Oxitec has completed the first farm-scale pilots of Friendly™ fall armyworm on thousands of hectares of commercial corn in Brazil’s key corn-growing regions.

These pilots have successfully validated the performance of the Friendly™ fall armyworm solution in farm settings, as Oxitec builds the product offering to deliver sustainable, effective and scalable impact for Brazilian farmers.

The Friendly™ fall armyworm can reduce populations of fall armyworm and provide long-term protection of the effectiveness of biotech crops against this devastating crop pest.

Oxitec Ltd, the leading developer of biological pest control solutions, today announced the successful conclusion of the first farm-scale pilot deployments of its Friendly™ fall armyworm on commercial fields in Brazil. This announcement follows approval of the Friendly™ fall armyworm technology in 2021 by the Brazilian government’s regulatory authorities and recent publication of the projected benefits that this solution can deliver to corn growers in Brazil and beyond.

These landmark pilots were conducted on thousands of acres of commercial farmland in São Paulo State, a key corn-growing regions in Brazil, during the first annual corn crop season of 2021-22, successfully validating the performance of the Friendly™ fall armyworm solution in open field, farm settings.

Following on achieving this milestone, Oxitec has partnered with Fundação MT, a respected and long-standing innovator in Brazilian agriculture, to further validate the distribution, deployment and performance of the Friendly™ fall armyworm solution on thousands of hectares. With Brazil’s second corn crop season now planted in Brazilian fields, the Oxitec team and their partners are expanding the pilot deployments to two large farms in the Midwest region of Mato Grosso, Brazil’s leading producer of soy, corn, cotton and cattle, while continuing with the pilot releases in São Paulo.

Powered by Oxitec’s Friendly™ technology, Oxitec’s fall armyworm solution has been developed to protect farmers’ crops and livelihoods and will now proceed to large pilot programs in Brazil. The deployment of Oxitec’s Friendly™ fall armyworm will reduce populations of fall armyworm in a safe and environmentally friendly way. This approach is designed to work in parallel with the existing tools available to farmers.

A recent peer-reviewed publication describes the early research conducted in the development of Oxitec’s Friendly™ fall armyworm, including results of mathematical modelling showing that releases of Friendly™ fall armyworm male moths into an agricultural landscape can significantly delay spread of resistance to biotech corn, thereby prolonging the effectiveness of these important pest protection tools.

Grey Frandsen, CEO of Oxitec, said, “We’re immensely proud of our global team in completing this first landmark season on commercial biotech corn in Brazil. This is a huge step forward on our path towards delivering transformative sustainability and value to Brazil’s corn industry in the face of the growing threat posed by this devastating pest. We’re now expanding to larger commercial farms and demonstrating our ability to produce, ship, and deploy over long distances across the country.”

Bruno Conti, Fundação MT’s Head of R&D, said, “We’re honored to have established this partnership with Oxitec. Fundação MT has the role of delivering to growers the most innovative and sustainable strategies for their crops and we are confident that, through this partnership, we will significantly contribute to the constant evolution of agribusiness.”

Natalia Ferreira, Oxitec’s Brazil Director, added “We’re delighted to deliver these successful pilots in partnership with Fundação MT who, like us, are so focused on delivering sustainability to agriculture and to have a major positive impact on livelihoods.”

A version of this article was posted at Oxitech and is used here with permission. You can check out Oxitech on Twitter @Oxitec