Category: Blog

Bianca Forte, 20 January 2026

• The UK Farming Profitability Review calls government to create a policy and regulatory environment that puts food security at the heart of the sustainability agenda.
• It calls for a strategy that empowers and enables farmers to engage effectively with industry to co-design and co-develop the solutions required to truly transform performance.
• Environmental sustainability must work hand-in-hand with farmer profitability – something that biostimulants are uniquely positioned to deliver.

In December 2025, the UK Government published its Farming Profitability Review, a wide-ranging, independent assessment of the pressures facing farm businesses and the structural changes needed to deliver a more profitable and resilient UK farming sector.

While the review is broad in scope, one message is loud and clear: a more strategic policy and regulatory framework is needed – one that better balances food production and environmental outcomes – to ensure the viability, profitability and sustainability of UK farming.

For biostimulant ventures, the Review brings positive news. If adopted, its recommendations will create a strengthening market for innovations that deliver measurable return on investment to farmers while improving the resilience and sustainability of food production.

Profitability returns to the centre of UK agricultural policy

At the heart of the Review is a clear call to “make, create, grow, produce and sell more from our farms in a measurable way.” This explicit focus on outcomes marks an important recalibration in UK agricultural policy. It is not a retreat from environmental ambition, but an honest reminder that profitability is one of the three pillars of sustainability.

In recent years, much innovation has focused on reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture; however, in many cases the economic case for adoption has been poorly defined. The Review signals a shift toward solutions that embed environmental benefit within a robust commercial model.

How biostimulants fit the new farming profitability agenda

Biostimulants sit squarely within this emerging paradigm. By increasing crop yield and quality and improving the efficiency with which other inputs are used, they offer a pathway to producing more food per hectare without increasing environmental impact – while strengthening farm revenues rather than diluting them.

The Review also positions food production as part of the UK’s critical national infrastructure, explicitly linking food access to national security. Against a backdrop of rising food insecurity, this elevates the strategic importance of innovations that support resilient domestic production.

For investors, this alignment matters. Markets that sit at the intersection of national infrastructure, economic growth and sustainability will benefit from sustained policy focus, public funding support and long-term demand – helping to de-risk opportunities.

A clear mandate for commercial, farmer-led agri-tech research

Another strong signal for biostimulant ventures is the Review’s call for goal-orientated commercial research. It calls for science to be designed with farmers, not just for them, and for investment to be coordinated across industry and public bodies such as BBSRC, Defra and Innovate UK.

This is not about expanding research budgets indiscriminately. It is about directing capital towards innovation that delivers measurable outcomes on farm – particularly profitability and resilience.

When research is co-designed with farmers, tested under real-world conditions and evaluated against metrics that matter to farm businesses, the translation and adoption of outputs can be accelerated. This is particularly important in fields with long R&D cycles like agri-tech.

This creates a more favourable pathway from scientific discovery to commercial impact.

How climate volatility is accelerating demand for crop innovation

The Review places resilience at the centre of farming viability – a theme strongly echoed by results from a survey of 211 UK farmers that we commissioned from Grounded Research last year.

For 95% of respondents of our survey, weather variability emerged as the single most significant challenge facing wheat production. This was the top risk identified by them – ahead even of disease control or weed resistance, which historically would have been biggest concerns.

This growing exposure to climate volatility is reshaping demand for innovations that help crops tolerate drought, heat and other types of abiotic stresses. In that context, biostimulants will become core tools for managing risk and protecting margins in crop production.

Agri-tech adoption in the UK: Barriers, demand and opportunity

The Review is realistic about the barriers farmers face when trialling new technologies. With margins under pressure, the appetite for risk is limited. For biostimulants in particular, this is precisely where the opportunity lies.

Data from our survey shows that while farmers have experienced mixed results from existing biostimulant products, demand is strong. Over three-quarters of farmers surveyed said they would adopt new biostimulants if a clear financial advantage were demonstrated, and half expect to increase their use over the next five years.

Barriers to adoption were identified in the survey – cost-effectiveness, proven performance and access to independent data. These are not structural blockers, but signals of a market moving from early experimentation to evidence-led selection.

Internationally, there is great experience that can be drawn from to facilitate this transition.

In the EU for instance, where biostimulants are regulated under FPR 2019/1009, some countries are using elements of their CAP budgets to support farmer-led trials of new products. The principle is simple: allow farmers to see return on investment on their own farms before scaling adoption.

For the UK, the Review points toward mechanisms such as streamlined grants with reduced administrative burden. We believe better use of subsidies to promote practice that delivers environmental as well as financial outcomes on farms also have an important role to play in this.

What the Review means for agri-tech ventures and investors

Taken together, the Farming Profitability Review outlines a sector in transition:

• Farmers are actively seeking tools to manage risk and protect margins;
• Policy is re-anchoring around productivity, profitability and resilience;
• Research funding is shifting toward commercial, outcome-driven innovation;
• Adoption barriers are increasingly addressable through evidence and collaboration.

