Estrées‐Saint‐Denis, France and Kfar Tavor, Israel
June 20, 2012

During the June 7th day “Which wheat will you grow in 2025?”organized near Paris, France, by Saaten‐Union for its French and European clients, the two seed companies have announced their joint R&D project to create completely new types of winter wheat varieties , combining Saaten‐Union’s Croisor® hybridization technology and the Enhanced Ploidy (EP™) technology developed by Kaiima. EP™ is based on a natural phenomenon, polyploidization and is non GMO.

The newly crafted « polyploid » hybrids have several tens of percent more DNA in their cells than ordinary “hexaploid” wheat varieties. The result is a spectacular increase in biomass (both grain and straw yield). The partners also expect a significant improvement of several important parameters such as grain protein content and quality.

The first polyploid hybrids adapted to Europe will be submitted for registration in France within 3 years, and commercial seeds should be available as of 2017. Other hybrids may follow with a diversity of profiles aimed at meeting the requirements of grain farmers with a large territorial spread extending from southern Portugal to Turkey and from the British isles to western Russia.

“We are very excited by this innovative project, which can boost the value of our hybrids”, declared Guillaume de Castelbajac, General Manager of Saaten‐Union Recherche, the French R&D subsidiary in charge of hybrid wheat.

Doron Gal, CEO of Kaiima, said ”We are delighted to have the opportunity to apply our innovative technology to the seedstock of Saaten Union, the world leader in hybrid wheat, and to partner with them to increase the yield and quality of such an important global crop”.

Saaten‐Union is a German group of family‐run plant breeders, with its main focus on small grain cereals and oilseed rape, and a broad presence across Europe. Its proprietary chemical technology of hybrid wheat seed production has turned Saaten‐Union into a global leader for this variety type, which is expected to play a major role in increasing sustainable grain production worldwide in the next 30 years.

Kaiima, whose name in Hebrew signifies “sustainable development”, is an innovative Israel‐based seed and breeding‐technology company that dramatically boosts plant productivity with its breakthrough non‐GMO Enhanced Ploidy (EP™) technology platform. Its mission is to help feed the world and energize it by introducing new varieties of key agricultural crops, specifically designed for sustainable agriculture, with vastly improved yields. EP™ has been successfully demonstrated by Kaiima in more than 30 different crops.

Website: http://www.saaten-union.de

Published: June 20, 2012