91Pro

Abstract

The grant will support controlled-environment efficacy trials on CSFB of our highest-potential microbial candidates and formulation optimisation for real-world deployment. The product is being designed as a stable, drop-in solution compatible with existing farm sprayers, enabling easy adoption without specialist equipment or changed workflows. By protecting seedlings during their most vulnerable growth window, this bioinsecticide aims to strengthen OSR establishment, improve crop reliability and reinforce OSR's future as a productive, home-grown UK crop. The project supports the UK's shift to resilient, sustainable, net-zero agriculture, safeguarding both farm profitability and rotational soil benefits for the long term.

Description

UK oilseed rape (OSR) growers face severe economic and agronomic damage from the cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB), with crop losses estimated to exceed £70 million annually. CSFB causes its most destructive feeding in the first 10 days after crop emergence, when adult beetles chew "shot-hole" patterns through young leaves. These holes accumulate rapidly, weakening seedlings and can destroy entire fields before plants can establish.

Neonicotinoid seed treatments, once widely used to defend emerging OSR provided strong pest protection. However, these insecticides act broadly on the insect nervous system and cannot distinguish between crop pests and pollinators, creating harmful off-target impacts on bees and other beneficial species. In the UK, neonicotinoids are no longer permitted due to these concerns. The only remaining chemical option, pyrethroid sprays, is now frequently ineffective as CSFB populations have developed widespread insecticide resistance.

The decline in CSFB control has triggered a sharp reduction in national OSR acreage (-19% in 2025). This matters to a large proportion of UK farmers, OSR is a valuable break crop in rotations. Break crops are grown between cereal seasons to interrupt pest, disease and weed cycles. Many growers rely on OSR to improve soil structure, nutrient cycling and long-term soil health, while lowering input pressure in subsequent crops. OSR also supports the UK's domestic supply of vegetable oil and high-protein animal feed meal, making it strategically important for national food security. Without new solutions, the UK risks becoming increasingly import-reliant for both OSR oil and feed meal.

This feasibility project, led by Norwich-based agri-tech company BugBiome in collaboration with APIS, 91Pro and the John Innes Centre, aims to reverse that trend by developing a novel, pollinator-safe bioinsecticide targeting CSFB. BugBiome's discovery platform identifies naturally occurring microbes with new, resistance-breaking insecticidal mechanisms that selectively control CSFB without harming pollinators, people or the environment.