This is the profile of a market entering a transformation phase – where many opportunities will be found for innovations with scientific credibility, regulatory alignment and real-world performance.

Building the next generation of crop stimulation technology

With a product based on 25+ years of cutting-edge science and a ground-breaking technology invented by Oxford University and Rothamsted Research, we are keen to play our part in the above.

While the bulk of biostimulants available to farmers today are mixtures of ingredients with poorly described modes of action, our formulations use single active ingredients based on natural molecules that trigger specific metabolic, physiological and stress-responses in plants.

By working closely with farmers and go-to-market partners from the earliest stages of development, we are aligning our innovation pipeline with the priorities highlighted in the Review: productivity, resilience and profitability. By improving efficiency, we reduce the environmental impact of farming.

Want to know more? Follow us on LinkedIn or contact us today.

Cara Griffiths, 22 December 2025

• In a recent article with collaborators, our CTO, Dr Cara Griffiths, provided her take on what traits are most important for improving crop performance in a changing climate.
• Attempts to enhance photosynthesis without boosting sink capacity struggle to deliver significant yield gains.
• Coordinating source and sink pathways – particularly during growth or reproductive development – offers a promising route to improving both crop yield and quality.

During the 20th century, crop yields increased dramatically when the Green Revolution tripled yield potential for staple crops such as wheat and rice. In this time, most yield gains came from changes in plant architecture, such as shorter stems leading to greater allocation of carbon into developing spikes.

With yield gains now plateauing, there has been a major push in academia over the last two decades to increase photosynthesis as a means of improving crop production. The logic is intuitive – more photosynthesis should mean more carbon for yield production.

In a recent effort with collaborators from Rothamsted Research, CIMMYT, and Nottingham University, we reviewed a body of scientific papers from decades of photosynthesis research and provided our take on what traits we should be chasing to improve crop performance in a changing climate. You can download our article in the 30^th Anniversary Issue of Trends in Plant Science.

We concluded that after gearing heavily on one side of the plant’s carbon economy, photosynthesis, we see growing evidence in the literature that source-sink interactions constrain the impact of that approach on yield improvement. The need to unlock this bottleneck is particularly interesting for our work at SugaROx, which we explore further in this blog.

Source-sink balance

Yield is not determined solely by how efficiently plants produce carbon, but by how effectively they can utilise it. For example, photosynthesis (the source of carbon) and crop growth or grain filling processes (the sink) are tightly connected through feedback loops. When sink processes are unable to use carbon due to other resource constraints, such as water or nitrogen availability, photosynthesis is reduced. Put simply, plants will only photosynthesise at high rates when there is demand for carbon. This means that attempts to enhance photosynthesis without boosting sink capacity struggle to deliver significant yield gains.

Timing of intervention matters

Increasing photosynthetic rate increases demand for other resources – water being a good example. While yield gains can be demonstrated in academic studies conducted under controlled glasshouse conditions, these gains frequently fail to translate to real-world farming systems where higher transpiration rates require increasing water supply – a resource often limited in farming systems. For me, this shows that when photosynthesis is enhanced matters just as much as how. Sustained increases in photosynthesis throughout the crop lifecycle can exacerbate water loss. By contrast, targeting photosynthesis to key crop stages when sink processes are activated reinforces photosynthetic rates.

Yield quality is part of the same equation

For Triticum aestivum (bread wheat), yield increases are often accompanied by a dilution of grain protein content. The academic literature indicates that this trade-off arises when carbon supply and nitrogen assimilation become uncoupled. This implies that better source-sink balance might not only activate starch synthesis but also promote the synthesis of protein in the grain. This field of research is limited, and it’s one that I am particularly excited to explore at SugaROx. The first molecule in our pipeline of active ingredients for crop biostimulants can deliver a boost in protein content in wheat grains – this effect has been consistent across the field trials commissioned by us since launching the company.

Rethinking yield improvement

The key message from our review of the scientific literature on photosynthesis research is clear: coordinating source and sink pathways – particularly during growth or reproductive development – offers a promising route to improving both crop yield and quality. The first molecule in our pipeline is a proprietary version of trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P), a natural plant sugar that boosts sink processes through the inhibition of the famine-signalling enzyme SnRK1, a central regulator of plant metabolism. By modulating the enzyme’s activity, we can strengthen carbon sink and, in turn, boost source processes.

Interested in our approach? Join the SugaROx mission

At SugaROx, we’re committed to advancing the science of crop stimulation.

Through our B2B model, we collaborate with go-to-market partners who deeply understand farmers’ needs and practices, testing and delivering our solutions across key agricultural markets worldwide.

If you fit that profile, contact us today or follow us on LinkedIn to keep up with our progress.

Bianca Forte, 31 October 2025

In partnership with Grounded Research, we’ve published findings from a new survey showing that while awareness of biostimulants among UK wheat growers is high, confidence in their performance remains low. We believe that stronger regulation is essential to build farmer trust.

