A gentler crop protector wins its first stamp

Brazil's regulators approved Phytalix, a biofungicide built from ascarosides, natural molecules first spotted in soil microbes, that switches on a plant's own defenses instead of poisoning the fungus directly. It is the first product of its kind approved anywhere in the world, aimed at soybean and corn diseases as older chemistries lose their punch. Ascribe backed the registration with 450 field trials across eight Brazilian states.