India, UK start bio-crop research

The UK government announced a £1 million grant to launch a joint UK-India project to develop pest-resistant crops by June 2013.

The money is expected to fund the research of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Leeds University, and the Indian Agriculture Research Institute.

The aim is to develop sustainable, anti-parasitic, biotech crops to alleviate the estimated $125 billion lost each year because of parasites. The work is expected to also develop crops capable of growing in dry climates.

The work is expected to help farmers in regions susceptible to climate change, especially in the semi-arid peninsular and western India.

The University of Leeds' IP-Group is expected to explore a commercial spinoff for deployment in India.

The need for crops that are less succeptible to drought, disease and pests resulted in an $11.8 million Series C round for St. Louis, Mo.-based Divergence in February (see Divergence raises $11.8M for crop, pesticide technology). The company is mapping the genomes of the roundworm to develop chemicals that could target just those genes—killing the creature without impacting the soil, other wildlife or farmers. Parasitic roundworms cause an estimated $80 billion in crop damage annually across the globe.

St. Louis, Mo.-based Monsanto (NYSE: MON) has genetically engineered a strain of corn to protect the crop against pests that has been widely adopted in Canada, the U.S. and South America (see Monsanto strikes back at Germany, UCS). However, Germany, France and several other European countries have banned the GM crop because of concerns about the environmental impact (see Double-whammy hits genetically modified crops).

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