• Our survey reveals that trust on companies’ claims, trial data and agronomist advice will determine UK farmers’ adoption of biostimulants.
• It also shows regulations are required to encourage transparency to meet the concerns of farmers hindering industry-wide growth.

Our Business Development Director, Bianca Forte, shares key findings from the survey.

Surveying farmer attitudes towards biostimulants

When we commissioned a nationwide survey of UK wheat growers earlier this year, our goal at SugaROx was to go beyond the numbers to understand how farmers really feel about biostimulants.

To make that happen, we partnered with Grounded Research, a firm known for its deep roots in agricultural insight. What a great choice that was; not only were they able to engage our target audience effectively but they also helped us contextualise some of the responses.

The survey forms part of our Innovate UK–funded project to accelerate the development of our first biostimulant, a single-molecule formulation whose active ingredient is based on the natural plant sugar trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P).

We are a spin-out from Oxford University and Rothamsted Research on a mission to develop science-based solutions for the biostimulants industry. Understanding farmer perceptions helps us ensure that what we’re developing meets real needs in the field.

Our survey, conducted between April and June 2025, reached 211 UK wheat farmers through Grounded Research’s Five Bar Gate farmer panel and our own network. It explored everything from awareness and usage to purchase channels, price sensitivity, and observed benefits.

As Clare Otridge, Market Research Consultant at Grounded Research noted: “The appetite for innovation is there among farmers, they just lack the confidence in the solutions historically available.” This is one of the most important takeaways from our research.

Weather variability now tops the list of farmers’ challenges

Clare commented: “Ninety-five percent of the farmers we spoke to mentioned that as a major issue. With the last few seasons bringing everything from prolonged dry spells to intense heatwaves, it’s no surprise, and the survey also reveals that growers are actively seeking tools to build resilience.”

Most farmers understand the function of biostimulants

According to survey results, most farmers associated biostimulants with improved nutrient uptake (86%), root growth (84%), stress tolerance (80%), and yield boost (71%). That is excellent, as those are functions correctly associated with biostimulants. But 42% still view biostimulants as fertilisers and 24% see them as pesticides – which are different classes of crop inputs.

Farmers feel the benefits delivered by biostimulants are still modest

Among the farmers who have tried biostimulants, the top benefits observed were resilience against abiotic stress (2.09 out of 5), yield gains (2.00) and better nutrient-use efficiency (1.88). Half of farmers expect to use more biostimulants in the next five years.

Farmer trust is a barrier for wider adoption

Cost-effectiveness is a major barrier for adoption (rated 4.37 out of 5). Clare said: “Resilience to climate change and sustainability are strong motivators for biostimulant adoption, but at the end of the day, yield and profitability still drive decision-making. More than three-quarters told us they’d consider adding new biostimulants to their spray plan if the advantage was clear.”

The next two biggest barriers for adoption reported by farmers were unproven performance (4.19) and lack of trusted information (4.19). Clare added: “Lack of information was mentioned by 34% of respondents.” At SugaROx we believe legislation is needed to regulate companies’ claims.

As noted by one farmer: “Independent trials don’t show anywhere near the advantage manufacturers claim.” Another added: “What’s still holding me back is the lack of clear guidance on which products work best for my crop conditions.”

Agronomy groups, highly influential advisers on farms, are still shy about biostimulants

Most farmers reported learning about biostimulants through the farming press (32%) and agricultural events (23%). Clare noted: “Only 18% first heard about biostimulants from agronomists. To me this shows great potential for growth, as agronomists are trusted advisors for farmers.”

Agronomists in the UK, independent professionals or those associated with companies that also supply inputs, are knowledgeable advisors for farmers. They build their relationship with their customers through advice that works, so it’s important for inputs to perform reliably.

What the results mean for the farming industry

The insights from the survey mirror what we often hear in our own conversations with farmers and agronomists. Demand is high, the industry is full of potential, but uncertainty is hindering adoption.

At the moment, biostimulants in the UK remain unregulated. Defra has been considering a certification framework similar to the EU’s Fertilising Products Regulation (2019/1009), which would require companies to certify their claims on product safety, composition, and efficacy.

If this goes ahead, it could be a turning point. Clearer standards would help farmers trust what they’re buying and accelerate adoption of products that truly improve resilience in UK farming.

Clare agreed, saying: “The results show both opportunity and responsibility. The biostimulant sector needs to back its claims with robust data and help farmers make informed choices. There’s a real chance here to build a stronger, more evidence-led market.

That’s exactly why we wanted to share these findings. The survey isn’t just about where farmers stand today – it’s about where the industry can go next if we listen carefully, prove what works, and bring science and practice closer together.

Do you share our vision? Join the SugaROx mission

At SugaROx, we’re committed to advancing the science of crop stimulation.

Through our B2B model, we collaborate with go-to-market partners who deeply understand farmers’ needs and practices, testing and delivering our solutions across key agricultural markets worldwide.

If you fit that profile, contact us today or follow us on LinkedIn to keep up with our progress.

