HOT MUSTARD FOR SWEET FRUITS: HOW MUSTGROW BIOLOGICS IS SPARKING A REVOLUTION IN AGRICULTURE

RED TEMPTATION, BITTER AFTERTASTE

Early June is strawberry season. Market stalls on nearly every street corner offer the sweet fruits for sale. Anyone whose mouth waters at this sight would be better off not looking behind the scenes of global agricultural markets. Chemical pesticides and synthetic plant protection products have been boosting yields in industrial agriculture for decades. Yet this foundation is now crumbling. Worldwide, regulatory agencies have already banned or placed more than 560 established pesticide active ingredients under scrutiny. In light of strict international sustainability goals, the farmers' chemical toolkit is shrinking rapidly. An innovative agricultural technology company from the Canadian prairie town of Saskatoon is stepping into this multi-billion-dollar supply gap: MustGrow Biologics. The idea behind it is as simple as it is astonishing—the biological defence mechanism of the mustard plant.

Mustard has long been known in agriculture, but until now primarily as a green manure—that is, a plant sown in the field in the fall and later plowed under to loosen the soil. What the Canadians are developing from it, however, represents a technological paradigm shift. MustGrow specifically extracts the natural defence compounds from mustard seeds and processes them into two distinct commercial product lines.

TWO GROWTH DRIVERS

The first flagship product is TerraSante, an organic biofertilizer. The mixable powder contains purely plant-based proteins and carbohydrates from the mustard seed, which reactivate microbial life in the soil. In practical terms: The soil regenerates, nutrient efficiency increases, and farmers can significantly reduce their use of expensive synthetic fertilizers. The organically certified biofertilizer is gaining ground at record speed in the key US market. In addition to the agricultural powerhouses of California and Florida, official market approvals have recently been granted for Georgia—a key region for the multi-billion-dollar cultivation of peanuts, pecans, and blueberries—as well as for Texas, Utah, and Montana.

At the same time, the second pre-registered product, TerraMG, targets the highly regulated crop protection market. It is based on the extracted active ingredient allyl isothiocyanate—the pungent molecule that gives mustard its kick. In concentrated form, it acts as a highly effective biological pesticide, treating harmful nematodes and diseases in the soil. TerraMG thus positions itself as a direct, ecological replacement for toxic chemical fumigants such as chloropicrin, whose approval is wavering worldwide.

A key economic advantage for the market launch of both products: farmers do not require special equipment. The mustard extracts can be applied at low rates seamlessly using standard, commercially available agricultural machinery, which reduces the investment barrier for the agricultural sector to virtually zero.

THE BAYER SEAL OF APPROVAL

The most significant vote of confidence in the Canadians' technology recently came not from academic circles, but directly from the Leverkusen headquarters of Bayer AG. The agrochemical giant has secured an exclusive commercialization license for the biological pesticide TerraMG in the Europe, Africa, and Middle East (EAME) region. The contractual division of roles acts as a lever for the young AgTech company. Bayer is fully assuming the costly registration and approval procedures in these regions. A financial feat that MustGrow estimates at USD 35 to 40 million. In addition to upfront and milestone payments, ongoing royalty fees will be paid directly to Saskatoon upon successful market approval. For a company with a market capitalization of around CAD 30 million on the Toronto Stock Exchange, this arrangement marks a fundamental turning point. The fact that a global industry leader with annual revenue exceeding EUR 45 billion is taking on the financial risk of market approval is tantamount to the ultimate seal of approval.

The Leverkusen-based company's motivation is strategic. The DAX-listed group aims to play a decisive role in shaping the worldwide expansion of regenerative agriculture. The economic foundation for this is already in place. Experts estimate the global market for nature-based crop protection to exceed USD 20 billion by 2033—flanked by a market for biological fertilization worth around USD 6 billion. Both segments have been posting double-digit annual growth rates for years.

CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS AMONG SUPPLIERS

Despite the premature praise, MustGrow remains a young development company that, unsurprisingly, continues to operate at a loss. In the first quarter of 2026, the Canadians generated approximately CAD 100,000 in revenue with TerraSante—compared to nearly zero in the same period the previous year. What sounds modest is the result of a deliberate scaling process. As early as 2025, sales surged by around 380% year-over-year, which is why the product was temporarily out of stock. The gross margin currently stands at just under 24% and is expected to climb to around 40-50% as volumes increase on an industrial scale. However, the bottleneck currently lies in production. External contract manufacturers in Asia are currently transitioning their processes from small-batch production to large-scale continuous production, which is expected to lead to temporary delivery delays until the end of the first half of 2026.

To alleviate these growing pains, management announced a capital increase of approximately CAD 2 million at the end of May. The fresh capital is intended to finance the build-up of inventory to reliably meet the high demand. The highlight for investors: those subscribing to new shares at the placement price of CAD 0.50 will additionally receive a warrant granting the right to purchase additional shares at CAD 0.70 over a five-year period. Strategically, MustGrow is deliberately pursuing an "asset-light" model without its own factories. Instead of investing in concrete, the Canadians are investing in intellectual property. The foundation is a global portfolio of more than 100 granted and pending patents, while physical production is completely outsourced to third parties. This keeps capital tied up to a minimum and protects the balance sheet, but in return creates operational dependence on external partners.

ENTICING FIGURES

The math MustGrow presents is impressive, at least on paper. In the US alone, there are approximately 2.26 million hectares of so-called specialty crop land for fruits, vegetables, nuts, and potatoes. If TerraSante were applied to just 3.3% of this land, the revenue potential would already be USD 100 million annually. For the global marketing of the biological crop protection product TerraMG, the company estimates the achievable market volume at as much as USD 850 million. It should be noted that these are projections—not guaranteed forecasts. However, they serve as an example of just how much room for growth remains once the technology reaches the global mass market.

Initial real-world field results provide tangible support for these ambitions. In large-scale canola trials, significant yield increases of up to 0.5 tonnes per hectare were recorded, while potato growers reported gains of up to two tonnes per hectare. At the same time, infestation levels of clubroot—an aggressive fungal disease that poses a massive threat to Canadian rapeseed cultivation—decreased noticeably. For farmers operating in a low-margin environment where every incremental unit of yield matters, these results translate into clear economic benefits.

LEAN BUSINESS MODEL

MustGrow is a typical representative of the micro-cap category, characterized by high risk but equally enormous potential. Management still has much work to do to reach the stated goal of positive operating cash flow by 2027. Further dilution through future capital increases is therefore likely. On the other hand, there is a highly efficient "low-capex" business model that requires virtually no capital goods. Added to this are a proven bio-based technology, a prominent industry partner investing its own capital in the venture, and regulatory developments in the global agricultural market that structurally favour MustGrow.

The share is currently trading around the CAD 0.50 level (approximately EUR 0.30 in Frankfurt), about 50% below its two-year high. On one hand, this reflects the persistently challenging market environment for small-cap growth companies; on the other, it may offer countercyclical investors a potentially attractive entry point. For investors positioned toward a structural shift away from chemical crop protection and toward biological alternatives, MustGrow Biologics represents one of the more consistent proponents of this investment theme. The stock remains small and speculative, but ultimately perhaps with a return as sharp as mustard and as sweet as strawberry season.

The YouTube video below featuring Chief Operating Officer (COO) Colin Bletsky, recorded at the 18th International Investment Forum (IIF), provides further insights into MustGrow Biologics' business model and strategy: