15 Minutes With… Slavica Djonovic, Chief Scientific Officer with Elicit Plant

By Michelle Pelletier Marshall, Women in Agribusiness Media (October 22, 2024)

Elicit Plant is a pioneer in the agtech sector, offering innovative solutions to address the global challenges caused by climate change on broad-acre crops. EliTerra®, Elicit Plant’s proprietary and patented technology, utilizes a foliar treatment based on phytosterols—naturally occurring plant molecules that increase plant stress resistance by eliciting their innate defense systems. This innovative solution helps crops better withstand challenges like water scarcity and heat stress, while also offering the potential to enhance plant health when used in combination with fungicides. That’s the type of science-based solutions offered by Elicit Plant that keep the company’s Chief Scientific Officer Slavica Djonovic, Ph.D., enthusiastic about doing her job.

New this year to France-based Elicit Plant, Djonovic is tasked with propelling the company to a new level of innovation by developing cutting-edge solutions to help farmers worldwide combat water stress and scarcity. Djonovic does this with an entrepreneurial spirit, having been one of the founding scientists of INDIGO Ag, a Boston, Massachusetts-based ag biotech company, where she made significant contributions to product discovery, development, intellectual property, regulatory, and the launch of the company’s first five microbial products. She also served as senior director, respectively, at Joyn Bio, a synthetic biology agtech company in Boston. There she established the disease control program and initiated the regulatory science approach, which solidified her reputation as a leader in agrotechnological innovation. As well did her education, which includes a master’s degree from Colorado State University, a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, and postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

In speaking with Djonovic, one can see the spark of excitement in her eyes when discussing developing agtech innovations that will move industry forward and ensure food security for years to come. She passionately describes how the company first trialed its product at one of the three co-founders’ 1,100-hectare (2,718-acre) farm in south-west of France, adding the benefit of hands-on agronomy expertise. Over the past three years, large-scale global field trials and rapid adoption by farmers in Brazil, Eastern and Western Europe for the initial corn product, as well as new products for wheat, soy, and sunflowers, have demonstrated that Elicit Plant’s biological solutions deliver significant returns on investment. These results are especially impactful in regions where climate conditions have become increasingly unpredictable. Elicit Plant operates across Brazil, Europe and the U.S., and has experienced impressive triple-digit growth over the past two years as it continues to expand its global footprint.

WIA Today caught up with Djonovic in her Massachusetts home to get more details.

1). First, please explain Elicit’s unique product(s) to our WIA Today readers.

Elicit Plant's products are specifically designed to address the growing challenges farmers face due to rising temperatures and more frequent droughts. Traditional solutions like irrigation and varietal selection are becoming increasingly limiting. Our approach is built on disruptive innovations that harness the power of natural plant-based sterols, known as phytosterols. These ‘signal’ molecules trigger a cascade of molecular, physiological and phenotypic responses that help crops adapt to environmental changes, increasing their resilience to water stress while reducing water consumption by up to 20 percent.

Elicit Plant is the only company that has successfully formulated phytosterols into products specifically designed for a variety of crops, starting with broad acre crops like corn, wheat, sunflower and soybeans. Our products are applied preventively on healthy plants, ensuring they are better equipped to manage water scarcity when it occurs. A single foliar application induces a systemic response throughout the plant, including partial stomatal closure, which reduces water loss without hindering growth. It also promotes root development, enabling crops to explore the soil more efficiently for water. These combined effects allow plants to use water more efficiently, ultimately conserving this critical resource for longer periods.

Our goal is to not only enhance crop resilience and yield but also to make our products easy for farmers to use, contributing to a more sustainable and productive agricultural future.

2). What is the next step for product development, innovation and growth?

The next step in our product development and innovation strategy revolves around our unique EliTerra® research platform, which is designed to harness the power of natural phytosterols to enhance plant resilience. EliTerra® allows us to explore and optimize the more than 200 different types of phytosterols found in nature, each one stress- and species-specific, to develop tailored solutions for various crops. We are focused on identifying the best combinations of these molecules to address the different stresses faced by different crops. Phytosterols are not a one-size-fits-all solution; their effectiveness depends on their diversity, combination, and precise formulation. By utilizing EliTerra®, we can explore and develop highly targeted products that deliver maximum resilience and performance for specific crops.

