biotechnology market size was valued at USD 151.23 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 212.57 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 7.1% from 2025 to 2030. Yet despite this promising trajectory, the exploration of fungi as an input from laboratory discovery to farmer's field remains a journey  fraught with challenges that no single organisation can overcome alone.

The complexity of bringing biological agricultural products to market demands a collaborative approach—one that bridges the gap between cutting-edge research and practical application. This reality is reshaping how companies, research institutions, and industry partners work together to solve agriculture's most pressing challenges.

Credits: FA Bio

The Multi-Faceted Challenge of Bioagricultural Innovation

The development of fungi based biological products for agriculture is fundamentally different from traditional chemical approaches. Unlike synthetic pesticides or fertilisers, biological solutions rely on living organisms that must be discovered, characterised, scaled, formulated, and validated across diverse environmental conditions. This complexity requires expertise spanning microbiology, fermentation, formulation chemistry, regulatory affairs, and field application—capabilities rarely housed within a single organisation.

U.K. based FA Bio's recent partnership with IFF's Crop Biologicals division exemplifies this collaborative necessity. The commercial partnership between both organisations allows FA Bio to focus on their core strength—discovering unique microbial strains through their proprietary SporSenZ technology—while leveraging IFF's expertise in fermentation, recovery, formulation, and commercialisation. "IFF's dedication to sustainable innovation perfectly aligns with our vision," notes Angela de Manzanos Guinot, FA Bio's CEO. "Their proven expertise in bringing microbial innovations to market makes them the ideal partner to develop our groundbreaking active ingredients."

Credits: FA Bio

This division of labour is becoming increasingly common across the sector. Discovery companies identify promising biological candidates, while established agricultural giants provide the infrastructure needed to bring products to market at scale.

From Academic Labs to Commercial Success

The collaboration between research institutions and industry is proving particularly crucial for advancing biological solutions. FA Bio's multiple Defra-funded partnerships demonstrate how academic expertise can accelerate product development timelines while providing access to specialised facilities and knowledge.

The company has successfully completed a Defra project focused on dual-action biopesticides, developed in collaboration with CABI and CHAP (now known as the UK Agri-Tech Centre), now into commercial development. This project addressed a significant market need: biopesticides that can tackle both fungal diseases and insect pests simultaneously. Wheat yields in the UK can be reduced by up to 40% due to these combined pressures, representing both an economic opportunity and a sustainability imperative.

Credits: FA Bio

Currently, FA Bio is 6 months into a second Defra-funded initiative called the ENRICH project, developed in partnership with the UK Agri-Tech Centre and the University of Nottingham. This project focuses on discovering fungal biofertilisers for improving nutrient use efficiency (NUE) in arable crops, a critical challenge given that only 40-60% of applied nitrogen fertiliser is typically absorbed by plants. 

These collaborations accelerate the translation of science from the labs to the market, addressing agricultural challenges by improving crop yield, resource efficiency, and sustainability. The University of Nottingham's expertise in plant root phenomics, combined with the UK Agri-Tech Centre's knowledge of controlled environment agriculture, provides FA Bio with capabilities that would take years to develop internally.

The Regulatory Navigation Challenge

One of the most complex aspects of bringing biological products to market is regulatory approval. Unlike synthetic chemicals with well-established pathways, biological products often face inconsistent global approval processes. This is where partnerships become particularly valuable, as they can provide access to regulatory expertise and established approval pathways.

Credits: FA Bio

FA Bio's strategy of focusing on native, biosafety level 1 fungi strains while avoiding organisms that grow at human body temperature reflects a collaborative approach to regulatory challenges. By working with partners who understand these complexities, the company can navigate approval processes more efficiently.

The regulatory landscape is evolving to accommodate biological solutions, but the process remains time-consuming. Biofungicides typically take 5-7 years to reach market in Europe, while bio-stimulants can achieve approval in 1-2 years. This timeline disparity influences partnership strategies, with companies often pursuing multiple product categories simultaneously to maintain development momentum.

Technology Transfer and Knowledge Exchange

FA Bio's approach to collecting fungi directly from agricultural soils through a network of farmers and growers using their SporSenZ technology represents a novel departure from traditional laboratory-based screening methods. This field-first approach captures microorganisms that are actively interacting with crop roots—microbes that traditional Petri dish methods often miss. The technology's success has attracted industry partnerships that combine FA Bio's discovery capabilities with partners' development and commercialisation expertise.

The company's Microbial Library Collection, containing over 4,700 fungal isolates, represents years of fieldwork and characterisation. This resource, curated by scientists like Dr Young Nam Lee, becomes more valuable when combined with partners' analytical capabilities and market access.

Market Access and Commercial Validation

Perhaps the most critical aspect of successful collaboration is ensuring that innovative biological products reach farmers effectively. This requires not just scientific validation but also market education, distribution networks, and ongoing technical support.

Credits: FA Bio

The agricultural market presents unique challenges for biological products. Farmers, understandably cautious about new technologies, require compelling evidence of efficacy and economic benefit. Traditional chemical products offer predictable performance characteristics, while biological solutions may require more nuanced application approaches.

FA Bio's field trials done in partnership with growers, including their wheat biocontrol pipeline where fungal isolates provided superior disease protection compared to chemical controls, demonstrate the importance of real-world validation. However, these results must be communicated effectively to farmers through established channels and local partners.

The Future of Collaborative Innovation

As the agricultural biotechnology sector continues to mature, with collaboration models are evolving. The traditional linear model of discovery-to-development is giving way to more integrated approaches where partners contribute expertise throughout the product lifecycle.

2026 is expected to be a year of significant partnerships and collaborations, with companies working together to put more data to work, expand data access beyond traditional sources, and drive innovation in gene modulation technologies. This trend is particularly relevant for fungi based biological agricultural products, where data from diverse environmental conditions is crucial for product optimisation.

Credits: FA Bio

The emergence of bioprospecting technologies like FA Bio's SporSenZ system is creating new collaboration opportunities. Rather than developing single products, these tools can support multiple partnerships focused on different crops, applications, or geographic markets.

Building Sustainable Ecosystems

The most successful collaborations in agricultural biotechnology are those that create sustainable ecosystems of innovation. These partnerships go beyond simple licensing agreements to encompass knowledge sharing, joint research programs, and aligned development roadmaps.

FA Bio's multiple partnerships, from discovery collaborations with universities to licensing agreements with established manufacturers, represent this ecosystem approach. Each partnership addresses different aspects of the product development process while maintaining focus on the company's core mission of discovering superior microbial solutions.

The biological revolution in agriculture is not just about discovering new strains of fungi or developing innovative technologies, it's about building collaborative networks that can transform these discoveries into solutions that help farmers feed a growing global population while protecting the planet's natural resources. In this endeavour, partnership isn't just beneficial, it's essential.