Virgin Plants

About:

Virgin Plants is a agriculture company.

Website: http://www.virginplants.com/

Description:

Virgin Plants is a privately-held plant biotechnology company committed to helping feed a growing population by increasing crop production and innovation. Virgin Plants is assembling a portfolio of the best technologies and business minds to bring apomixis to the marketplace. The scientific cornerstone of their firm is a series of proprietary discoveries made by the research group of Dr. Tim Sharbel, an internationally recognized apomixis scientist based at the Global Institute for Food Security at the University of Saskatchewan. Virgin Plants will apply knowledge acquired from wild (non crop) apomictic species to the benefits of hybrids by decreasing the time and costs of producing hybrid seed. In addition, apomixis could potentially enable the exploitation of hybrid vigor in crops that presently cannot be economically hybridized. Their company will partner with breeders and seed producers across a wide range of crops, both domestically and internationally. Virgin Plants is pursuing natural processes which allow the benefits of hybrids without the attendant time and costs of producing hybrid seed, and potentially allow extending hybrid vigor in crops which today cannot be economically hybridized.