Welsh firm secures £650k award to tackle scourge of slugs
A Swansea-based company has secured a £650,000 funding boost to develop a world-first biological alternative to pesticides in the fight against slugs and snails.
Bionema Group, a spin-out from Swansea University, has been awarded the grant by Innovate UK as part of the Net-Zero Industry Launchpad: South West Wales programme.
The money will help fund an 18-month project to create a sustainable and environmentally friendly way of protecting crops from pests that cost UK farmers more than £100 million every year.
Slugs and snails are among the most damaging pests in agriculture, causing major losses in cereals, potatoes and oilseed rape.
Chemical slug pellets
Farmers have relied on chemical slug pellets to protect their crops, but many of these are toxic to wildlife, pollute soil and rivers, and are being phased out under environmental regulations.
Bionema’s alternative takes a different approach. The company is developing crop-protection pellets using natural compounds called Loline alkaloids, which are found in certain grasses and are known for their ability to deter insects.
These will work in two ways: as bait to directly kill slugs and snails, and by being absorbed into plants so that crops effectively become resistant from within.
The company says the product will be biodegradable, safe for wildlife, and could even help capture carbon – making it a climate-friendly alternative that supports net zero farming goals.
Global potential
Dr Minshad Ansari, founder and chief executive of Bionema, said the funding would speed up development of a solution with global potential.
“This systemic molluscicide will not only protect crops and boost yields, but also contribute directly to healthier soils, carbon reduction and more sustainable farming practices,” he said. “It demonstrates how Welsh innovation can deliver solutions of global significance for food security and climate resilience.”
Bionema will work alongside Swansea University, Eurofins Agrotesting UK and Applied Insect Science to test and refine the product. Large-scale field trials across the UK will begin this year, with regulatory approval the next major hurdle.
The project is expected to generate £50 million in the UK and £100 million globally by 2035 if successful.
Dr Fawzi Belblidia, Technical Director at Swansea University’s ASTUTE research centre, said the partnership would strengthen Wales’ role as a leader in sustainable agriculture: “By combining Swansea University’s expertise with Bionema’s innovation, we are helping to develop a climate-smart solution that will benefit farmers, the environment and the Welsh economy.”
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Just a small point; why only “£100 million globally”? If the UK will generates £50 million; well, the world is a LOT larger than the UK so would expect Bionema to generate far more than £100 million by 2035. PS Hope Bionema have at least one patent filed already; with so many people involved (e.g., Eurofins Agrotesting UK and Applied Insect Science to test and refine the product) an early patent is well advised. The advertised fact that “Loline alkaloids which are found in certain grasses and are known for their ability to deter insects” might pose a (patent) problem since… Read more »
This organisation based in Swansea will grow with international partners.
Wales has not developed its’ relationship with Tata – owns Air India, Tata Play, a University etc.
If Tata’s University was included in this programme, the programme would be delivered quicker, the solution would be rolled out in India also – plus then a Welsh organisation starts working in a market with over 1 billion consumers.
Canada is delivering its’ net zero projects with Belgium – two large markers, plus can access EU funding.
Stop sending all our skilled jobs to India.
Countries such as France and Canada do lots of 50:50 joint ventures with other countries, but keep the well-paid professional services jobs and banks in their own countries.
Why are accountants and bankers the only skilled jobs worth preserving onshore? Neither create real wealth.
Trump’s gone too far with the $100k annual skilled visa charge but is right in principle that there should be a significant annual charge – perhaps set at the average salary – to offset any salary saving by importing skills, so the only benefit for the employer is the rare skills themselves.
I’m still baffled that no-one blinked when Johnson ripped up the Resident Labour Market Test so sponsors don’t even have to try to recruit locally.
It won’t be the “world-first biological alternative to pesticides”. Nature got there first. As any farmer or gardener will tell you. It is hedgehogs, frogs, toads, insects and birds which eat slugs and nip any infestation in the bud. Those old enough to remember the old way of arable agriculture there used to be rough hedgerows around a field or an embedded coppice kept for these predators to thrive in and go foraging in the spring and often fields would have a ‘winter wet sump’, a patch in the middle of the field at it’s lowest level to dump any… Read more »