Novozymes joins GHI, gets board seat
June 30, 2015 |11:49 AM
Novozymes has joined the Global Harvest Initiative, a private-sector group focused on global food security, and Colin Bletsky, vice president of Novozymes BioAg, will serve on the board of directors, GHI announced today.
Novozymes describes itself as a “bioinnovation company” that uses enzymes and microbes in topical or seed treatment products to increase plant yields by improving nutrient uptake and protecting plants from insects, weeds and diseases.
Novozymes recently joined the Monsanto Company to create the BioAg Alliance, a partnership working on microbial solutions for broad-acre crops such as corn and soybeans and fruits and vegetables, GHI said in a news release.
In 2014, the Alliance tested hundreds of microbial strains in 170,000 field plots across 70 U.S. locations. In 2015, the Alliance plans to more than double the number of field plots in the U.S. and test thousands of microbial strains, GHI said.
GHI was founded in 2009. Its other members include DuPont Pioneer, Elanco Animal Health, John Deere, Monsanto and The Mosaic Company, and it has consultative relationships with 13 other organizations.
GHI Executive Director Margaret Zeigler conducted an interveiw with Bletsky that is on the GHI website. GHI publishes the Global Agricultural Productivity Report, an annual benchmark of the global rate of agricultural productivity.
