Women in Science: FA Bio Founders' Innovative Solutions in Agriculture and the Workplace

Founded by a team of visionary women, FA Bio is dedicated to identifying sustainable agriculture solutions. They have created a new microbial discovery platform to assist with developing agricultural bioproducts. Their innovative approaches stretch beyond the lab to inclusive hiring practices that attract a diverse workforce. Discover the experiences that led these women to pioneer new technologies and their secret to attracting top talent. 

Transcript

VOICE:
 AgTech 360 discusses breakthrough technologies that are impacting growers, businesses, and consumers. Hear from industry and academic experts about what's on the horizon.

ADRIAN PERCY:

Hi, so I'm your host, Adrian Percy, executive director of the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative. This month we're celebrating the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. And of course some of our greatest entrepreneurs and scientists and innovators are women. And I'm thrilled to welcome today not just one, but two of them on the podcast. So we have the CEO of Fa Bio, Angela de Manzanos, and the COO, so the chief operating officer, Kerry Weaver, who are both the co-founders of FA Bio. And this duo are really creating biological products for agricultural use. And they built their business around exploring regenerative and sustainable agriculture. And they're based out of the very historical, very influential agricultural institution of Rothamsted Research in the UK. And I happen to be a member of the board of directors of FA Bio. So I've really had the privilege and the pleasure to get to know Angela and Kerry over the past couple of years. And so I'm super excited to share and discuss their journey and the technology that they've developed with everyone today. So welcome, Kerry and Angela.

ANGELA DE MANZANOS:

Thank you.

ADRIAN PERCY:

Yeah. So before we dive into the business side of things, I wanted to talk to you about your unique journey as women in the fields of science and technology and agriculture. And just a couple of general questions to kick us off. So is there an event or a person that has inspired you personally to pursue science as a career? I'm going to ask you first, Angela.

ANGELA DE MANZANOS:

For me, I wouldn't say there's an event or person itself. I was a very inquisitive child and I always wanted to understand how things work, why plants were green while we were breathing. So I think that my curiosity was answered when I started studying biology and in particular molecular biology and biochemistry in school. And that's what sparked my interest in pursuing a scientific career.

ADRIAN PERCY:

That's great. I mean this curiosity and inquisitiveness at a young age around everything biology is something that I commonly hear when we talk to CEOs and CTOs of AgTech companies of course. But how about you, Kerry?

KERRY WEAVER:

Well, I feel, I'm going to reiterate quite a lot of what Angela said, but for me there was a specific person, it was a chemistry teacher in my skills. So I've never met anyone who was so full of life and energy and he totally had me hooked about science, especially chemistry from a young age. And I must have asked my mom and dad to buy me every single science experiment kit that you could imagine. And there weren't many around at that time. So I don’t know if you ever did this skill, but there was this experiment where you put basically baking soda on a sheet of paper, you add a few drops of vinegar with a bit of food coloring, and it produces a massive volcano. So I had my mom and dad doing this in her kitchen from my young age, and I think that's when I realized that I really did have a curious mind. I liked to understand how things worked and I like to then put that into act and then test them. So that for me was really the trigger of science will be the career that I embark on. And I started my career in chemistry.

ADRIAN PERCY:

And I must admit, you kind of brought back some memories because the only teacher I can remember really well was my chemistry teacher, Dr. Phillips, and we were doing explosive experiments as well. I think that's a great way of getting kids excited about the discipline. I wanted to explore a little bit more so your roles as women in science and have there been any unexpected challenges or hurdles that you faced being involved in science, technology and agriculture that you would attribute to your gender?

ANGELA DE MANZANOS:

I'm not sure if related to science and women, because I have to say that from very early on in my career I have mostly been surrounded by more women than men bio technology. We were 87, I think there were seven in my degree and 80 we were a woman. The same during my PhD. You do see less women as you progress further up, you see less women as you progress in the career path of scientist. But I would say more as more barriers that I see as a woman agritech, maybe a woman, young maybe woman in agritech, is that people do have some skepticism about what you are telling them. I remember we hire significant more senior, in terms a person, a salesperson, and that was male in our team some years ago and we went together to trade then. And although I was the CTO and he was the sales manager, people were ignoring me and they were just referring to him. And everything that I was telling, they were looking for his reassurance. Although I was the executive, I was the founder and I was the CEO of the company. So maybe that's what I have seen in agritech, maybe that as young woman dealing with a very traditional market, maybe it's hard to create that level of trust with some of maybe the end users or growers.

ADRIAN PERCY:

Yeah, I think that observation will resonate with a lot of women, Angela. Kerry, how about you? And are there things that you've done also to overcome these types of challenges? That would be interesting to learn about.

