For Immediate Release
ASan Diego, California (December 2, 2009) — Cibus, a pioneering plant trait development firm, today announced that it has partnered with Naturally Enhanced United Seed (NEU Seed), a potato grower cooperative based in Idaho, to develop and market improved traits in potato using Cibus’ natural smart breeding tool, Rapid Trait Development System™ (RTDS®). The collaboration will initially focus on enhancing crop protection tolerance and reducing blackspot bruising, with the aim of improving both productivity by reducing pesticide usage and the overall quality of potatoes available to the consumer.
Potato bruising costs the U.S. potato industry nearly $300 million a year* and NEU Seed estimates that 60 percent of this is attributable to blackspot bruise. In addition to yielding significant economic advantages for farmers and consumers through reduced waste, NEU Seed and Cibus have focused on newly developed traits that are expected to reduce usage of pesticides and improve the sustainability of potato production. Eventually the partners intend to collaborate on the development of other important traits to create healthier potato plants with improved quality attributes that will benefit the consumer and potato industry.
RTDS is an environmentally safe, trait development procedure that will use the potato’s natural process of gene repair to effect a precise change in the genetic sequence. By mimicking natural methods in a highly targeted way, RTDS technology avoids the introduction of foreign genetic material into plants. RTDS has been recognized by the USDA as a mutagenesis technique, and is therefore not subject to the regulations applied to transgenic (or GM) crops. Mutagenesis-derived crops and traits are produced around the globe in a number of food categories, including grains (rice, oats, durum wheat), vegetable oil crops (sunflower, canola, flax), beer ingredients (barley, hops, yeast) and seedless fruits (grapes, citrus fruits).
Cibus President Dr. Keith Walker said, “RTDS technology is revolutionary in that it enables the development in plants of valuable traits that enhance overall efficiency and product quality through a natural process. Globally, potato is a very important food crop, and Cibus is proud to work with NEU Seed and the potato industry to enhance production and quality for the benefit of farmers, processers and consumers.”
“Cibus offers the potato industry a naturally accelerated breeding process that will lead to new and innovative technology solutions for the farmer,” said Dirk Parkinson, potato grower and President of NEU Seed, from Saint Anthony, Idaho. “The RTDS technology offers North American farmers the ability to develop valuable traits through a carefully targeted process that mimics what occurs in nature. This directed and efficient approach allows for lower production costs and significantly enhances the overall quality of our product for our customers.”
* ”Preventing Potato Bruise Damage,” edited by Michael Thornton and William Bohl. College of Agriculture, University of Idaho. 1998.
Cibus
North America
Shawna Seldon
212.255.7541
Europe
Jonathan Birt
+44 (0)20-7269-7205
NEU Seed
Keith Esplin
208.243.1824
Cibus® is a leading agricultural technology company that develops, and licenses gene edited plant traits to seed companies. Its traits enable farmers to manage productivity and sustainability challenges such as diseases, pests, weeds, fertilizer use and climate change. Cibus' goal is to use its trait technology to create a new generation of crops that are more adaptable to their environment and have increased yields while requiring less chemicals. Cibus' patented RTDS® technology platform has enabled agriculture's first standardized end-to-end gene editing trait prototype and production system: the Trait Machine™. The Trait Machine represents a technological breakthrough in plant breeding that broadens the range and scale of possible trait solutions that makes more diverse germplasm accessible, materially shortens trait breeding timelines, and shortens the time to market traits. Cibus' technologies and traits are accelerating agriculture's jump to a climate smart, more sustainable crop production system and the industry's move to sustainable lowcarbon ingredients.
Naturally Enhanced United Seed (NEU Seed) was formed in November 2008 to develop and market potato cultivars with new innovative traits for growers, processors and consumers. NEU Seed is a cooperative of seed potato growers, based in Rexburg, Idaho, with a membership of growers from both Idaho and Montana. NEU Seed has entered into partnering agreements with Cibus and is seeking seed potato grower members from other seed producing areas of North America to join with NEU Seed to bring value added potato traits to market.