POLLINATION PRESERVATION EXPANDS BENEFITS TO CORN SEED PRODUCERS

Produce as much on ½ acre as a full acre by eliminating dependence on wind-pollination.


YIELD RESCUE
WITH POLLINATION, TIMING IS EVERYTHING

While product innovation and advanced farming practices have helped significantly, farming and crop pollination remain risky due to drought, flooding and climate change.

PowerPollen helped a customer recover a drought-affected field where the male and female plants matured at different rates; resulting in pollen being released before the female plant was ready. Using pollen we had already collected and preserved, PowerPollen was able to pollinate on-demand and fill the ears 3-times more than plants on the same field that did not receive pollen on-demand.

With increased flexibility, on-demand pollination technology can help reduce risk for corn growers and increase yield by 20 percent or more than today’s standard seed practices.



THE FUTURE OF CROP POLLINATION

By solving a previously impossible but critical step in plant reproduction, PowerPollen’s preserved pollen enables additional innovation for corn seed producers. This is where we are focused today. However, our technology is scalable and harmonious with the existing ag system making it a novel tool to help address global productivity challenges. Our goal is to expand our technology to other crops, such as rice and wheat, as well as solutions for individual farmers.

After leaving DuPont Pioneer, Todd Krone took a leap of faith to focus on solving one of the most significant biological processes in agriculture – pollination. As ideas began to form, he engaged friend and professional collaborator, Jason Cope, whose engineering expertise and previous inventions complimented Todd’s expertise in plant breeding and genetics. In the spring of 2015, the two set up shop in Todd’s garage to ultimately invent solutions and processes by which corn pollen could be collected, preserved and then applied.

From its early days, PowerPollen received strong support from investors to complete its research and development stage – equity investors included two highly recognized global agribusinesses as well as the Iowa Corn Growers Association – further validating the market’s interest in pollination technology.

In 2018, PowerPollen successfully proved its pollen collection, preservation and application process, then scaled field operations using custom designed machinery across in-field production on twenty-two customer fields at eight different seed production centers across Iowa, Indiana and Illinois.

The company continues to attract top talent, including scientists, agronomists, engineers and marketers, and expanded its operations in Iowa, Texas and Puerto Rico. In 2019, the Puerto Rico corn research capability was fully operational year-round thereby accelerating in-field testing capabilities beyond the Midwest.