Biotechnology: The Power of Nature


Our products unlock the power of nature to promote plant health and control plant diseases, pests and weeds.

At Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI), we create products from microorganisms isolated from samples collected from unique niches and habitats such as flowers, insects, soil and composts. Our proprietary technology enables us to isolate and screen naturally occurring microorganisms and plant extracts in a highly efficient manner and to identify those that may have novel, effective and safe pest management or plant health promoting characteristics. We then employ natural product chemistry to analyze and characterize the compound structures produced by the microorganisms or found in the plant extracts.

nematodes macro

Through this analysis we can quickly eliminate compounds that contain toxins and identify product candidates for further development and commercialization. Using these methods we have been able to screen in excess of 16,000 thousand microorganisms and hundreds of plant extracts. The result? Numerous product candidates that display activity against insects, nematodes, weeds, plant diseases and invasive species such as zebra and quagga mussels, aquatic weeds and algae. We also have produced a collection of microorganisms from taxonomic groups that research suggests may enhance nutrient uptake in plants.

But discovery is just the start of the journey … producing naturally-derived products that offer reliable and consistent efficacy must also include a finely tuned and quality controlled manufacturing process. At MBI, our proprietary product development process is quality controlled from start to finish and includes two important components: (1) a manufacturing process that increases the active natural compounds produced by the product candidate, and (2) a proprietary fermentation process that maximizes the yields of these active natural compounds. These steps allow us to produce products that are highly effective and of a consistent quality on a commercial scale.

MBI’s deep understanding of natural product chemistry allows us to develop product formulations that are tailored to meet customers’ needs and possess enhanced performance characteristics, such as effectiveness, shelf life, compatibility with other pesticides and ease of use.