Moa Technology

Why farmers need Moa. That's the topic of this short film we made over the spring and summer, with the help of farmers in Brazil, the US and the UK who wanted to show us the tough and pernicious weeds they battle with every day to protect their harvests. The film also features on our new website: www.moa-technology.com. Many thanks to farmers Antonio, Derik, Luis, Rachel, Tom, and Will; and also to ISSIMO, BigSmall TV and Astor Film Productions Ltd. #agtech #foodsecurity #clinteastweed

Busy day at AgriFutures evokeAG in Brisbane, where we’ve met growers of a wide range of Australian crops (ranging from wheat and maize to sesame and ginger!), all looking for new ways to tackle their worst weeds. #weedscience #cropprotection #evokeag

As an Oxford University spin-out at the cutting edge of scientific R&D, we are proud that 45% of our workforce are women, 45% of our scientists are women, and over 40% of our doctorates are women (with one or two more working towards their PhDs!) At Moa, female scientists do a full range of important and fascinating jobs: ranging from weed biology research, synthetic chemistry design and project management, to running the whole company... #weedscience #agtech #scaleup #cropprotection

Chuffed to be exhibiting for the first time at AgriFutures evokeAG. If you're in Brisbane next week, stop by our stand to say hello - we've some rather nice hats to give away... #growers #foodsecurity #weedsdownunder Grains Research and Development Corporation Nufarm Nutrien Ag Solutions

Visiting field trials of our novel mode of action herbicides in Australia this month, we met farmers and agronomists who face staggering challenges to grow food. Water scarcity, heat shocks, soil erosion, aggressive superweeds that are resistant to herbicides, volatile commodity prices, no government subsidies: these all add up to much lower yields than in the UK or US, sold at ultra low margin. Despite all these challenges, we also heard enormous optimism. Australian growers are made of tough stuff, with a mindset that there is no problem which can’t be solved with ingenuity and resolve. For a company like ours, working to mitigate climate change and protect food security on a global scale, it is hard to think of a better place for us to be testing our products. Do check out this worthwhile Big Read in the Financial Times. #cropprotection #weeds #foodsecurity #climate AgriFutures Australia AgriFutures evokeAG Nufarm Nic Fildes https://lnkd.in/e7buyeCN

In worrying news this week, the first case of resistance to glyphosate in the UK has just been found, in the weed species Lolium multiflorum (European ryegrass). But in Australia (and the US), this is nothing new. The University of Adelaide’s Professor Chris Preston* was one of the first researchers to confirm the world’s first glyphosate resistance: found in the mid-1990s in ryegrass in Australia. He reckons it took <20 years for resistance to spread to almost every arable farm on the continent - and it would have been even faster if the Australian agricultural community hadn’t taken co-ordinated action to slow it down. Ryegrass (Lolium rigidum) is today by far the worst weed in Australia in terms of the problems it causes farmers and the limited options they have to control it. Weeds cost the Australian economy over US$2 billion a year, with resistance problems in ryegrass costing more than all other resistance combined, according to the Grains Research and Development Corporation. 🌱 🧪 The good news: although ryegrass is a winter weed in Australia, we have seen just enough of it in our current summer trials in Tasmania to be excited about how our advanced novel modes of action may perform later this year when there’s much more ryegrass around. (*We saw Chris in Adelaide this week, and his advice for the UK was this: 1) take a holistic approach to ryegrass control - multiple tactics are needed 2) give farmers across the country clear and consistent advice on how to tackle resistance, and 3) look after the herbicides you have - and hope that new ones come along soon! ) #herbicideresistance #weedscience #agtech #ryegrass #australia #trials #arablefarming Link to BBC story on ryegrass resistance in the UK: https://lnkd.in/e3GBkqbT

New Year, new field trial success! Today our global field trials manager Tom Clark and head of weed biology Mark Bartlett were visiting some really cracking pre and post emergence trials of our advanced novel modes of action in northern Tasmania, Australia. It’s the summer season here, so the crop being trialled is maize, and the local weeds being effectively controlled by Moa compounds include ryegrass, red root amaranthus, knotweed, clover, sow thistle, nettle and henbit deadnettle. #foodsecurity #weedscience

We are an innovative and rapidly growing R&D crop protection company, and we are hiring for our team in Selby, Yorkshire. As an associate scientist you will be undertaking a full range of steps in the efficacy testing cascade of our glasshouse facility. Do you have a  BSc degree in agronomy or plant science or are you a candidate with experience in an agricultural or horticultural setting? Are you a practical problem solver with stamina and an unrelenting passion for plants? If so then this could be the role for you! For the full job description, please see our company website: www.moa-technology.com and send your CV and cover letter to Recruitment@moa-technology.com

We are an innovative and rapidly growing R&D crop protection company, and we are hiring for our team in Selby, Yorkshire. As an associate scientist you will be undertaking a full range of steps in the efficacy testing cascade of our glasshouse facility. Do you have a  BSc degree in agronomy or plant science or are you a candidate with experience in an agricultural or horticultural setting? Are you a practical problem solver with stamina and an unrelenting passion for plants? If so then this could be the role for you! For the full job description, please see our company website: www.moa-technology.com and send your CV and cover letter to Recruitment@moa-technology.com

It may be the festive season, but Moa's work to ensure global food security isn't stopping. After the successful field trials of our advanced compounds in the northern hemisphere spring, we have a full programme of counter-season trials now underway in both northern and southern hemispheres. Mark Bartlett, head of Moa's weed biology team, has just returned from San Jose in Paraguay, an area with growing conditions very similar to those just over the border in Mato Grosso, the biggest soy area of Brazil, but where it is much easier to trial new herbicides. Here, the warm wet climate and resistance combine to create an ideal environment for weeds to grow (four applications of glyphosate per month are currently required to control them elsewhere on this farm!) It's a fantastic test to see how our own herbicides work in this context, and we are looking forward to analysing the results and using the information to further refine and improve our products. Next stop: Australia! #foodsecurity #fieldtrials #weedwishyouamerrychristmas