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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Culminating an 18-month journey by a pair of University of Virginia engineering students who’ve built a biotech company called AgroSpheres, with lots of state help along the way, Gov. Abigail Spanberger was in town for ribbon-cutting of its new bio-manufacturing facility.
The event brought the entire Albemarle County leadership to the Seminole Place facility as life sciences industries are a major economic development cog the county is trying to attract.
“Living in this community, Albemarle County, I’m really grateful that life sciences if a major focus,” said Payam Pourtaheri, AgroSpheres co-founder and CEO.
AgroSpheres develops and manufactures innovative biological crop protection solutions.
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Ameer Shakeel spoke about the company’s first organic biofungicide called Fun-Thyme, which uses that herb to kill fungi and harmful bacteria.
“The farmers love it, starting with this product that fights some of the most devastating diseases on fruits and vegetables, and it’s not just a big deal for the farmers and the growers but a big deal for all of us,” Shakeel told the gathering.
“Because this product directly replaces foreign-made chemicals and microplastics,” Shakeel said.
“From our soils, from our water, from our food supply system, that is a big deal for planetary health.”
“We cannot have healthy people without a healthy planet,” Shakeel observed.
According to the company release, “Powered by a proprietary AgriCell® platform, these highly effective, next-generation products offer farmers new, natural tools that are safe for pollinators, workers and the environment. The Charlottesville facility is designed to support both current production needs and future growth, positioning AgroSpheres to scale alongside its commercial product portfolio.”
“What we have built here is bigger than one facility,” said Shakeel.
“AgriCell was invented and commercialized in Virginia, and now it is manufactured here. That full arc, from scientific discovery to commercial production, is rare in biosciences. On behalf of our team, we are so proud to be shaping the future of American agriculture from Charlottesville.”
Gov. Spanberger addressing the gathering noted, “Last year, Time Magazine named AgroSpheres to their list top green tech companies in the world.”
“That is the type of company that Virginia should be cultivating, and I mean that in every sense of the word.”
Spanberger said, “Everyone here knows it but I’m going to say it because it has to be said, agriculture is our number-one private industry in Virginia and always has been, and we need to ensure that it always can be.”
The company release said, “On the biomanufacturing side, the U.S. faces a well-documented shortage of premium commercial fermentation facilities as domestic demand from biotech companies outpaces available capacity, forcing many to look overseas for R&D and manufacturing. AgroSpheres is answering that challenge not as a contract manufacturer, but as a homegrown engineer and producer of nature-based crop protection solutions for American agriculture.”
The state from the Youngkin Administration through to Spanberger’s has been active in helping build this company.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Albemarle County to secure the project for the Commonwealth, which approved a $200,000 Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund grant to support it.
Employee training has been funded through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.
The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation provided early backing through its Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund in 2019.
Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Chair and Rio District Supervisor Ned Gallaway said, “We are celebrating a company that started at the University of Virginia and made the decision to grow right here in out community.”
Gallaway highlighted a highly educated and highly skilled workforce that resides in the area.
As for starting at UVA, Pourtaheri told Cville Right Now, “We were really lucky our professor, who passed away a few years ago, Dr. Mark Hester, was a very entrepreneurial pharmacology guy, I’d say one of the first entrepreneurially-oriented people at UVA, really encouraged us to think outside the lab when we were doing our research.”
“We (he and Shakeel) were always interested in biotechnology, and he said there are a lot of vineyards nearby, go speak to them.”
Pourtaheri recalled Dr. Hester telling them, “Best case you get a new customer, worst case you get a free wine-tasting.”
“We’re missing him today, but he was really one of the catalysts to get us out of the lab and thinking outside it.”
One of the objectives of what AgroSpheres does, Pourtaheri said, “Trying to give growers as many tools for their toolbox so they can maximize their yield, but minimize their environmental impact.”
Charlottesville Delegate Katrina Callsen said she appreciates that AgroSpheres intent.
“Because everytime I go out to my garden nowadays, I’m like ‘what is going on and how do I get rid of all these things’, and I myself am Googling how to do it naturally and, like, I stopped when it started saying I needed to collect my dog’s urine, and I was like I’m not going there!”
“If you have dog urine on your bingo card, $500,” Pourtaheri quipped.
But Governor Spanberger summed it up saying, “I never stopped believing that protecting our farmland and our food supply is some of the most essential work that there is, with national security priority and environmental consequence.”
“And AgroSpheres recognizes that ensuring that producers have what they need to take care of their land in the best way possible.”
The new operation Pourtaheri said moves them from an R&D to a commercial venture will create 53 jobs by 2030 to add to the current 35.