Phytoform

🌿 Harvesting Hope: The Science of Resilient Crops During the session 'Resilience Crops for Improving Global Food Security' we explores the cutting-edge of plant breeding and research aimed at developing the next generation of resilient crops. ☘ Discover the forefront of agricultural technology with Guido Van den Ackerveken, Scientific Director of CropXR and dive into best practices with Anker Sorensen, Vice president New Business at KeyGene and William Pelton, Co-founder and CEO of Phytoform. 🎟 Secure your seats: www.fanext.com/tickets #FaNext2024 #agtech #ResilienceCrops

5 things I learned from my chat with William Pelton, Co-Founder and CEO of Phytoform, about agriculture, genetic editing and building a BioTech-Startup in the agriculture space. 1) Agriculture was more or less the same up until we started to use machines and chemicals about 40-50 years. We have now exhausted these potentials. The uptick in yields came at a cost. We rely on monocultures, overuse chemicals and damage soils. We have reached a point of diminishing returns and growing inefficiencies. Climate change requires resilient agriculture but more fertilizers and larger machinery are not the solution. 2) Plant genetics is an untapped potential to create resilient agriculture systems but GMO controversies limit our horizons. Talking about genetics, people directly think of GMOs and their dangers. GMOs are about mixing genes from different species, introducing an element of unpredictability. But it is also possible to edit the already existing plant genome and simply make already existing traits stronger - this is what conventional breeding does. 3) Conventional breeding can take decades. We don't have this time if we want to make 1000s of crops more resilient against more hostile climates. AI can help us understand the DNA of 1000s of crop species at scale. Building on this understanding, we can edit the genome of these species. Phytoforms AI platform enables this conjoined analysis and editing process. 4) There are genetic gatekeepers that have massive influence on our agricultural systems: seed companies. Phytoform works with these seed companies to help them improve the DNA of their crops, i.e. make them more resilient to drought. Working with these gatekeepers can be a huge multiplier on the path to scale. However, the size and small number of these companies illustrates dependencies and the fragility of our agriculture systems. 5) Agriculture offers great potential for business models that align incentives along the value chain. Phytoform operates on a royalty-based business model. They deliver genetically improved seeds to their customers and receive ongoing revenues for the edited traits. This is a good example for a impact that scales with the business model. Fun Fact: A christmas tree held the record for world's largest genome for a long time. It's 15x larger than the human genome. Humans are surprisingly simple creatures. Listen to the whole conversation on the Tech and Trees podcast to get all of Will's insights (Link in the comments).

5 things I learned from my chat with William Pelton, Co-Founder and CEO of Phytoform, about agriculture, genetic editing and building a BioTech-Startup in the agriculture space. 1) Agriculture was more or less the same up until we started to use machines and chemicals about 40-50 years. We have now exhausted these potentials. The uptick in yields came at a cost. We rely on monocultures, overuse chemicals and damage soils. We have reached a point of diminishing returns and growing inefficiencies. Climate change requires resilient agriculture but more fertilizers and larger machinery are not the solution. 2) Plant genetics is an untapped potential to create resilient agriculture systems but GMO controversies limit our horizons. Talking about genetics, people directly think of GMOs and their dangers. GMOs are about mixing genes from different species, introducing an element of unpredictability. But it is also possible to edit the already existing plant genome and simply make already existing traits stronger - this is what conventional breeding does. 3) Conventional breeding can take decades. We don't have this time if we want to make 1000s of crops more resilient against more hostile climates. AI can help us understand the DNA of 1000s of crop species at scale. Building on this understanding, we can edit the genome of these species. Phytoforms AI platform enables this conjoined analysis and editing process. 4) There are genetic gatekeepers that have massive influence on our agricultural systems: seed companies. Phytoform works with these seed companies to help them improve the DNA of their crops, i.e. make them more resilient to drought. Working with these gatekeepers can be a huge multiplier on the path to scale. However, the size and small number of these companies illustrates dependencies and the fragility of our agriculture systems. 5) Agriculture offers great potential for business models that align incentives along the value chain. Phytoform operates on a royalty-based business model. They deliver genetically improved seeds to their customers and receive ongoing revenues for the edited traits. This is a good example for a impact that scales with the business model. Fun Fact: A christmas tree held the record for world's largest genome for a long time. It's 15x larger than the human genome. Humans are surprisingly simple creatures. Listen to the whole conversation on the Tech and Trees podcast to get all of Will's insights (Link in the comments).