InEdita Bio and Shull Advance Low-Fertilizer Corn Innovation

June 18, 2025 - PRLog -- InEdita Bio, a biotechnology company specializing in genome editing, and Shull Seeds, a Brazilian corn and sorghum seed company, announced an R&D partnership to create corn hybrids that are more efficient in nutrient absorption, thereby offering more productive and sustainable cultivars. The collaboration will leverage InEdita's Trait by Design™ technology, and the first hybrids are expected to reach the market within 3 to 4 years.

The trait to be developed by the companies promises to revolutionize corn farming in Brazil. The goal is to create a hybrid that requires fewer nitrogen fertilizers, acting similarly to Rhizobium inoculants that have been widely used in soybean crops since the 2000s. Corn fields with this trait will require less nitrogen fertilization, lowering costs for farmers. Additional benefits include increased productivity and reduced environmental impact throughout the nitrogen fertilizer value chain and its application in the field.

Founded in 2021, InEdita Bio has innovated in the biotech deep tech sector by creating proprietary platforms that combine bioinformatics, genome editing, AI, machine learning, and other technologies to develop various traits of interest in any crop. Through an integrated technological solution, InEdita can create plants better adapted to climate constraints, more efficient in nutrient and water use, and more resistant to pests and diseases. "This R&D collaboration with Shull will boost the development of biotech traits in the company's corn hybrids, placing it at the forefront of gene-editing innovations in Brazil. Our solutions have the potential to transform how we produce food, and this partnership is a testament to that capability," says Paulo Arruda, PhD, CEO of the biotech.

Shull Seeds is a 100% Brazilian company founded in 2016, committed to delivering technological solutions to farmers through hybrids that are more productive, less dependent on climate, healthier, and more stable in both corn and sorghum, using research and innovation. Its Research Center houses a germplasm bank with temperate and tropical genetics from Brazil and several other countries, serving as the foundation of its breeding program.

"The main need for farmers today is to produce more at lower costs, and that is the ultimate goal of this partnership with InEdita. Tackling the cost imposed by nitrogen fertilizers is strategic not only from a financial standpoint but also due to global geopolitical challenges," says agronomist Paulo Pinheiro, CEO of Shull. "Our vision has always been to position Brazilian companies as technology developers that address the specific needs of local farmers and can also license their technologies globally, fostering a virtuous cycle of wealth generation," adds Pinheiro.