San José, Costa Rica - November 7, 2025 - ClearLeaf, a Costa Rican company with proven success in formulating non-toxic agricultural products for crop protection, today announced that its GotaBlanca fungicide and bactericide proved highly effective in controlling pathogens in grapes and apples in field trials conducted by Cornell University’s Cornell AgriTech. The apple and grape field trials demonstrated that ClearLeaf's flagship product matched or outperformed currently recommended products in controlling both fungal and bacterial diseases, with its favorable safety profile for crops and the environment.
In the apple trials, GotaBlanca achieved fire blight, scab, and powdery mildew disease control that significantly outperformed incumbents, including streptomycin antibiotics, which have been banned in organic production since 2014. This positions GotaBlanca as a viable organic-compatible alternative. When used in rotation programs, GotaBlanca matched or exceeded complex conventional programs while maintaining excellent crop health, with no damage or stress to plants across all applications.
In the grape trials, GotaBlanca treatment in single product applications achieved excellent severity control of downy mildew and black rot, surpassing the grower standard. Rotation strategies boosted control even further, exceeding conventional programs by achieving superior control without the need for complex mixtures of synthetic crop protection products.
Dr. Kerik Cox at Cornell AgriTech noted: "The apple trials provided valuable insights into GotaBlanca's potential as an alternative to conventional disease management strategies. In our fire blight trials, GotaBlanca achieved control levels of 90% or greater for both blossom and shoot blight, significantly outperforming streptomycin antibiotics—results that are particularly relevant given the increasing restrictions on agricultural antibiotic use. What stood out was the performance in rotation programs for scab and powdery mildew, where it matched or exceeded complex conventional programs while maintaining excellent crop health. The absence of phytotoxicity across all apple applications represents a meaningful advantage for growers."
Dr. Katie Gold and Dave Combs in the Grape Sensing, Pathology, and Extension Laboratory at Cornell AgriTech, commented: "Our grape trials evaluated GotaBlanca across four major disease pressures, and the results demonstrate its versatility as both a standalone treatment and rotation partner. For downy mildew, GotaBlanca alone achieved 86% severity control on clusters, surpassing our grower standard, with rotation strategies pushing control above 89%. The black rot trials were particularly interesting—GotaBlanca rotated with biologicals provided equivalent cluster incidence control to the grower standard (systemic synthetic fungicide), which is impressive given the pressure in our trials is incredibly high. What makes these findings significant is that GotaBlanca can deliver this level of control across multiple diseases and grape varieties, while offering flexible integration into existing IPM programs and supporting sustainable viticulture practices.”
Dr. Agustín Büchert, CSO and Co-founder of ClearLeaf, remarked: "These comprehensive Cornell trials represent a milestone in validating what we've observed across dozens of controlled experiments and with our grower customers in Latin America — effective, broad-spectrum crop protection doesn't require a compromise between performance and safety. Significantly, GotaBlanca as a single standalone product matched or exceeded the control levels achieved by applications involving multiple conventional products. This translates directly into cost savings for farmers — they can achieve superior disease control with fewer products instead of purchasing and tank-mixing multiple products at each application, while also reducing chemical loads. Combined with zero phytotoxicity, superior crop health metrics, and in several cases better yields than conventional treatments, GotaBlanca delivers both economic and agronomic advantages. For farmers navigating increasing restrictions on antibiotics and synthetic fungicides, GotaBlanca offers a path forward that doesn't sacrifice disease control or profitability."
GotaBlanca is currently registered for use or sale in select international markets. GotaBlanca is not currently registered for use or sale in the U.S., a U.S. EPA registration is planned. GotaBlanca stands out as a broad-spectrum fungi-bactericide with a favorable safety profile for crops and the environment, It does not cause microbial resistance, enhances plant growth, aligns with regenerative agriculture practices, and can be applied at any stage of the growing cycle.
For more information about ClearLeaf Inc and its portfolio of agricultural innovations, visit https://www.clearleaf.ag
About ClearLeaf
ClearLeaf Inc is dedicated to empowering farmers with safe solutions that optimize crop production while minimizing worker, consumer and environmental impact. Through innovative technology and a commitment to sustainability, we are transforming agricultural practices worldwide.
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Country: Costa Rica
Website: https://www.clearleaf.ag