Bianca Forte, 05 September 2025 

Biostimulants are a relatively new class of crop input, holding promise to become the cornerstone of climate-smart farming. For investors, this makes them one of the most urgent investment opportunities of the decade. 

• Global agriculture is at breaking point. Farmers must produce more food with fewer resources, while food companies scramble to secure resilient supply chains.

• The biostimulant industry is going through a period of innovation, presenting opportunities for investment not seen before at this level.

• Join SugaROx and invest in supporting the critical mission of our lifetime.

What are biostimulants? 

Biostimulants enhance biological functions in plants and soil, helping farmers boost yields, improve quality, increase efficiency of nutrient use, and build resilience to heatwaves, droughts, and other climate stresses. 

Traditional biostimulants, such as plant and seaweed extracts and acid-based formulations from organic wastes, still dominate 90% of the market. They’ve been around for decades, despite offering unreliable results and limited differentiation. 

But major disruption is coming to this industry in the form of microbial and single-molecule formulations. These newer technologies are where the breakthroughs are happening, and where new market leaders will be made. 

Market growth and trends 

From U$4.1B today, to a predicted value of U$11.2B by 2035, biostimulants are scaling at double-digit CAGR (compound annual growth rate).  They are not a passing trend. They will become the fourth pillar of food production, powered by unstoppable drivers, including: 

• Weather: Rising temperatures and erratic rainfall threaten crop yields and quality, from wheat production in the UK to glasshouse production of tomatoes in Japan. Biostimulants enable climate-smart farming. 

• Consumer demand: Consumers in developed countries want sustainable food, whether it is sourced locally or from abroad. Biostimulants help to reduce the carbon footprint of food production and reduce the ongoing pressure to expand farmland. 

• Regulatory pressure: Europe and countries which export into it are tightening their rules on the use of synthetic fertilisers and crop protection products. Biostimulants will help fill the gap in revenue for input companies. 

Turning risk into advantage 

The biostimulants industry has long suffered from a lack of regulations. This led to a myriad of undifferentiated products being promoted to farmers, eroding their trust and driving a race to the bottom on price. This chaos is ending. 

Leading the charge is the European Union (EU), with its Fertilising Products Regulation (FPR) 2019/1009, which took effect in July 2022. This new framework provides universal standards for companies wanting to place biostimulants on the EU’s Single Market. Products that meet its stringent safety, quality, and efficacy requirements are granted the CE mark. 

In the UK, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is looking to regulate the market under a new framework for fertilisers. It has confirmed that the industry welcomes new regulation, and it has now commissioned a practical study to assess if the FPR 2019/1009 standards provide a strong base for certification. 

The Plant Biostimulant Act recently reintroduced in the US creates a federal definition for biostimulants and streamlines the approval process for products. Currently, nine states have adopted a definition for ‘beneficial substances’ developed by the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials (AAPFCO), and 20 others may initiate legislation/ rulemaking before the end of 2025.  

Weaknesses being exposed 

These are a few examples which show that weak biostimulants will be swept away in key food producing countries. The companies with validated science behind their products will be rewarded. As rules tighten, SugaROx is perfectly positioned to lead with our patented platform technology to develop single-molecule biostimulants: 

• Our technology is grounded in over 25 years of cutting-edge science by our academic founders, with their results published in high-impact papers such as Nature, PNAS, Plant Physiology and Nature Biotechnology.  

• We have 18 patents to our name, granted worldwide, so we have a solid foundation to our approach. Our patent portfolio covers the use of our first product in major agricultural countries including the UK, US, Brazil, China, and key EU member states. 

How we’re different 

Across the UK, EU, and US, the story is the same: biostimulants are becoming the fourth pillar of crop production. But the market is clogged with products which underdeliver, leaving distributors unable to meet the demands of farmers. 

That’s where SugaROx stands apart: 

• Breakthrough technology: As a spin out of Rothamsted Research and Oxford University, our platform delivers natural plant bioactivators into plant cells via a simple foliar spray. Our patented “delivery cage” ensures absorption of the molecules and activation in their site of action. 

• Targeted mode-of-action: Our first product is a modified trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P), a natural sugar that deactivates a famine-signaling enzyme (SnRK1), shifting plants from “survival mode” to “thriving mode.” Traditional biostimulants deliver 2–5% yield gains – our field trials to-date show potential to deliver 5–22% yield boost in wheat crops. 

This isn’t incremental. It’s transformative, and the leap forward that farmers, distributors, and corporates are actively searching for. 

Why invest now? 

Despite a recent dip in venture funding, biologicals remain an area of ongoing investment via venture capital, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate-led or collaborative research and development.  

While historically biological ventures required decades to achieve U$4M–U$30M revenue, experts are forecasting that U$100M+ revenues are now achievable within 10 years of a venture being founded.   

Biostimulants are standing out due to their double-digit growth on demand, the lack of reliable products servicing demand, and regulations cleaning up the market. 

