Global Herbicide R&D Alliance
Moa and Corteva sign collaboration deal
Multi-Year R&D Platform Collaboration Combines High-Throughput Plant Screening with Corporate Crop Protection Pipelines
In a major strategic expansion to combat the global rise of herbicide-resistant weeds, Moa and Corteva sign collaboration deal. Announced on July 7, 2026, the multi-year joint venture pairs Moa Technology’s unique plant-led screening platforms with Corteva’s enterprise R&D capabilities. Since spinning out of Oxford University in 2017, Moa has profiled over 850,000 synthetic and bio-herbicidal compounds, extracting more than 80 distinct novel mode of action (MoA) areas. Marking Moa’s fourth major industry transaction in two years—following commercial pipelines with Certis Belchim, Gowan Company, and Nufarm—the collaboration focuses on rapidly isolating and validating highly scalable, residue-free chemistry to safeguard global crop yields.
OXFORD, UK — July 7, 2026 — Moa Technology today announced a multi-year R&D platform collaboration with Corteva, a global agriculture technology leader, focused on advancing the discovery of novel herbicide solutions to address increasingly complex weed management challenges for farmers. The collaboration will deploy Moa’s proprietary discovery platforms with Corteva’s deep herbicide R&D expertise to accelerate the identification of novel modes of action for weed control solutions.
“Moa’s core strength is discovering genuinely novel tools to tackle rapidly evolving, yield-damaging weed threats,” said Dr. Virginia Corless, CEO of Moa Technology. “We’re delighted to be working with Corteva on this project. The more commercial research collaborations we undertake with industry-leading companies, the faster we can accelerate delivery of safe, effective and affordable new solutions to farmers’ fields.”
“We’re excited to collaborate with Moa to advance the discovery of novel modes of action,” said Ashish Batra, vice president of crop health research and development for Corteva. “By combining complementary strengths, we aim to leverage Moa’s new approaches in herbicide discovery, and are focused on addressing the evolving challenges farmers face from weed resistance.”
Since Moa was spun out of Oxford University in 2017, its proprietary technology has discovered a new generation of synthetic and bio-herbicidal compounds based on novel modes of action capable of breaking weed resistance. This partnership is Moa’s fourth major industry collaboration signed in the last two years.
About Moa Technology
In the last three years, Moa’s platforms have screened over 850,000 compounds and discovered more than 80 promising novel mode of action areas to help farmers fight the rising threat of weed resistance. Its most advanced discoveries are now in their fifth season of international field trials, showing strong and consistent efficacy against some of the world’s toughest agricultural weeds.
The collaboration with Corteva is the fourth major deal Moa has signed since July 2024, following value-sharing deals with Netherlands-based Certis Belchim and US-based Gowan Company, and a major R&D partnership with Nufarm which has recently moved into its next stage of development.
Strategic Market Context
The integration of high-throughput predictive screening platforms into corporate discovery pipelines represents an accelerating macro trend where multinational input manufacturers look to counter severe chemical resistance by capturing novel chemical active ingredients early. As traditional synthetic compounds face tightening regulatory restrictions and reduced field effectiveness, market leaders are utilizing specialized computational and plant biology setups to compress discovery lifecycles. This alliance aligns with recent major corporate moves across global crop channels, such as Corteva and Crystal Crop Protection entering a massive formulation joint venture in India to target broadacre weed and pest complexes, and Certis Belchim and Greenhas Group entering an exclusive pipeline pact to scale validated biostimulants globally.
Moa Technology Limited — Corporate & Joint Venture Registry
Oxford, United Kingdom | International Crop Health R&D Briefing | July 2026 | moa-technology.com
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