Evogene Ltd., a leading company for the improvement of crop productivity and economics for the food, feed and biofuel industries, disclosed its first collaboration agreement with a multinational food company. The focus of the multi-year collaboration is to improve productivity of a key crop underlying one of the consumer company’s leading branded product lines through advanced breeding methods.
The agreement leverages Evogene’s decade-long experience, database and know-how for yield improvement and advanced breeding methods. Under the agreement, Evogene will utilize its proprietary computational and plant validation platforms to develop improved pre-breeding varieties of the target crop. Proof of concept validation activities will be conducted in both model plants and the target crop, which represents a new addition to Evogene’s growing crop improvement portfolio.
“As the consumer market becomes increasingly competitive, the industry is displaying increased interest and involvement in assuring the long-term quality, availability and sustainability of the agricultural feedstocks required for its branded products,” said Ofer Haviv, Evogene’s president and CEO.
“This collaboration allows us to venture into this previously untapped segment of consumer goods, where Evogene’s unique capabilities in improving the performance and productivity of underlying crops, can help meet the growing needs of food companies for more sustainable and higher quality feedstock supply.”
The three year collaboration, signed late last year, entitles Evogene to research and development fees and success-based payments.
Evogene is a plant genomics company, utilizing a proprietary integrated technology infrastructure to enhance seed traits underlying crop productivity. Evogene offers a complete solution for crop productivity improvement through biotechnology and advanced breeding using a unique technology infrastructure that is based on deep scientific understandings of plant genomics and proprietary computational capabilities.