However, there is an urgency; only a handful of companies worldwide are pioneering single-molecule biostimulants. Like our peers, SugaROx offers a robust approach, aligned with regulatory shifts and a go-to-market strategy to sell our products via channels trusted by farmers. We are on a mission to transform this industry. 

Where we stand out, above our peers, is through our platform technology to generate a pipeline of molecules across crops, using over 25 years of science underpinning our first molecule, and exclusive access to 18 foundational patents. 

No other venture offers the same potential for innovation and growth. This positions us as both a preferred technology partner for corporates and a prime target for M&A. 

Join us in the biostimulants revolution  

The winners are being chosen now. If you’re looking to back technologies that deliver both impact and returns, this is your moment. 

We’ll be at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in London on 22nd–23rd September 2025. Come chat with our team at the event, contact us today to secure a 121 with us.

Dr Cara Griffiths, 27 August 2025

• T6P technology, first published by Rothamsted Research and Oxford University in Nature in 2016, showed potential to boost wheat yields by up to 20% in glasshouses.
• New publication in Nature Biotechnology confirms feasibility of the T6P technology in field conditions, with consistent yield gains of around 10% in wheat.
• SugaROx is now launching trials, with a more cost-effective version of the active ingredient, at a lower dose rate, with distributors and farmers to validate performance more widely, bridging academic discovery with agricultural practice.

One of the biggest challenges in agriculture is turning brilliant lab discoveries into solutions that work in unpredictable field conditions. Many fail along the way. But when the gap is closed, the results can transform farming. That’s the story of our flagship active ingredient, an innovative, plant-permeable form of trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P), the natural plant sugar in our first biostimulant.

Following publication of her academic research in Nature Biotechnology, our CTO Dr. Cara Griffiths shares her thoughts on how her work on T6P went from a research project to development of a solution for real-world farmers.

Breaking new knowledge – how it began

Agricultural innovation often starts with a simple question: what hidden mechanisms inside plants could be harnessed to grow more food with fewer resources?

In the late 1990s, my colleague Dr Matthew Paul, a plant biologist at Rothamsted Research, was developing early fundamental research that discovered a tiny sugar, T6P, acts as a regulator of plant energy.

T6P acts as a key signal of sugar availability, switching metabolism into a “feast mode” when energy is abundant; promoting growth, starch synthesis, and biomass accumulation. It does this by inhibiting SnRK1, a master regulator that otherwise triggers a “famine response,” slowing growth and conserving resources. By increasing the abundance of T6P in the cell, this feast response can be triggered, pushing more sugar resources into plant growth, development, and ultimately yield.

The challenge? T6P is a polar molecule and can’t cross plant cell membranes if simply sprayed on crops. That’s when Matthew teamed up with Professor Ben Davis, an organic chemist at Oxford University, who engineered a “caged” version, allowing for cell membrane penetration; protected until sunlight releases it inside the plant. This breakthrough meant T6P could finally be delivered into crops using common farming practice.

Proof in controlled conditions

I joined the research team in 2014 to put the T6P analogues created by Ben and Matthew to the test. In 2016, we published in Nature that spraying wheat with plant-permeable T6P increased yields by up to 20% in controlled environments.

This was the first proof of concept that chemical intervention in sugar signalling could change the rules of crop productivity. It suggested we could increase yields without demanding more land, water, or fertiliser – a vital step toward sustainable agriculture and food security.

Feasibility in fields

The real test was moving from glasshouses to real fields. Matthew, Ben, and I launched an academic project in Argentina where we ran replicated small plot trials across four seasons to test the technology under agricultural conditions.

The results, now published in Nature Biotechnology, showed yield gains of 5-17%, averaging 10%. Crucially, these gains didn’t require extra fertiliser or irrigation. For farmers, that means more grain from the same land – real productivity, not just lab theory.

From academic trials to business-led trials

At SugaROx, our mission is to take this discovery from science to practice. To commercialise the technology, we need to show consistency across different soils, weather and farmer practices, and as CTO, I run trials with three types of stakeholders to achieve this.

Shortly after launching our venture in 2021, we commissioned a small number of trials across 5 countries with a leading contract research organisation (CRO). We started with Replicated Small Plot Trials (RSPTs) to optimise dose, formulation, and timing of application and refine our minimum viable product.

Last autumn, with Innovate UK and ADAS support, we began on-farm trials with 10 UK farmers at the hectare scale. Real-world feedback is essential to shaping a product that delivers value on the ground.

With new investment recently secured to scale up T6P production, we will be producing more samples to potential distributors interested in evaluating our T6P in key markets. These partners help us learn a huge amount about the practices of farmers in different countries.

Looking ahead

The journey of T6P shows how rethinking plant biochemistry can unlock new ways to boost crop yields. I continue to split my time between Rothamsted Research and SugaROx because I believe breakthroughs shouldn’t stay confined to journals.

At SugaROx we believe that by bridging science and commercialisation, we can deliver the next generation of biostimulants that farmers need and the industry seeks. Products with well-described modes of action, addressing specific bottlenecks in plant physiology to deliver real value to farmers.

