Growing Resilience: How French biotech helps crops save water worldwide

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Growing Resilience: How French biotech helps crops save water worldwide  Across Europe, a new generation of agri-biotech innovators is redefining how we grow food under pressure from climate change.  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/11/14/growing-resilience-how-french-biotech-helps-crops-save-water-worldwide  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00Have you ever heard of the phytosterol?

00:04No, before coming here in the West of France, where an agro-biotech company is developing

00:11a system that is capable of making the plant more resistant to elasticity.

00:16And everything begins with phytosterol.

00:23Let's see what we're talking about in this new episode of Made in Europe, the new

00:27series of euronews that deals with great stories of European success.

00:43The French start-up of agro-biotech company Elisit Plant seems to grow just like a culture

00:49that helps to develop, in a constant, solid and with deep roots.

00:53Nata nel 2017 con l'obiettivo di favorire l'adattamento dell'agricoltura ai cambiamenti

00:59climatici, oggi è riconosciuta a livello internazionale per il suo approccio innovativo

01:03all'agricoltura sostenibile e punta a raggiungere un milione di ettari coltivati in tutto il

01:08mondo entro la fine del 2025.

01:10Amrik, uno dei tre fondatori, è ingegnere agronomo e sperimenta i prodotti nelle sue terre.

01:15Sì, potete dire che tutto è cominciato con le phytosterol e di quale s'agit-il?

01:22Thierry professor in biologie, chimica 기

01:38What is it about the phytosterol?

01:41The phytosterol is a natural molecule

01:43which is present in all vegetables

01:45which allows us to regulate the permeability membrane of the plant

01:48which will make the plant adapt to different stresses that it will meet.

01:54The company's office is indeed a experimental agricultural center

01:58with chemical and biology laboratories

02:00and a mini unit of production.

02:02A team of international researchers

02:06works on projects that pass quickly from theory to practice.

02:13Welcome to the chemistry lab.

02:15This is the place where we produce our emotions, our formulation

02:20from small scale to large scale samples.

02:24So we study how to mix our main ingredients,

02:28the phytosterols, in our formulation.

02:31It's similar to the things that we can do in our kitchen, for example.

02:34The company says to be the first to have put a stable formula

02:41based on the phytosterol for agriculture.

02:45These molecules can activate the natural safety of plants,

02:48a bit like a vaccine.

02:51The formula is tested in the biology lab.

02:54Here I work on the soja.

02:56We have already treated the plants with our products

02:59which I applied on the leaves.

03:00And the next week I will stop the drying of my plants

03:04to put my plants in water stress.

03:06And we are going to do measurements

03:08to see if the plants where we applied the product

03:10resist better to their stress.

03:12In these rooms, the light and the temperature are controlled

03:15and the plants develop in an almost identical way.

03:20The scientists can see how the plants react to the products

03:24in every phase of their development.

03:26We work on young plants.

03:28We can do first doses

03:30to see the response of the plant

03:32to different formulas of products

03:34and different doses of products.

03:36We work on a large number of cultures,

03:38mainly on the maize,

03:40the soja, the turnesol and the cereals.

03:42We have plants that will be stored in winter,

03:44or in autumn,

03:45so it's a challenge

03:46to not only find the good composition of products,

03:49but also the good dose

03:50and the good state of application.

03:53After being treated and opposed to stress,

03:56in this case,

03:57a lack of water,

03:58part of the plants are transferred in serra

04:00to be monitored.

04:01I measure the opening

04:03and the closing of the stomach.

04:05The stomach is like the pores of the skin,

04:08which allows the plants to breathe.

04:10And therefore,

04:11it allows to know

04:12if the plants are stressed or not.

04:15And so,

04:16are these plants stressed?

04:18Yes, there are some who are stressed.

04:24What happens when the plants are stressed?

04:28We are interested in the molecular response

04:31of the plant.

04:32If the plant changes

04:33the expression of certain genes

04:34that we have identified in front,

04:35to ensure that the response

04:37of the plant to treatment

04:38before starting to treatment in the field.

