Bayer-Backed Startup to Open Greenhouse for Crop-Friendly Microbes
(Bloomberg) -- A Bayer AG-backed startup is opening a greenhouse facility to study how microbes can be used to protect crops from pests and diseases.
Joyn Bio will use the 6,048 square-foot facility in Woodland, California to engineer microbial strains that are good for plants, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
The move comes as agribusinesses like Bayer are trying to find alternatives to chemical pesticides and man-made fertilizer, with farmers increasingly under pressure to switch to more environmentally friendly practices. At the same time, pests and diseases are becoming more resistant to current synthetic herbicides and pesticides.
Joyn Bio, headquartered in Boston, was founded in 2017 as a joint venture between Leaps by Bayer and Ginkgo Bioworks.
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
