Agradis

About Agradis

Agradis, Inc. operated as a life sciences company with a sharp focus on developing sustainable agricultural solutions through genomics. The company was established in 2011 as a joint venture between Synthetic Genomics Inc. (SGI), a firm led by the renowned genetics scientist J. Craig Venter, and Plenus, S.A. de C.V., a Mexican investment and management company with deep experience in agribusiness. Venter's extensive background in pioneering human genome sequencing provided a strong scientific foundation for Agradis's mission to apply genomic-driven solutions to agricultural challenges.

The core of Agradis's business was the development of products to enhance crop production efficiency. The company specialized in creating and utilizing a unique collection of plant-associated microbes designed to improve crop health and overall productivity. This genomics-based approach aimed to provide farmers with biological products as sustainable alternatives in agriculture. The company operated an R&D site in La Jolla, California, which served as the hub for its research activities.

In January 2013, in a significant strategic move, Monsanto Company acquired select assets of Agradis. The acquisition included the Agradis name, its valuable collection of microbes, and the La Jolla R&D facility. This transaction underscored the potential Monsanto saw in Agradis's microbial science and technology to bolster its own efforts in agricultural biologicals. The assets not purchased by Monsanto, which included technologies for castor and sweet sorghum breeding and a product to prevent fungal growth on produce, were retained by SGI and Plenus to form a new entity named AgraCast. The deal also initiated a multi-year research collaboration between Monsanto and SGI to further explore microbe-plant communities.