If you’d like to learn more about our technology, contact us today.

SugaROx has secured £1million in additional funding following its latest seed round extension.

£400,000 of the strategic investment has been secured from a global player in the fertiliser industry, The Mosaic Company, alongside continued backing from  existing  UK-based angel investors and sustainable growth-focused investment funds the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (managed by Future Planet Capital) and Regenerate Ventures, who contributed a further £600,000.

Biostimulants are one of the fastest growing crop input sectors, with an estimated 11% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Our £1 million extension follows a recent £2.4 million grant awarded from the UK’s national innovation agency, Innovate UK, to upscale manufacturing of our first active ingredient Trehalose-6-Phosphate (T6P).

Our T6P biostimulant boosts the yields and resilience of crops by inhibiting SnRK1, an enzyme that signals energy scarcity in the plant. Safety tests were completed in early 2024, confirming a promising regulatory outlook for the proprietary T6P, and led potential go-to-market partners to request samples for field trials.

We are working to launch our T6P wheat biostimulant in the UK market in 2027 and in the EU in 2028. This year we launched trials in soybean and maize with a view to enter the US and Brazilian markets shortly after.

Commenting on the additional £1million raised, Mark Robbins, our CEO, said: “In response to increasing demand for product samples, we decided to accelerate our manufacturing timeline, fast‑tracking the shift from in‑house lab production to a pilot facility. The Innovate UK grant and additional investment allows us to do that”.

“Our existing investors were quick to subscribe to the seed round extension, which we are delighted to complete with Mosaic as a strategic partner. We have the ambition to transform the biostimulants industry with science-based solutions – something that is only achievable in collaboration with other players”.

Explaining the benefits of Mosaic’s investment, Dr Cara Griffiths our CTO and co-founder, added: “With Mosaic we gain access to an established network of trial sites for validation of our first product in the US at scale. Mosaic will also provide us with access to TruResponse®, a digital platform to visualise field results, which will be extremely valuable for our research.”

Reflections from the 2025 European Biostimulants Industry Council (EBIC) Stakeholder Summit

Bianca Forte, 23 June 2025

• Three years after the introduction of EU Fertilising Products Regulation (FPR) 2019/1009, the biostimulants industry came together to discuss its impact on innovation at the 2025 EBIC Stakeholder Summit in Brussels
• SugaROx business development director, Bianca Forte, attended as a panellist to share our experience on the impact of the new regulation on start-ups
• Discover her thoughts on the Summit, and learn how SugaROx has been impacted by the regulations

Earlier this month, I joined industry leaders from across Europe at the 2025 EBIC Stakeholder Summit in Brussels. As a panellist, I had the opportunity to share our experience of navigating the evolving regulatory landscape as venture builders at SugaROx.

Three years after the implementation of the EU Fertilising Products Regulation (FPR) 2019/1009, the Summit made clear that the regulation is a significant milestone for industry growth, but there’s still work to do to ensure innovation isn’t stifled. Here’s what we discussed.

Level playing fields are essential for unlocking private investment

In 2016 SugaROx’s academic co-founders published their results on Trehalose 6-phosphate (T6P) in Nature, demonstrating that the external application of a modified version of T6P could significantly boost wheat yields. Since natural T6P cannot be absorbed by plants, Rothamsted and Oxford received strong interest from agrochemical companies and investors, keen to explore the commercial potential of this invention.

Unfortunately, regulatory uncertainty at the time proved a major barrier to securing a licensee or investor.

Previously, companies seeking to commercialise biostimulants had two options:

register their products as plant growth regulators (PGRs), which meant navigating a costly and time-consuming EU approval process;

or register their products as foliar fertilisers at Member State level, a faster and less expensive path, but restrictive on marketing claims.

With the implementation of FPR 2019/1009 approaching, in 2020, Rothamsted and Oxford revisited the opportunity to launch a spin-out. Regulatory frameworks continued to feature prominently in investor discussions.

This time, the emerging clarity on data requirements for certification under FPR 2019/1009 gave investors the confidence that unregulated competitors wouldn’t undercut their backing. SugaROx was born in 2021.

Disproportionate requirements risk slowing innovation to market

Four years on, we’re preparing to formally enter the FPR 2019/1009 certification process, to start in 2026.

The process involves submitting a technical Data Dossier to a Notified Body, demonstrating that our product’s physico-chemical properties, field efficacy, and safety claims conform with the standards developed by CEN, under Mandate M/564.

For biostimulants produced from raw materials like ours, FPR imposes safety testing requirements normally applied for substances produced in quantities of 10 tonnes per year or more (Annex VIII and upwards).

While safety assessments are essential, the extensive testing requirements (normally reserved for higher-risk substances under REACH) add significant time and cost. A more proportionate approach would create a better balance between innovation and safety.

It was reassuring to hear at the Summit that companies within our wider industry share our concerns. As a newer EBIC member, we value the important groundwork laid by earlier members to help shape FPR 2019/1009.

