Growing Resilience: How French biotech helps crops save water worldwide

Elicit Plant is a French startup that has gained international recognition for helping crops cope with water shortages — a challenge that’s becoming critical for farmers worldwide.

The company’s breakthrough started with phytosterols. Aymeric Molin, agronomy engineer and Chief Operations Officer at Elicit Plant, explains:

“Phytosterols are natural molecules found in all plants. They help regulate how easily substances pass through the plant’s cells, enabling the plant to adapt to the different stresses it encounters.”

Elicit Plant’s headquarters function as both a research centre and a testing ground, equipped with biology and chemistry labs and a small production unit. An international team of scientists works here to turn research into practical solutions that can be deployed quickly in the field.

“We work on a wide range of crops — mainly maize, soybeans, sunflower and cereals. Our field experiments have shown that treated maize plants use 20% less water on average than untreated ones,” says Magdalena Kutnik, Head of Laboratories.

Biostimulants, the category of products to which Elicit Plant’s innovations belong, first appeared in the 1990s. Since 2022, they have been regulated under European legislation.

“We received one of the first European authorisations, which allows us to distribute across all EU countries under the same authorisation. It’s an extraordinary opportunity,” notes Molin.

As droughts and extreme weather become more frequent, solutions that help crops use water efficiently are no longer optional — they’re essential. Elicit Plant’s work shows how European agri-biotech can deliver both scientific innovation and a tangible impact in the field.