KERRY WEAVER:

Probably not surprisingly, one of the things that I had on the list was the exact same as what Angela said, so I won't repeat it, but maybe just add to it. That I don't know if it's specific to science or agriculture, I'm sure it happens in other industries too, and it may not just be gender, it may have been youth as well, but it's hard to tell. But many times in conversations, and I'm saying this because this is what we saw, people assume the white, the white age middleman, is in fact leading the company, is the manager, when in fact are taken aback or surprised when in fact it was a young female. So we did often find that having to overcome that by showing assertion and confidence and trying not to take offense, but trying to rationalize that it's an unconscious bias. But we need to challenge that and make people realize that we know what we're talking about and demonstrate our knowledge in the industry and in the area.

So that's how we overcame that. And I think obviously as FA Bio has gained more publicity and people are aware of who the executives and leaders are, that challenge has lessened over time. But I'm sure it'll be faced by many people in many industries, even if it's not science or agriculture. The second one, probably again, and I don’t know if it's not related to science, I think it's just probably women in the workplace and it's probably the pressure of balance in life and work. I sometimes think as a woman can be more difficult, not all the time, but in most cases it's achievable, but it's very difficult. And personally for me, I overcame this by making personal sacrifices on both ends and by having supporting people around me. And I think what I love about the position we are in now, Angela and I as owners of the company, is that we can ensure we make a difference and make it better for anyone else who's going forward now. And that's really helped by having a supportive company culture all the way from the managers all the way to the board level who are supportive of adopting policies that allow women to pursue careers without these additional challenges.

ADRIAN PERCY:

Yeah, that's so true. And I've loved the fact that we've had brief appearances from your young children on some of our board calls. And I think that's probably something that wouldn't have happened 10, 15 years ago. But I think now there's an understanding of this kind of work-life balance and that we have to frequently balance family obligations and necessities with what's going on in the workplace. You mentioned FA Bio, so let's talk about the company now. Let's talk about what prompted you to get together and create this company. 

KERRY WEAVER:

So what prompted us to create bio, I think it came from a shared drive for entrepreneurism. And we both shared a passion of sustainable agriculture, which was developed through our PhD studies. Angela and I actually came together because within our PhD cohort, it was a doctoral training center, they had entrepreneurial competition running. And Angela and I were in the same research group. We decided to enter together with an idea of helping agriculture in terms of a device that could alert growers to plant disease in the field so they could take quick decisions, use less chemicals, and improve the sustainability of agriculture. So we entered that competition and we won funding. We won the opportunity to patent our technology. We won a mentor, which turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to us because that mentor went on to be our chairman of our board, our first investor, Paul Atherton, who we often refer to as the third founder and who sadly is no longer with us. And we left our PhDs and then our postdocs and decided to start a company called Fungi Alert. And we set this up at Rothamstead Research Center where we had access to laboratories, classes, trials, field trials, and we embarked on a journey of soil health testing using our SporSenZ sporesense technology.

ANGELA DE MANZANOS:

So when we were Fungi Alert, we were basically using our SporSenZ technology that I referred to to alert about the presence of fungal diseases in soil – Fungi Alert. And our core activities were to the soil microbial analysis. And in 2020 I think it was, we received a grant that allowed us to, let's explore how this microbe can act by against this pathogen. And that was basically driven by growers that we were working with. They were seeing a disease in their fields, it was a strawberry grower and everything that they were trying to use in chemical, microbial, especially microbial because they wanted to go chemical free, was not working for them. And they were a bit desperate because they were having huge losses against this pathogen. We said with pest, these microbes that we had collected from his scale to have bio activity according to literature against the pathogens that we have collected from the strawberry plant.

And we realized that we had a very powerful microbial formicide, besides in our library that we had collected with our support technology. So that led us to think about change of strategy, a pivot, because we realized that we had a greater opportunity having an impact providing tools for growers to transit towards alternative agriculture by using our SporSenZ technology as a tool for the discovery of microbial active ingredients rather than just a tool for soil microbial analysis. And that's why in 2021, Fungi Alert became FA Bio and we pivoted from a tool of early diagnostic solid microbial analysis to a company that is developing a platform to discover robust microbial active ingredients for microbial products that can replace agrochemicals.

VOICE:

The North Carolina Plant Sciences initiative impacts lives through innovative applications and discoveries by leveraging cutting edge research and technology. We address global challenges related to agriculture, sustainability, and human health.

ADRIAN PERCY:

And so can you share a little bit more about the technology then that's behind this microbial discovery platform? I know this is one of the areas that you really look at, Kerry, so maybe that's one for you.

