Medinbio, an SME from Gembloux, offers organic farmers a solution for growing potatoes without the use of pesticides, promising yields equivalent to those obtained using traditional farming methods.

The company has just patented its innovation, called "Euclean", which controls mildew, the leading potato disease, without the use of chemicals. Euclean is a solution composed of plants rich in essential oils and minerals.

How does it work? Agronomic research recently discovered that a plant can be strengthened by the soil in the same way that our intestines can be strengthened by probiotics; these useful intestinal flora micro-organisms allow improved digestion and above all strengthen our immune defences. Medinbio is aiming to create a new agricultural approach that vaccinates plants to strengthen their defence system, thus removing the need for pesticides.

Medinbio obtained its first results in France, where it already works for several large agri-food companies, "Last year, we produced 500,000 punnets of strawberries and several thousand bags of potatoes without chemical pesticides. We used our system approach with microorganisms in the soil, natural vaccines and natural active ingredients targeted at the right time."

Medinbio is at the cutting edge in its field and has established a number of partnerships with Walloon universities and research centres (Gembloux and Louvain-La-Neuve).

Sources : CCI, DH