In June 2024, Upstream Biotech reached an important milestone: we initiated our first small-plot field trials for our soybean resistance trait.
This is the next step in bringing our SwitchBlade platform out of the lab and into the field. While lab studies have shown strong promise in conferring broad-spectrum resistance, field trials allow us to test under real-world growing conditions and validate performance where it matters most—on the farm.
Why Soybeans?
Soybeans are one of the world’s most important crops, feeding both people and animals while driving global agricultural markets. Unfortunately, soybean yields are threatened every year by a variety of pathogens—including fungi, bacteria, and viruses—that can cause devastating losses.
Our resistance trait is designed to give soybeans a stronger defense system, helping crops withstand these pressures without relying heavily on fungicides or other chemical inputs.
What These Trials Mean
The small-plot trials are designed to:
Measure how resistant soybeans perform in open-field conditions.
Compare disease incidence and yield stability between treated and control plots.
Gather early data to inform larger-scale demonstrations in the coming seasons.
Refine our regulatory and commercialization strategy by showing practical impact.
Looking Ahead
The launch of these trials is a major step toward delivering durable, sustainable solutions to growers. By testing our trait in soybeans, we are building the foundation for extending resistance across multiple crops in the future.
We’ll be sharing updates as the season progresses—including trial observations, preliminary results, and insights from our grower collaborators.
Stay tuned as we continue our mission to create resilient crops for a changing world.