Collaboration reduces time in fermenting complex bacterial strains, enabling continued focus on next-gen biological crop solutions.
BOSTON and PLANO, Texas, Dec. 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA, "Ginkgo"), a provider of research and development services and tools for biological product development and Agricen, a leader in the development and commercialization of novel biological and soil amendment solutions for plant nutrition and health, today announced the successful completion of their initial collaboration to develop and optimize a low-cost, efficient fermentation process for complex bacterial strains used as a component in one of Agricen's soil amendment products.
"Ginkgo's unique approach to process development and optimization brought an efficiency for developing a custom fermentation process that we didn't see with other toll producers," said Michael Totora, President and CEO of Agricen. "This is work that we would typically do in-house, but we are always looking for ways to be more operationally efficient. We saw what Ginkgo's team offered and enlisted them to do what they are experts at - simplifying processes with challenging microbes. They delivered. This gives us more time to focus on advancing solutions in our pipeline and providing novel biological crop nutrition solutions to our global partners."
Growers are increasingly adopting biological solutions to help them improve crop yield, quality and stress resistance while also maintaining the integrity and sustainability of their soil. For over 20 years, Agricen has been developing and commercializing solutions to meet those needs, including through the development of novel biological and soil amendment technologies that increase nutrient availability in the soil, improve crop uptake of essential nutrients, help plants better tolerate abiotic stress and enhance soil biome function. The new collaboration with Ginkgo enables Agricen to produce microbes in one of its soil amendment products faster and more efficiently, highlighting the value of Ginkgo's technologies in helping agriculture companies gain efficiencies at later stages of product development.
"At Ginkgo, we understand the urgency for next-generation agricultural solutions that can support growers, consumers and the planet," Michael Miille, General Manager of Ginkgo's agriculture business unit says. "It has been a pleasure to work alongside our partners at Agricen to deliver an optimized process that allows them to continue to focus on the development of biological solutions important to crop production."
Ginkgo aims to develop and advance agricultural biological solutions across crops and geographies through platform technologies that address diverse market needs. The company's platform supports partners at various stages of bioprocess development: from media and process screening at small and intermediate scales to commercial-scale manufacturing at volumes ranging from 20 liters to 3,000 liters.
To learn more, visit Agricen.com or Ag.ginkgo.bio/
About Ginkgo Bioworks:
Ginkgo Bioworks builds the tools that make biology easier to engineer for everyone. Ginkgo R&D Solutions delivers customizable R&D packages-such as protein engineering, nucleic acid design, and cell-free systems-giving partners a comprehensive way to accelerate innovation across therapeutics, diagnostics, & manufacturing. Ginkgo Agriculture provides R&D services for innovative companies that are developing agricultural biologicals and novel plant traits, including lead discovery, characterization and validation, product & process co-development, and small-scale toll manufacturing. Ginkgo Automation sells modular, integrated laboratory automation so scientists can spend their days planning and analyzing experiments rather than pipetting in the lab. Ginkgo Datapoints uses Ginkgo's in-house automation to generate the large lab data sets to power your AI models. Ginkgo Biosecurity is building and deploying the next-generation infrastructure and technologies that global leaders need to predict, detect, and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and https://ag.ginkgo.bio/, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as X (@Ginkgo), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks), Threads (@GinkgoBioworks), or LinkedIn.
About Agricen:
Agricen is a plant health technology company delivering biochemical-based products that sustainably enhance plant health, nutrition and performance.
Agricen helps growers meet the demands of modern agriculture by providing effective tools that increase nutrient availability and uptake, improve sustainability and optimize yield potential. We also help turf and ornamental professionals get more out of their fertilizer programs with innovative products that significantly increase fertilizer efficiency and improve plant performance and quality.
To learn more, visit Agricen.com and follow us on our LinkedIn.
AGRICEN MEDIA CONTACT:
[email protected]
GINKGO BIOWORKS INVESTOR CONTACT:
[email protected]
GINKGO BIOWORKS MEDIA CONTACT:
[email protected]
Forward-Looking Statements of Ginkgo Bioworks
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the capabilities and potential success of the collaboration and Ginkgo's cell programming platform. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "can," "project," "potential," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) our ability to realize near-term and long-term cost savings associated with our site consolidation plans, including the ability to terminate leases or find sub-lease tenants for unused facilities, (ii) volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo operates and plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, and changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo's business, (iii) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and to identify and realize additional business opportunities, including with respect to our solutions and tools offerings, (iv) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (v) the uncertainty regarding the demand for passive monitoring programs and biosecurity services, (vi) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations, (vii) the outcome of any pending or potential legal proceedings against Ginkgo, (viii) our ability to realize the expected benefits from and the success of our Foundry platform programs and Codebase assets, (ix) our ability to successfully develop engineered cells, bioprocesses, data packages or other deliverables, (x) the product development, production or manufacturing success of our customers, (xi) our exposure to the volatility and liquidity risks inherent in holding equity interests in other operating companies and other non-cash consideration we may receive for our services, (xii) the potential negative impact on our business of our restructuring or the failure to realize the anticipated savings associated therewith and (xiii) the uncertainty regarding government budgetary priorities and funding allocated to government agencies. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Ginkgo's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on February 25, 2025, and other documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.
SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks
