HarvestR in Israel has successfully lab tested dsRNA based treatments to treat fungi on key fruit like grapes. The next phase of large scale commercial trials has just started and include grapes and pears. Gal Admati, CEO of HarvestR, "We've tested it on grapes and intend to add pears and mangoes next and later on for a wide variety of fungal pathogens that attack additional crops in the field. Generally, any fruit and veg that suffers from pathogenic fungi can be treated."
Gal Admati, CEO and founder with Dr. Yael Bar Lavan, R&D Manager of HarvestR.
He says the initial trials at the Volcani Institute labs in Israel show the treatment, which is dsRNA-based spray induced gene suppression, is effective.
"By applying the treatment, it has shown a significant extension in shelf life. There is a marked reduction of fungi on fruit in comparison to the non-treated control group and others. We've seen a 50% reduction in pathogenic fungi in comparison to the control group. It looks very promising. We just kicked off large scale trials. It is done in a large commercial packing house of pears and other fruit in Israel," explains Admati.
Their aim, he says, is to reduce the food losses and waste. "There's a wide variety of fruit and vegetable fungal pathogens that render it inedible while shortening the shelf life. The generally accepted numbers are between 30-45% of crops that never reach the table. This is a huge number, with $940 billion lost. A huge percentage is lost due to fungal pathogens.
We intend to target any fruit and vegetable crop with our technology. It is all a matter of what the crop is and what fungal disease it is. Our technology is flexible and extremely specific. Our treatment only affects the pathogen we want it to affect. This enables us to provide a healthy product with no adverse effects. The treatment is considered biological, one can call it a green product. The main issue we're tackling is the fungi itself. The fruit naturally undergoes various changes. We do not directly address normal ageing of fruit, we are addressing the pathogenic fungi of fruit and veg to improve long-term storage," explains Admati.
Overcomes pathogen resistance to traditional chemicals
He says that traditional agri chemicals have the innate problem of pathogens that develop resistance over time. "Agri chemicals cover a wide range and do not discriminate against different organisms. What we're doing is to target several gene sequences in parallel that are responsible for crucial metabolic pathways. Our technology targets three or more gene sequences that greatly reduces the risk of any pathogen to develop some form of ability to circumvent our treatment. By tackling two or three, it reduces the likelihood significantly for any organism to develop resistance."
Admati says that their treatment, for example, could be used to treat the very large problem of botrytis that is prevalent in wine vineyards around the world. "This is something we hope to treat and reduce the spoilage it causes. Our method will do so in a manner that does not affect the environment and is not toxic."
Aiming for full market availability from late 2026
He says the regulatory pathway for RNA interference (RNAi) in the U.S. has already been established. This makes it easier to adopt this new application on fruit and vegetables. "We aim to hit the market by the end of 2026 or early 2027. There's already a regulatory pathway for dsRNA applications. Even if we're not the first to go to market, we will be one of the first. We may be the first company to treat fungal pathogens," states Admati.
The technology development was led by Dr. Naom Alkan together with Dr. Daniel Duanis Assaf, Dr. Lena Povarenov from the Volcani Institute and together with Prof. Robert Fluhr from the Weizmann Institute. "I established the company in late 2023 through a licensing agreement. We raised $450,000 from the InNegev Incubator, with support from the Israeli Innovation Authority. More funding will enable us to do more and better work in a quicker and more productive manner. We're also looking for collaborations with agrochemical companies and others," concludes Admati.
For more information:
Gal Admati
HarvestR
[email protected]
www.Harvestrag.com