ICL, a specialty minerals company, and Agrematch, an agritech AI start-up, have joined forces to find innovative solutions for crop nutrition. This partnership aims to utilize Agrematch’s AI technology, known as Artificial Intelligence for Active Ingredients (AI4AI), to accelerate the discovery process of new compounds in agriculture, which is often hindered by high costs and regulatory restrictions.
In addition to the partnership, ICL has invested in Agrematch through its innovation and investment platform, ICL Planet Startup Hub. This investment provides Agrematch with access to ICL’s team of R&D agronomists and scientists.
Using AI technology, the discovery of active compounds that aid plant nutrition can be expedited, reducing costs and time associated with the traditional process. Hadar Sutovsky, VP of External Innovation and GM of ICL Planet Startup Hub, explains that Agrematch’s unique AI predictive system combines data science, machine learning algorithms, and their proprietary database with biology, chemistry, and agricultural know-how to create a powerful platform.
Agrematch’s approach involves loading training data into the model generator, which then creates a specific activity model. The model’s algorithms analyze billions of compounds in Agrematch’s database, resulting in a shortlist of candidates with the predicted desired functionality. These candidates are further analyzed by Agrematch scientists in their live plant laboratories, ensuring compounds that meet the desired requirements are selected for future commercial products.
With a compound database currently exceeding six billion, Agrematch aims to expand it to 150 billion, enabling the AI technology to work with a wide range of crops. Additionally, the AI system can predict and characterize important compound attributes, such as toxicity profile, mode of action, environmental impact, and cost of goods sold. By addressing these factors early in the development process, Agrematch accelerates the process while mitigating downstream development risks.
The compounds discovered through AI4AI can vary from nutrient use efficiency (NUE) to solutions for optimizing plant and soil health, as well as bio-stimulants that maximize yield, quality, and durability. Agrematch has already achieved progress in this area by developing a novel natural herbicide effective against crop weeds, including those resistant to commonly used synthetic herbicides.
Apart from their financial and technical support, ICL’s expertise in fertilizer use and understanding of farmers’ needs will contribute to the development of new and innovative agricultural products. By combining Agrematch’s AI/ML expertise and cutting-edge technology with ICL’s extensive market reach, advanced agriculture innovation centers, and global manufacturing facilities, the partners aim to accelerate the development of novel crop nutrition solutions.
While Agrematch is based in Israel, they collaborate with customers in the EU, the US, and other parts of Asia. This collaborative effort will contribute to the advancement of the food and beverage industry, focusing on trends, sustainability, regulations, packaging, marketing, and consumer preferences.