Sumitomo Chemical’s wholly owned subsidiary Valent BioSciences (VBC) has signed a long-term agreement with Argentina’s Rizobacter for R&D collaboration in biorational rhizosphere products, initially for the NAFTA region. US-based VBC said the alliance would further accelerate its development and commercialization of new microbial products for the root zone – or rhizosphere – as part of its expanding seed and soil strategy. The company has had a recent focus on developing formulation and application technology for proprietary strains of mycorrhizal fungi.

Rizobacter, a global leader in microbiological solutions for seed treatment, has recently developed new methods in the field of microbial nitrogen management as well as biocontrol of several important plant diseases. Executive vice president and chief operating officer of VBC, Ted Melnik, said the alliance combines two robust pipelines with tremendous potential for developing complementary technologies.

It is anticipated that R&D as well as industrial-scale fermentation will be performed both in the US and Argentina. As well as cooperating on the next generation of rhizosphere products, the partnership expects to develop a variety of technologies and know-how that will advance the overall understanding of interactions in this particular soil zone. Valent USA will serve as the commercialization partner for NAFTA.

The alliance comes one year after VBC acquired Mycorrhizal Applications, the world’s largest producer of mycorrhizal fungal inoculums, adding to its suite of rhizosphere products.