Vive Crop Protection

Allosperse technology at the heart of innovation for Canadian company

Innovation is a word that gets tossed around a lot these days, but how can we be sure if a company has truly made good on the definition of the word? After all, it does mean to introduce new methods and ideas. It’s safe to say, then, Vive Crop Protection is doing all that and more. The Canadian crop protection technology company based out of Toronto, Ont., utilizes nano-polymers to deliver a wide variety of crop protection products to farmers, helping them achieve greater yields and net return while reducing harmful environmental impacts. 

Proudly a Canadian company that was started by Darren Anderson and Jordan Dinglasan, who were doctoral students at the University of Toronto in 2006. Their patented Allosperse technology originally seemed to be best applied to the medical diagnostics world and the two spent time in that industry. However, it became clear as their business unfolded that the greatest potential was to apply the technology to agriculture.  

It appears others have taken note, too. The company has recently been found on prestigious lists across North America, including being named winner of Crop Protection Solution of the Year from the AgTech Breakthrough Awards. It’s clear that Vive Crop Protection is on its way to becoming a common name at farmgates everywhere. 

How it works 

The Allosperse system is essentially a nano-sized Uber for your crops. These polymer nanoparticles, which are each about one ten-millionth the size of a person (for perspective, a human is one ten-millionth the size of Earth) have been uniquely designed to deliver vital crop protection—such as biologicals, micronutrients, herbicides, pesticides and fungicides—to your plants via agricultural applications. 

Very similar to the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine where the vaccine is protected before it makes its journey into your body for maximum protection, Allosperse works like this: Existing active ingredients from crop protection products are encapsulated inside the polymer nanoparticles, which are then put into either a sprayer tank and applied as a foliar treatment or directly mixed in with fertilizer during spring seeding. The polymer coating keeps the product protected long enough to make its journey either into the soil microbiome or onto the plant leaves before it begins to naturally degrade and lose efficacy.  

“This nanoscale delivery system helps control that interaction and controls traditional synthetics, biologicals and fertilizers to ensure it gets the most efficient use out of the product,” says Anderson. “It’s performance on another level.” 

The product is already in use on more than one million acres of various crops across the United States. With an application under review by Health Canada, Vive Crop Protection hopes to be commercially available for growers within the next two years. 

Its applications have been proven on countless crops including corn, sugarbeet, potatoes, alfalfa, cotton and more. 

A made in Canada solution for the world 

With sustainability and environmental stewardship top of mind for the agriculture industry, Vive Crop Protection arrives just in time to be commercial scale agriculture’s knight in shining armour. Designed specifically to reduce overall inputs through a highly targeted approach, Vive’s Allosperse technology also generates a greater return on investment due to previously unseen in-field accuracy.  

“We really are proud of our Canadian roots and being a Canadian success story,” says Anderson. “All our research and development is done here in Canada, a majority of our shareholders are Canadian and we have received government support to develop our technology. We are proud to also be export-driven and take a global approach to a sustainable future.” 

With six unique products that cover 28 different crop types, and counting, Vive Crop Protection has something for just about every farmer. Vive Crop Protection covers the three primary areas of concern for growers: herbicide, pesticide and fungicide. It also has begun to focus on the emergent practice of using biologicals, active bacteria or plant extracts added to plants for greater growth and harm reduction. Biologicals have been used for years in greenhouse and hydroponic settings, but are now going mainstream with traditional row crops. 

Return on Investment 

Every farmer seeks to maximize their biggest line items on the farm, which are crop inputs. Any time they could save money without sacrificing results, they will take such opportunities. Thanks to Allosperse, the ROI is about to get ramped up.  

Research over the past three years demonstrate that on a typical 4,500-acre corn farm growers can increase yields by five to seven bushels per acre, reduce moisture which means lower grain drying costs and ultimately save anywhere from $5 to $10 per acre, for a total ROI of around five times the initial investment. Similarly, sugarbeet producers have routinely saved 225,000 litres of water while increasing yield by three tonnes per acre (on a 3,000-acre beet farm), resulting in eight to 10 times the ROI. 

Tank friendly mixtures 

Typical liquid fertilizer is extremely salty by nature. When mixed with a crop protection product, the fertilizer will suck all the water out of it and the product often falls apart or is degraded. Not only that, it routinely gums up spray lines.  

However, Allosperse completely rewrites the narrative on this common problem faced by growers.  

Vive has designed polymer nanoparticles that carry an active ingredient into the fertilizer which stays suspended in fertilizer longer than any other products. If a farmer is rained out for a few days, they can safely leave their product in the tank and the simple drive back out to a field is enough to agitate the product back into its ready state.  

Similarly, the nanoparticles’ light weight means it is also easier to mix in colder weather and has been shown to have efficacy at temperatures as low as 4°C.  

The future is smart farming 

With an unending goal to leave farms in better condition for the next generation, current farmers always have a tough job ahead. However, Allosperse is well-suited to achieve this never-ending goal with a delivery system well-suited to protect microbes or plants to be effective. With more farmers interested in biologicals, a natural living product that can stimulate microbiology in the soil and create healthier, better-yielding plants, interest only appears set to increase, which is good news for the Canadian company.  

“One of the things we are seeing is potential impact on biologicals on farming, particularly when it comes to crop protection and control over diseases and insects,” says Anderson. “Biologicals are an integrated offering and have multiple modes of action. By offering all of that in a single jug with synthetic chemistry, this could further drive sustainability and avoid duplication of products. We are really excited about it.” 

Contact us

To learn more, contact David Campbell, at 647.480.8437 or [email protected].