Syngenta has made an aggressive push into biologics, announcing two acquisitions in the space of a week. The Swiss agrochemical giant is acquiring the Florida-based biopesticide developer Pasteuria Bioscience for aggregate payments of $86 million, plus up to $27 million in deferred payments.

It has also offered to pay $523 million (€403 million) for the Belgian biotech Devgen, a leading developer of hybrid rice and RNAi technology directed toward agriculture. Syngenta’s offer for Devgen represents a 70 percent premium to Devgen’s closing price prior to the announcement.

The deals are part of a wave partnering and acquisition activity in what Big Ag sees as a potentially lucrative area for new ways to improve crop yields. By harnessing the natural capabilities of microbes and increased genomic and biologic capabilities, these companies are seeking to produce new biological crop protection products that are potentially less damaging to the environment.

Syngenta was already involved in research collaborations with both Pasteuria and Devgen. In 2011 it teamed up with Pasteuria in a global exclusive technology partnership to produce nematode control products based on Pasteuria ssp., a naturally occurring soil bacteria long recognized as a promising biological control agent against nematodes. The first products resulting from that relationship will be available in 2014.

The offer for Devgen comes just months after the companies began a six-year research partnership and license agreement whereby Syngenta was to develop and commercialize sprayable RNAi-based crop protection products developed from Devgen’s technology. That deal provided Devgen with a $28.3 million upfront payment and annual research fees of $6.2 million.

“There is immense potential in combining Devgen’s pioneering research in both GM and sprayable RNAi-based crop applications with Syngenta’s broad crop protection portfolio,” says Sandro Aruffo head of R&D at Syngenta. “By building complementary biological insect control solutions into our offer we can increase the options and capabilities we provide to our customers.”

If the offer for Devgen is consummated, which is expected, Syngenta will also get the ability to offer new varieties of hybrid rice, a food crop critical to global food security, especially in emerging countries.

The push into agricultural biologics, a $1.7 billion market that U.S. agricultural giant Monsanto says will grow at a rate of 10 percent a year, is compelling for acquirers because it sidesteps the controversial issue of genetic modification. While genetic modification has proven safe so far, it remains controversial and unacceptable to consumers in many countries.

High profile deals in this area during the past year include Monsanto’s acquisition of Israel-based Beeologics; a recent collaboration with Alnylam pharmaceuticals, which has given it access to RNAi capabilities; and Bayer CropScience’s acquisition of the California biotech AgraQuest for $425 million plus milestone payments. AgraQuest markets a fungicide that uses live bacteria to destroy the walls of fungal cells and leave them vulnerable to other fungicides and another product made from a plant that breaks down insects’ exoskeletons and essentially makes them unable to function.