Yield10 Bioscience Announces Start of Field Tests of Winter Camelina Varieties

Rhea-AI Summary

Yield10 Bioscience (Nasdaq:YTEN) has initiated field testing of winter Camelina sativa varieties to assess their emergence and agronomic performance for commercial cover crop use in North America. This testing follows prior evaluations in the 2019/2020 season, aiming to establish seed and oil yield potential while scaling up specific plant lines. The company plans to generate data from different geographic locations, enhancing the development of Camelina varieties with proprietary traits for wider agricultural applications.

Positive

• Initiating field tests for winter Camelina sativa varieties to enhance commercial crop potential.
• Data generation from diverse geographic locations aimed at improving crop performance.
• Focus on uniform and stable performance of doubled haploid Camelina lines.

Negative

• No immediate financial metrics or outcomes from this testing phase are provided.

WOBURN, Mass., Oct. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq:YTEN), an agricultural bioscience company, today announced that it has begun field testing to evaluate the emergence and agronomics of winter Camelina sativa varieties. The testing of these winter varieties in the 2020/2021 winter season is part of Yield10’s continued development of Camelina sativa in the medium term for use at commercial scale as a cash cover crop for North America.

Having previously evaluated the Camelina sativa winter varieties in 2019/2020, Yield10 continues to pursue commercial efforts to leverage its technology in the potential high growth cash cover crop market. Cover crops are becoming increasingly important to improve the sustainability of food production by improving soil health, reducing unwanted leaching of nutrients into the water supply, and enhancing economic returns for the farmer.

The objectives of the study are to determine the seed and oil yield potential of winter Camelina varieties, and to scale up certain plant lines to support conducting larger studies. The field tests will evaluate the best performing wild-type and doubled haploid lines from the 2019/2020 winter season. Doubled haploid Camelina lines are expected to have more uniform and stable performance, making them attractive as a foundation for Camelina development and insertion of Yield10’s performance and product traits.

“We were very pleased with the seedling emergence and overall crop performance of our wild-type and doubled haploid winter Camelina lines, which were tested under the extreme winter conditions encountered in Canada in the late 2019/2020 season,” said Kristi Snell, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer of Yield10 Bioscience. “We are testing our best performing winter lines this year at sites in the U.S. and in Canada to generate additional crop performance data in different geographic locations. This field test will enable us to evaluate the performance of the lines, as well as provide the opportunity to generate more seed to enable larger scale plantings in the future -- two key steps for demonstrating the seed and oil yield potential of the crop. We are building value in our germplasm foundation which will enable us to combine our proprietary traits in both winter and spring Camelina varieties, expanding acreage potential for the crop.”

About Yield10 Bioscience

Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. is an agricultural bioscience company developing crop innovations for sustainable global food security. The Company uses its “Trait Factory” including the “GRAIN” big data mining trait gene discovery tool as well as the Camelina oilseed “Fast Field Testing” system to develop high value seed traits for the agriculture and food industries. As a path toward commercialization of novel traits, Yield10 is pursuing a partnering approach with major agricultural companies to drive new traits into development for canola, soybean, corn, and other commercial crops. The Company is also developing improved Camelina varieties as a platform crop for the production and commercialization of nutritional oils, proteins, and PHA biomaterials. The Company’s expertise in oilseed crops also extends into canola, where it is currently field-testing novel yield traits to generate data to drive additional licensing opportunities. Yield10 is headquartered in Woburn, MA and has an Oilseeds Center of Excellence in Saskatoon, Canada.

For more information about the company, please visit www.yield10bio.com, or follow the Company on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

(YTEN-G)

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release which are not strictly historical, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company’s intentions with regard to development of Camelina sativa for use at commercial scale as a cover crop for North America, the use of cover crops as a way to open up large areas for new crops producing novel products by complementing and not competing for acres with major food and feed crops while increasing farm revenue, the potential size of the cash cover crop market, whether doubled haploid Camelina lines will have more uniform and stable performance, plans to complete field tests with winter Camelina in 2021, the results and outcome of, and information gathered from, those tests, the ability to generate value from Camelina oil and meal, including but not limited to the ability to use the results of the tests in future studies or licensing, collaboration or other commercial activities, and whether the Company’s traits will increase seed yield or boost oil content, constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including the risks and uncertainties detailed in Yield10 Bioscience's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Yield10 assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release or with respect to the matters described herein.

Contacts:
Yield10 Bioscience:
Lynne H. Brum, (617) 682-4693, LBrum@yield10bio.com

Investor Relations:
Bret Shapiro, (561) 479-8566, brets@coreir.com
Managing Director, CORE IR

Media Inquiries:
Eric Fischgrund, eric@fischtankpr.com
FischTank PR

FAQ

What is Yield10 Bioscience's recent field testing initiative for winter Camelina sativa?

Yield10 Bioscience has begun field testing winter Camelina sativa varieties to evaluate their performance as cover crops in North America.

What are the goals of Yield10's winter Camelina sativa field tests?

The tests aim to assess seed and oil yield potential and scale up high-performing plant lines for future studies.

When did Yield10 Bioscience start its winter Camelina sativa field tests?

The field tests commenced for the 2020/2021 winter season.

What is the significance of using doubled haploid lines in Yield10's testing?

Doubled haploid lines are expected to provide more uniform and stable performance, enhancing the foundation for Camelina development.

What is the potential market impact of Yield10's Camelina sativa initiatives?

Yield10 aims to tap into the high-growth cash cover crop market by improving the sustainability of food production.