10089533Development of new pheromones for pest management monitoring and controlClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKPheroSyn produces identical copies of nature's own pheromones for use in monitoring and control of pests in agriculture and horticulture. Pheromones are used by insects to communicate and are very species specific, meaning that they can be used to attract specific pest targets without affecting other insects, beneficials or pollinators. Every year we lose around £182bn to pests and the diseases that these pests carry, and in order to protect their crops, food producers use tonnes of pesticides most of which do not reach the target pests but instead fall onto the surrounding plants and soils, damaging ecosystems. These chemicals contribute to a decline in biodiversity, to human health conditions such as cancers, endocrine disorders, reproductive disorders, and can remain as contaminants in soils for years. Pest resistance is increasingly making these compounds redundant. PheroSyn's unique and proprietary synthetic methods allow production of agricultural pheromones at scale. The company is focused on producing sustainable alternatives to mass application of pesticides in farming, and its products can form part of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) system so light in its ecological footprint that it is suitable for organic producers as well as conventional farmers. PheroSyn is committed to assisting in the transition to more ecologically sensitive approaches to managing pests and seeks to see a dramatic decline in the global use of harmful and toxic chemicals in food production. The ability to disrupt pest mating, or otherwise interfere with the population dynamics of pests allows more precise and targeted pest management strategies to be in place. Since the current market is restricted to only a small number of pest targets, new innovations are required to both drive down costs and increase pest targets. PheroSyn achieves both of these goals by using proprietary production methods which are platform in nature and applicable to a wide range of pest targets. The purpose of this funding is to unlock the synthesis of more complex pest pheromones and thereby expand the scope of application of pheromone products, bringing new products to market to the benefit of the company, the producer, the environment, and biodiversity, and facilitating governments and industry to reach net zero ambitions.