ICL and Lavie Bio leverage AI to achieve breakthrough in crop resilience

ICL, a global specialty minerals leader, and Lavie Bio Ltd., an ag-biologicals subsidiary of Evogene Ltd., have reached a significant milestone in their joint efforts to develop bio-stimulant solutions for row crops under abiotic stress conditions. Utilizing artificial intelligence (AI), Lavie Bio has identified over a dozen promising microbial candidates as potential bio-stimulants for crops facing extreme weather, including drought. This rapid success, achieved within 12 months, was facilitated by Lavie Bio's proprietary Biology Driven Design (BDD) technology platform.

The AI-driven program, co-developed by ICL and Lavie Bio, aims to deliver microbial solutions combined with fertilizers to improve crop resilience and yields by 5% to 10%. These microbes, identified using Lavie Bio's BDD platform powered by Evogene's MicroBoost AI tech-engine, were validated in greenhouse trials, showing a prediction success rate ten times higher than the industry standard.

Field trials in the U.S. and Brazil are scheduled for the second half of 2024, with results expected by year-end. The regulatory process is anticipated to commence in 2026.