The collective spirit at the Summit was clear; work must continue to refine the regulatory system. This way, new products can reach farmers fast enough to address the impacts of climate change on food production.

Incentives are crucial to restore trust in the industry

Our industry must acknowledge an uncomfortable truth: for decades, biostimulants have operated in a regulatory grey zone. As demand has grown, low-quality products have entered the market, creating inconsistent results and eroding farmer confidence.

The burden is now on all of us, as companies, to rebuild that trust by underpinning claims with robust data. In addition, financial incentives would help to quickly correct past market failings.

By encouraging farmers to trial CE-marked biostimulants, Member States can build confidence with end-users that the FPR 2019/1009 system can be trusted. Once companies with robust, science-based solutions like ours demonstrate results in the field, adoption will take off.

Do you share our vision? Join the SugaROx mission.

At SugaROx, we’re committed to advancing the science of crop stimulation.

Through our B2B model, we collaborate with go-to-market partners who deeply understand farmers’ needs and practices, testing and delivering our solutions across key agricultural markets worldwide.

If you fit that profile, contact us today or follow us on LinkedIn to keep up with our progress.

SugaROx, 24 January 2025

This week, at the Yield Enhancement Network (YEN) conference, our CTO Dr Cara Griffiths and Plant Biologist Dr Maria Oszvald (photo) launched our call for UK farmers to help shape the development of our wheat biostimulant.

About YEN

The YEN initiative, established by ADAS in 2012, connects forward-thinking farmers and innovative companies with a shared goal of improving farm productivity and performance.

By participating in a national competition, farmers receive detailed performance reports for new practices they test and can benchmark their results anonymously against other participants.

Farmers also gain access to expertise through newsletters and events, and this week’s conference was the YEN flagship event for knowledge exchange.

On-Farm Trials

“YEN provides an exceptional platform for connecting cutting-edge research with practical farming so we are delighted to work with ADAS to progress our R&D to on-farm testing”, adds Cara. “The work is funded by Innovate UK under a Large R&D Partnership aimed at demonstrating the efficacy and reliability of our wheat biostimulant across the UK.”

Dr Pete Berry, Head of Crop Physiology at ADAS, adds, “In this new project, we’re working with SugaROx to independently test their product. Data from on-farm trials will ensure the wheat biostimulant can be targeted at crop varieties and environments where it delivers the greatest benefits for farmers.”

Farmers interested in hosting a trial with SugaROx and ADAS are encouraged to complete this short form.

Farmer Survey

“To inform our research and development, we are also running a national survey with UK farmers,” adds Cara. The survey includes 27 questions designed to capture farmers’ experiences with existing biostimulants and explore unmet needs.

“Surveys like these are vital to ensure new products meet farmers’ requirements,” adds Pete. “Farmers’ responses will remain confidential, but as the project is publicly funded, we will share high-level messages through publications and events.”

Farmers can share their views on crop biostimulants by completing this questionnaire.

Our Innovation

Most biostimulants available today are extracts from algae or plants or acid-based formulations. These products are mixtures of ingredients, and tend to deliver modest yield gains of 2%-5% for farmers.

“We develop single-molecule formulations with active ingredients (AI) that mimic natural plant signaling molecules”, explains Cara. “Field trials have shown that our first AI, a patented, modified version of trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P), has the potential to boost wheat yields by up to 20%.”

Founded four years ago as a spin-out from Oxford University and Rothamsted Research, SugaROx is working to launch its T6P biostimulant in the coming years. “UK farmers have a pivotal role to play in helping us achieve this goal,” Cara concludes.

More information on our Large R&D Partnership is available here.

SugaROx, 27 November 2024

What an extraordinary way to cap off the year! We are proud to announce that our innovative approach to crop stimulation has been awarded the Innovation Prize at the Biostimulants World Congress in Miami. Reflecting on the event, which brought together over 1,000 industry leaders for 3.5 days of inspiring presentations and discussions, our Business Development Director, Bianca Forte, shared her key takeaways.

Technology Developments: Science-Based Products

“The event began on a high note for me, as the vision shared during the opening address by Patrick Brown, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, resonates with our work. Patrick emphasized the transformative potential of targeting signalling pathways in plant physiology to drive the next wave of innovation in crop stimulation,” Bianca remarked.

At SugaROx, our flagship active ingredient is grounded in 25 years of pioneering science by Rothamsted Research into how plants utilize and allocate carbon. One of their discoveries is the role of trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P), a natural sugar present in all plants, in regulating carbon use and allocation. T6P deactivates SnRC1, an enzyme that signals a “famine state” in plants. Deactivation of the enzyme pushes more carbon into grains.

We agree with Patrick that signalling pathways offer immense potential to boost yields, and we are excited to have exclusive access to a technology invented by plant biologists from Rothamsted in collaboration with organic chemists from Oxford University to overcome technical bottlenecks in these areas.

