Trials mark the transition from discovery into real-world testing across three continents. The candidates, developed under the companies' collaboration first announced in 2024, represent a new category of bioinsecticide aimed at some of the most persistent and economically damaging lepidopteran pests in global agriculture. Just a handful of major moth and caterpillar species, including the fall armyworm and diamondback moth, cause nearly $14 billion in global crop losses and control costs annually, underscoring the scale of the commercial opportunity. Field trials will span key growing regions in the United States, Brazil and Asia, reflecting both the global reach of FMC's commercial footprint and the breadth of the pest pressure growers face across these markets.

The advancement follows a multi-year progression through laboratory, greenhouse and small-scale field-plot testing, where biomolecules were benchmarked directly against industry-standard chemistries and consistently met or exceeded that performance bar before earning advancement to full-scale global trials.

"Innovation in crop protection is about finding new ways to help growers manage pests safely, effectively and sustainably," said Dr. Seva Rostovtsev, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at FMC Corporation. "Field trials are where promising technologies begin to demonstrate their real-world potential across different crops, climates and pest pressures. We're encouraged by the progress to date and look forward to continuing the evaluation of these candidates."

A new approach to pest control: precision through biomodality

At the center of AgroSpheres' pipeline is its biomodality platform, an approach that allows the company to design biomolecules that act on specific, targeted biological pathways within a pest, rather than relying on the broad chemical action of conventional insecticides. In practical terms, this means each product can be tailored to disrupt a pest's biology with a high degree of precision, reducing the chance that pests develop resistance and limiting impact on beneficial insects and the surrounding environment.

Each biomolecule is manufactured through fermentation and delivered using AgroSpheres' proprietary AgriCell platform, the technology that underpins the company's product pipeline spanning multiple pest categories and product types. AgriCell encapsulates the active biomolecule in a way that protects it from the elements that typically degrade biological products in the field, including UV exposure, heat and moisture, allowing it to remain stable and effective long after application. Just as importantly, the encapsulation is engineered for targeted, controlled release, delivering the active ingredient where and when it's needed most for the pest, rather than all at once. It's this combination of durability and precision that is needed to commercialize biologicals reliably, and it's the problem AgriCell was built to solve.

AgriCell's flexibility is also opening new possibilities for how biological actives can work alongside existing crop protection chemistries, creating potential resistance-management strategies that extend the useful life of both new and established active ingredients.