Cibus, Interoc to collaborate to help Latin American rice growers
Cibus, Inc., San Diego, California, a leading agricultural technology company that develops and licenses gene edited plant traits to seed companies for royalties, announced a collaboration agreement with Interoc, a company with more than 25 years in Latin America.
The focus will be on the research and development of solutions for agriculture.
Starting with Cibus’ rice herbicide tolerance traits, Cibus has agreed to partner with Interoc to provide traits for Interoc’s elite rice seed genetics. The above photo was courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
New market
Interoc will market high performing rice hybrids and varieties for the Latin American market developed with Cibus’ technology expertise. The program encompasses herbicide tolerance traits to support existing needs in terms of weed and resistance management. Plus it can contribute to improving yields in a region whose productivity has been increasingly affected by resistant weeds, including weedy rice.
“We are excited to leverage our rice technology platform to support Interoc’s development efforts to bring the next generation of innovative products to farmers,” said Martin Poveda, senior director of Rice Business and Industry Affairs at Cibus.
“As we tackle agriculture’s greatest challenges, we’re excited to partner with leaders like Interoc and work together to solve some of the most pressing challenges in rice production in Latin America today.”
Lead crop
Rice is one of Cibus’ lead crops and the first traits for rice are two separate herbicide tolerances—HT1 and HT3. The performance of both herbicide tolerance traits has been assessed by Cibus in multi-location field trials across multiple seasons in the United States. Also it will allow quick advancement of the traits in Interoc rice germplasm. Interoc has a strong rice seed presence in Latin American countries and owns an extensive rice germplasm bank.
Interoc and Cibus intend to commercialize herbicide tolerance in rice with a focus on the key markets in Latin America.
With Interoc, Cibus believes that they can help address some of the most pressing weed management challenges of Latin America rice growers.