04:40Our experiments in the field

04:42have shown that the plant

04:44treated in average on the maize

04:4620% of water

04:48compared to our plants.

04:51Emric

04:52brings me to see

04:53its fields of colza,

04:54where the company tests

04:55the products on a wider scale.

04:56The startup

04:57focuses on

04:58widely widely spread

04:59in the world

05:00and known as

05:01being subject to

05:02water shortages,

05:03such as the maize,

05:04the soy and the girasole

05:05besides the colza.

05:07We are in the third year

05:09on the colza.

05:10It lasts about five years

05:11the time of development

05:12of a product

05:13for a new culture.

05:14We have done the test

05:15in Romania,

05:16in France,

05:17in Germany,

05:18and so we have seen

05:19that in different situations

05:20in Europe

05:21we get the same types

05:22of results

05:23as we get here

05:24on the farm

05:25with about 10%.

05:26On the colza

05:27it's quite huge.

05:28Elicit Plant

05:29has clients in all over the world,

05:34including in North America,

05:35Brazil,

05:36Canada,

05:37Ukraine,

05:38France.

05:39I went to visit

05:40an agriculture

05:41close to their own

05:42that uses

05:43the products

05:44of Elicit Plant

05:45for years.

05:48I started from 1987

05:50I started with

05:51a plant plant plant

05:52and after

05:53more than 92

05:54I started with

05:55cereals,

05:56a large culture.

05:57I started with

05:59about 400 hectares.

06:00Patrick

06:02cultivates

06:03girasoli,

06:04colza,

06:05grano,

06:06orzo,

06:07ceci

06:08and miglio.

06:09He explains

06:10that the effects

06:11of the climate change

06:12are always more intense

06:13and that the farmers

06:14are struggling

06:15to face their face.

06:16We will have

06:17several months of water

06:18and several months of dry.

06:19We, farmers,

06:20we will have

06:21great difficulties today

06:22to adapt to the climate

06:23and to this climate change.

06:24I used

06:25products

06:27from Elicit Plant

06:28for about 4 years

06:29on the

06:30corn culture

06:31first

06:32and on the

06:33corn culture

06:34for 2 years.

06:35What are their results?

06:36I managed to control

06:37the corn

06:38with

06:39the treated areas

06:40and the treated areas

06:41and the treated areas

06:42and the treated areas

06:43were quite straight.

06:44There were more

06:45than 10 quarters

06:46between the

06:47and the treated areas

06:48where there was

06:49not.

06:50In the 90s,

06:51the biostimolants

06:52are always more popular.

06:53In the 90s,

06:54the biostimolants

06:55are always more popular.

06:57They are regulated

06:59by a European rule

07:01since 2022

07:02and put in the

07:03unique market

07:05in the market.

07:06A huge advantage

07:07according to Emric.

07:08We have benefited

07:09from one of the first

07:10European authorities

07:11which allows us

07:12with the same product

07:13to deliver

07:14all the countries

07:15of the European Union.

07:16This is an extraordinary chance

07:17as well as agricultural practices

07:19are relatively

07:20homogeneous in Europe.

07:25The impact

07:26of the climate change

07:27is increasing

07:28by making

07:29strategic solutions

07:30that are capable

07:31of optimizing

07:32the water consumption

07:33of the cultures.

07:35The European innovation

07:36has the potential

07:37to support

07:38one day

07:39the farmers

07:40of the countries

07:41in the development

07:42caused by sickness.

07:45Where the lack

07:46of agriculture

07:47of agriculture

07:48makes these solutions

07:49for the more

07:50inaccessible.

07:51are you

07:56creating cocered

07:57of the Indian

07:58Festival?

07:59It's very beneficial.

08:00We did get a lot

08:01of energy

08:03from Delhi

08:04anywhere.

08:06That was hip

08:07to go.

08:08That's half ago

08:09a bit أو

08:10that'll probably

08:11that you're

08:12going into.

08:12Again,

08:14that was a part

08:15of 45 years

08:16when I was

08:17getting it.

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