Our roadmap is ambitious and designed to accelerate the development of new products for a wider range of crops. In our laboratories and climate chambers, our scientists and agronomists screen various phytosterol balances to understand the mode of action of our active ingredients, while our extensive field trials ensure the products meet real-world agricultural needs. By combining cutting-edge research with real-time feedback from agronomists, we are able to quickly adapt and tailor our solutions to different regions, climates and crop conditions.

The EliTerra® platform is key to unlocking the vast potential for innovation in agriculture, allowing us to expand our portfolio of solutions and bring new products to market at a faster pace, benefiting more farmers and helping them overcome the increasing challenges of environmental stress.

3). As a scientist, do you see that we can be creative and innovative enough to keep pace with population growth and the amount of food needed to sustain that number of people?

Absolutely. The solutions we are developing at Elicit Plant are specifically designed to address the critical challenges of food security in the face of climate change, particularly when it comes to water scarcity, a resource essential for crop development. As global populations continue to grow, agricultural systems must evolve to produce more food with fewer resources, and this is where innovation plays a vital role.

Our goal is to help maintain or even increase agricultural yields by making crops more resilient to environmental stress, especially water shortages. By harnessing natural plant processes with our phytosterol-based technology, we enable plants to use water more efficiently, reducing their consumption by up to 20 percent. This allows farmers to better manage water resources, extending their availability during critical growing periods, without compromising yield or crop health. Complementary effects of our products have also been observed, with a positive impact on plant health and improved resistance to other stresses. This action ensures greater yield security in the face of climatic hazards and other environmental challenges.

In essence, our innovations are directly aligned with the global need to support food sovereignty. By helping farmers adapt to the impacts of climate change, such as rising temperatures and more frequent droughts, we are ensuring that they can continue to produce the food necessary to feed a growing population, while safeguarding the sustainability of their practices.

4). What was the most game-changing innovation discovered during your time working in ag?

Synthetic biology and discovery of CRISPR and gene-editing technologies have revolutionized crop breeding. Synthetic biology has also enabled engineering of crops with novel traits, such as biofuels or pharmaceutical compounds or plant-based meat, reducing the demand for traditional livestock farming. Significant advances have been made in microbial engineering, particularly in utilizing microbes as vehicles for delivering active ingredients in planta or engineering microbes for nitrogen fixation or soil carbon capture, further enhancing agricultural sustainability.

Advancements also have been made in AI, digital agriculture, precision farming, automation, robotics, vertical farming and controlled environment agriculture.

As the climate crisis intensifies, there is a growing shift toward developing technologies for carbon sequestration, soil carbon capture, and climate-resilient crops, often through biological solutions. One such innovative biological solution is Elicit Plant’s phytosterol-based products, which leverage plants' natural defenses against water stress. These biological products offer eco-friendly alternatives to traditional chemical inputs, supporting more sustainable, resilient and technology-driven agricultural systems.

5). How did your entrepreneurial journey lead you to this position?

My entrepreneurial journey in agtech began with scientific curiosity and a deep passion for plant biology, microbiology and innovation, leading me to roles at Indigo and Joyn Bio, where I harnessed biological solutions to transform agriculture. These experiences allowed me to build programs from the ground up and develop a strategic mindset at the intersection of science and business. As chief scientific officer at Elicit Plant, I leverage my scientific expertise and entrepreneurial insights to address critical agricultural challenges, driving innovation and sustainable practices that impact farmers and industry at large.

Ultimately, my journey—from scientific discovery to leadership—has highlighted the vital role of innovation, collaboration and perseverance in driving impactful advancements in agriculture and fostering a sustainable future.

6). What advice would you give to women looking to build a career in agtech?

Building a career in agtech can be rewarding yet challenging. My advice is to start by identifying your passions within the agtech sector and leverage your unique perspective to drive innovation. Network actively by engaging with mentorship programs. Stay informed about industry trends and pursue relevant training to enhance your skills. Focus on problem-solving and collaboration.

Seek leadership opportunities early, advocate for your growth, and build alliances to navigate potential biases. Lastly, choose employers that appreciate diversity and prioritize professional development to ensure a fulfilling career path.