Leaps by Bayer unveils AgTech development playbook

A consortium led by Leaps by Bayer has introduced the “Ag Playbook,” designed to standardize the development process for agricultural technologies. This playbook aims to serve as a foundational framework for startups, investors, and other stakeholders by establishing a common language and benchmarks for product development.

Composed by a group of experts from diverse organizations—including Bayer, Oerth Bio, Enko Chem, Citi, and Cleveland Avenue Ventures—the playbook is not just a proprietary guide but a comprehensive industry resource. “It’s not just the Leaps by Bayer AG playbook,” explained Paimun Amini, senior director of venture investments at Leaps by Bayer and editor of the playbook. “This is an industry playbook with the goal of raising all tides,” Amini told AgFunderNews.

The playbook highlights the challenges in the current AgTech landscape, where there is no unified understanding of what it takes to bring technologies to market. Startups often face prohibitive costs when trying to scale solutions, a scenario the playbook terms “the Reverse Field of Dreams” – if you build it, the market will not necessarily come.

The initial edition of the playbook focuses on crop protection small molecule products, noting that development costs in this area have surged by 99% over the past 15 years, with the time to market extending from 8.3 to 12 years. The playbook seeks to clarify the extensive process involved in bringing these products to market, involving rigorous safety and regulatory reviews, testing, and product registrations.

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Drawing parallels with the pharmaceutical industry, which has long had its own standardized development playbook, Amini emphasized the need for similar transparency in the AgTech sector. Pharma projects require substantial investments and face similar regulatory challenges but benefit from a larger pool of expertise and a more structured market understanding.

The Ag Playbook is set to include future sections on other crop protection methods, crop improvement technologies, biological products, digital ag products, and animal ag products, aiming to provide a well-rounded guide to the industry. This initiative reflects an effort to bring greater clarity and cooperation to the field of agricultural technology, potentially reducing the time and financial costs associated with bringing new innovations to market.

Source: AgFunder News