T6P’s strong charge prevents it from being absorbed by plants when applied as a foliar spray. To overcome this, the academics from Rothamsted and Oxford developed a proprietary version of T6P absorbable by plants. Their results, published in Nature, demonstrated the technology’s potential to boost wheat yields by up to 20%.

Industry Insights: Market Trends and Challenges

Key presentations from industry leaders, including Warrick Steptoe of Kynetec and Manel Cervera of Dunham Trimmer, highlighted the rapid growth of the biostimulants market, currently expanding at a 12% CAGR. This growth is driving demand for innovative products, with distributors eager to diversify their portfolios and Tier 1 and Tier 2 agrochemical companies accelerating new developments.

However, two significant challenges could impact the sector’s trajectory:

• Regulation: In unregulated markets like the UK, products are often launched with insufficient evidence of effectiveness or mode of action. Even in regulated regions, such as the EU, it remains to be seen if frameworks like the EU Fertilising Products Regulation 2019/1009 are robust enough to prioritize sound, science-backed innovations like ours.
• Commoditization: As new players enter the market, traditional products – such as algae and plant extracts or acid-based formulations – are increasingly commoditized. This drives prices down, threatening the viability of businesses that rely exclusively on these materials. Differentiated solutions, like our single-molecule formulations, can address this.

Do You Share Our Vision? Join Us!

At SugaROx, our mission is to become a global leader in the science of crop stimulation. We are building a multidisciplinary team of plant biologists, organic chemists, and data scientists to uncover new physiological targets and design innovative ways of delivering natural molecules inside plant cells.

Using a B2B business model, we are seeking partnerships with go-to-market channels that have a deep understanding of farmers’ practices and needs. If you fit that profile, contact our Business Development Director Bianca Forte to open a dialogue with us and follow us on LinkedIn.

SugaROx, 30 October 2024

In our latest article, we discussed how the technology developed by plant biologists from Rothamsted Research and organic chemists from Oxford University earned us the Innovation & Excellence Award 2024 for Agriculture Chemical Manufacturer of the Year. Today, we are excited to share that we have secured funding from Innovate UK to launch a Large R&D Partnership to accelerate the development and commercialization of our first product: a T6P biostimulant to improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of wheat production in the UK.

Since launching SugaROx 3.5 years ago, we have developed a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for our T6P biostimulant and conducted wheat trials to evaluate its performance in the UK, Canada, the US, Germany and India. Our field results show that under good growing conditions, our T6P MVP has the potential to boost wheat yields by 5%-22%. Even under drought stress, we’ve seen yield benefits ranging from 4%-14%.

“Our work suggests differences in response depending on environmental conditions and wheat varieties, so as a science-based venture we felt a need to explore GxExM (genotype x environment x management) interactions”, explains Dr Cara Griffiths, our CTO and venture Co-Founder. “In the new project we will collaborate with plant scientists from Rothamsted to screen mapped wheat genotypes from pre-breeding populations for T6P response and identify markers to predict performance in commercial varieties”.

“I am delighted to collaborate with SugaROx to accelerate the development of robust biostimulants based on the technology invented through our collaboration with Prof Ben Davis from Oxford University”, says Dr Matthew Paul, Principal Scientist at Rothamsted Research and venture Co-Founder alongside Cara and Ben. “This precision approach is game-changing and is possible due to the in-depth scientific understanding available to us on the role of T6P in plants – work that started in and has been supported by BBSRC since 1999”.

“While our approach is rooted in over 25 years of cutting-edge science, its ultimate value lies in how effectively it translates to the field. That’s why agronomy—the science of crop production—plays a critical role in our product development process,” adds Cara. “The new project will also allow us to commission a number of trials on farms to explore how environmental conditions might affect MVP performance.”

ADAS, the UK’s largest independent provider of agricultural and environmental consultancy, rural development services and policy advice, will facilitate trials on commercial farms. They have many years of experience in trialling biostimulant products and have recently authored several evidence reviews of biostimulant efficacy.

“We are excited to be working with SugaROx to support the rigorous testing of their T6P biostimulant and will be running a series of 40 tramline field trials with UK farmers over the next 4 years. Combining robust trial design with the use of our bespoke Agronomics software will allow us to determine the impact of the T6P biostimulant upon wheat yield” says Dr Despina Berdeni, Soil Scientist at ADAS.

“Through an 18-month FIP Feasibility Study completed in March 2023 ADAS and us identified generic barriers for the adoption of biostimulants in the UK,” says Bianca Forte, our Business Development Director. “In our new project, ADAS will be co-ordinating in-depth surveys and consultations with a range of stakeholders including farmers, agronomists and food companies to ensure we address questions and accelerate end-user adoption”.

Do You Share Our Vision? Join Us!

To hear about opportunities to participate in our new project, UK farmers should follow us on LinkedIn. As we continue our journey to become a world-leader in the discovery of new molecules for crop stimulation and early-stage product development, we are forming partnerships with go-to-market channels to better understand the practices and needs of farmers, both in the UK and abroad. If that is you, reach out to our Business Development Director Bianca Forte to open a dialogue with us.