RALEIGH, NC - Post-harvest solutions continue to be advanced as players like AgroFresh strategize to further their research. The innovator most recently teamed up with Novozymes to develop biological solutions that can improve post-harvest food quality and minimize waste by fighting fungal pathogens.

“AgroFresh and Novozymes share very similar missions around sustainability and the introduction of differentiated technologies to address unmet needs across the food chain,” said Duncan Aust, Chief Technology Officer, AgroFresh. “We are excited to partner with Novozymes to pioneer the use of biological solutions in the post-harvest sector to reduce food loss and waste and help improve the quality of our food system overall.”

According to a press release, as soon as crops are harvested and removed from their growing environment, they begin to lose quality and eventually deteriorate. Fresh crops, such as fruits, vegetables, and flowers, are particularly vulnerable to microbial attack and subsequent losses during this post-harvest stage.

Novozymes and AgroFresh’s deep scientific expertise in post-harvest solutions, global commercial footprint, and unparalleled portfolio of integrated solutions will help to accelerate the development of new bioproducts.

“This is a very exciting venture into a groundbreaking area for Novozymes, with the intention to satisfy an increasing consumer demand for fruits and vegetables with less food waste and less impact to the environment,” said Thomas Stenfeldt Batchelor, Vice President, Agriculture Marketing and Strategy at Novozymes. “With great synergies that include Novozymes’ expertise in pioneering bioinnovation and AgroFresh’s R&D capabilities and application knowledge, we will explore the development of viable and sustainable post-harvest solutions to also alleviate significant supply chain issues.”

With increasing demands on the global agricultural industry from consumer, economic, and environmental perspectives, the partnership has the potential to create new sustainable products, the press release noted.

“The partnership with AgroFresh brings us the opportunity to expand our BioAg offerings into the post-harvest sector, just at a time when fruit and vegetable producers face some of their toughest challenges ever,” added Stenfeldt Batchelor.

Aust commented further in the release.

“We are excited to combine the unique industry and technology insights and scientific expertise provided by both organizations in the development of novel, sustainable solutions for the control of fungal decay in post-harvest fruits, vegetables, and flowers, with the shared goal of minimizing food loss, improving quality, and increasing the overall sustainable footprint of the industries that we collectively serve,” finished Aust.

We look forward to seeing what new innovations this partnership brings forth!

AgroFresh Novozymes