How is AgriGenomics Helping Climate and Business Thrive?

The Best of Both Worlds.

AgriGenomics has seen considerable growth in recent years as technological advancements and climate concerns come evermore into the international foreground. Their popularity can, firstly,  be accredited to a lean towards more sustainable food production. Sustainable production of produce allows a greater volume of nutrient-dense foods to be grown in a smaller space and distributed more evenly, whilst also using less water and demanding less natural resources for production, in turn lessening our damage to the climate and planet's stability.

AgriGenomics also improves stress tolerance in foodstuffs, leading to crops more tolerant to pests, diseases, drought, and other environmental factors - not only building a more robust industry but ensuring a more reliable and risk-secure sector which, in turn, leads to better business growth.

The boom of AgriGenomics seems a great benefit for those who are climate and cash-minded alike. I set out to explore some of the leaders in this space - from established companies to innovative start-ups - to see how this new player is being utilised for better business.

Innovative Leaders in AgriGenomics.

Illumnia

With a $4.5b USD revenue in 2021 and over 9000 employees globally, Illumnia is a giant in the AgriGenomics space. Leading in the development and manufacture of life science tools and large-scale analytic systems for genetic variation and function, Illumnia continues forging the way for innovation and flexibility across the industry. They work with a broad range of customers across the globe, collaborating in the academic, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and government spaces.  

Illumnia’s comprehensive product line offers solutions for all areas, from functional analysis to advanced disease research, leading-edge sequencing, and the development of molecular testing to address a range of genomic complexity. Their next-generation sequencing technologies are actively supporting researchers and breeders in growing healthier and more productive livestock and crops.  

Within this range, the Illumnia DNA Prep solution covers many whole-genome sequencing applications, with the fastest library prep workflow of their offer with less than 3.5 hours total sequencing time thanks to on-bead tagmentation chemistry, and flexibility to accommodate a wide variance in sample type, DNA input amount, and application. The reliability and flexibility of Illumnia DNA Prep make it a very real prospect for advancement across industries, and a definitive leading product within the AgriGenomics space.  

Eurofins Genomics

Working collaboratively with a broad group of renowned organisations, Eurofins Genomics have gained the respect and trust of global scientific institutions for high quality, reliability and optimum efficiency in their AgriGenomics solutions, covering DNA extraction, genotyping and sequencing.  

Eurofins Genomics offer aquaculture, plant, and animal genotyping with AgriGenomic services including DNA marker discovery, marker-assisted selection, breeding and selection, and pathogen screening. Their animal genomic selection combines the Illumina platform with Thermo Fisher Scientific microarray platforms to provide an optimised, high throughput and speedy turnaround, showing the power of intuitive collaboration. 

However, the industry looks set to change over the coming years, it’s clear that the ethos and outlook of Eurofins Genomics will lead them to strong collaboration and ever more flexible output, supporting the breadth of AgriGenomics needs. 

Neogen

Dedication to the customer journey and farm-to-fork support has helped ensure a high bar in the AgriGenomics sector for Neogen. Their diverse solutions cover the full journey through the food supply chain, with teams across 12 countries and a sales presence of over 140.

Working across diagnostics, genomics, and prevention, Neogen are a strong all-around industry player and, in collaboration with Gencove, has launched the first whole genome genotyping sequencing solution for cattle breeders. From bacterial sequencing and genotyping arrays to livestock genetic traits identification and sampling equipment, Neogen remains an impressive contender in the AgriGenomics sector.  

Viridian Seeds

Illumina-backed start-up, Viridian Seeds aims is to create super-legumes to provide a sustainable and nutritious source of plant proteins that reduce carbon emissions by more than 50%. Using next-generation computational breeding tilling platforms, they are able to produce an improved line of legumes with lower carbon footprints, higher yields, and improved nutritional characteristics.  

Benefiting farmers, consumers, and the planet alike, Viridian Seeds workflows provide a simple, sustainable, and reliable solution to help reduce the effects of climate change, whilst producing a high-quality product for a growing population. With backing from one of the leaders in the AgriGenomics space, we can see a bright future ahead for such an innovative start-up.  

AgriGenomics: Food for Thought

Whether the focus is climate concern or sustainable and reliable business models, AgriGenomics are changing the landscape at great speed for those within the agricultural sector. The flexibility, innovation, and promise of solutions from current industry leaders is truly remarkable, and it seems the future trajectory can only look more promising in helping climate and business thrive.

Are you interested in discussing the future of agrigenomics in some more detail, or do you have any thoughts on any of the companies or technologies featured in this article? I'd love to hear from you.

Drop me a message at Anastasia.Howard-Jenkins@lifesci-cm.com or connect with me on LinkedIn to chat.