KERRY WEAVER:

At FA Bio we have reinvented how microbes are discovered. So our proprietary technology, the SporSenZ, it is a sampling tool. It's a device, and when you place it into the soil, it can effectively collect active and abundant microbes that are present in the soil. And this is really important because the gel inside our sensor, what it does is it mimics the xrays of plants, and these are xrays of plants as we know they attract microbes and they interact with it, these microbe plant interactions. So by mimicking these x-rays and placing our device into the soil, what we effectively do is we can sample all of these microorganisms that would be otherwise attracted to the plant roots. So this is microorganisms that are involved in nutrient use efficiency that are involved in interacting with the plant to help them protect against disease, essentially all the important functions for plant growth and plant health. So effectively what we do is we attract and sample all of these key microorganisms into the SporSenZ device. Therefore we can collect active ingredients that could be useful for agriculture. So these are microorganisms that could be active ingredients as bio fertilizers, as biostimulants and as biocontrol products, which is really a powerful tool that allows us to find the right microbes from the right environments producing robust microorganisms for the agricultural industry.

ADRIAN PERCY:

Great. And Angela, back to you on partnerships. So companies like FA Bio I know have a number of different stakeholders, whether it's farmers as potential end users or other companies that you may work through. What kind of value proposition are you offering to those different stakeholders and what kind of partnerships are you looking to create moving forward?

ANGELA DE MANZANOS:

Our value proposition, I think Kerry mentioned it, we do have this unique microbial library of particular fungi that we have collected with our SporSenZ technology that we're active in sales and we're interacting crops. We then have developed a platform that allows us for the bioprospecting very effectively and lean in order to take microbes into field trials, relatively quick efficient process. So we have a qualified lead that shows superior activity that's biofungicides or biostimulants some of the leading parts in the market for key crop and for such as microbes for wheat that can access against a range of fungal pathogens or microbes for corn that can increase the crop yields very effectively. So our offer to partners is that we want to partner with those companies that can take our products to growers.

ADRIAN PERCY:

Right. And now coming back full circle to you two, as women who are leading a relatively early stage company in the ag tech space, what advice would you give to other similar organizations about creating an inclusive work environment and what do you see as the importance of supporting women in our sector, in agriculture, as we move forward?

KERRY WEAVER:

I think for me personally as a women-led company, FA Bio advice that I would give is to create an environment that can foster growth for everybody. And I think that's really important because everyone and you understand that people need different opportunities and different management styles in place to support different types of people with different personalities from different genders different backgrounds. And having women in leadership positions from team members, team managers, all the way to board level, we feel can foster that more inclusive work environment as well as having policies in place that allow practically for that to happen as well. So flexibility, which of course is needed for men and women, but especially in younger years with young children, flexibility is extremely important. Also, supporting everyone with a growth plan, providing a clear growth plan for everybody is really important. That allows us a) to not only have the right talent in place and attract the right talent, but to grow that talent internally as well. And at FA Bio as well, we have a lot of inclusive policies that really helps women and men in the workplace to grow. And it's not just about women in the workplace, it's more inclusive work environment. We are a very culturally diverse company. We have more than 12 different cultures and backgrounds at FA Bio from a small team of 23. And we often get the feedback that we have a really strong company culture and values that are embedded into the company that allows for growth and inclusion for all.

ANGELA DE MANZANOS:

Having been a recent mom, that has come back to work recently, my baby is now 11 months, but yeah, having been a recent mom, I think flexibility. Like allowing, having this policies around flexibility, which allows inclusion, not only woman but anyone, I think allows to feel comfortable to have the right work life balance to make choices, to make choices that satisfies their personal needs, their family needs, and also their career needs. So having these, I guess, set of policies for culture that gives them space for that conclusion to really happen. I think that's what has been key for us. And not discriminate when you are recruiting. It’s very easy to pick people that are more similar to you. And I think that maybe being aware that we all have these biases and trying to not discriminate. Always when we have advertised for job, or we have job offer, something that has really worked for us has been that we always keep time commitment for the work. So we have always this role, but we also will consider part-time and that has allowed us to recruit very effectively, maybe a woman that were coming back to work after a maternity period for women that were carers, were taking care of their children or someone at home, or maybe women that had other needs. But the fact that we allowed for the flexibility and for this the way of working part-time or allowing working remotely, allowing working the hours that work for them, I think has allowed to recruit very, very loyal team.

ADRIAN PERCY:

Yeah. Thanks Kerry and Angela, I think you bring some really wise words and some wisdom and obviously through your experiences. Really appreciate it. Wish you a lot of luck with your personal journey, but also obviously building the culture and the business at FA Bio into something hugely successful. So thanks so much for being on the pod.

VOICE:

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