Liechtenstein Group Invests in PowerPollen To Unlock Potential for Major Food Crops
The Liechtenstein Group, known for its commitment to sustainable agriculture and innovative technologies, is leading a funding round of €22.5 million in the US company PowerPollen. PowerPollen has developed a unique pollination technology that allows pollen to be collected, preserved, and applied on-demand. This technology promises significantly better pollination and thus higher crop yields.
Pollen from wind-pollinated crops usually survives only a few minutes to hours at most. Climate change – drought, excessively high temperatures, pollinator decline, and extreme weather events – has made the pollination of these plants even more complex. PowerPollen’s technology offers a contemporary solution to these challenges in commodity crops, ensuring more stability and consistency in agricultural yields.
PowerPollen’s patented technology and hardware collects pollen from male plants, and then preserves the viability of the pollen up to four years for future application. Using a custom applicator, the pollen can be applied precisely at the right time and under ideal conditions in the fields. Yield improvements of over 20 percent with corn seeds significantly contribute to improving global food security. Targeted pollination “on demand” reduces the need for male plant rows, leading to reduced land use, as well as lower water and resource consumption.
In recent years, PowerPollen has proven its technology through successful partnerships with industry leaders, such as Bayer and Corteva for corn, and BASF for wheat, and underscores the value of leveraging scale-up innovation, like PowerPollen, to meet the world’s goals for more sustainable food production.
“For years, our technology has proven effective in corn and continues to demonstrate strong potential for applications in other crops. With the new financing, we’ll continue to advance our technology, aided by the expertise and global network of the Liechtenstein Group,” said Todd Krone, Co-Founder and CEO of PowerPollen.
PowerPollen Rice Joint Venture Leverages On-Demand Pollination for Hybrid Rice
As well as taking a stake in PowerPollen’s parent company, the Liechtenstein Group has also established a promising joint venture with PowerPollen, PowerPollen Rice, which focuses on the development and commercialization of the pollination technology to rice.
Hybrid rice, with a 20 percent or higher yield advantage over conventional pure line varieties, remains a cornerstone of global food security. Traditional rice cultivation poses escalating environmental and economic risks, including groundwater depletion, methane emissions and labor challenges. Enabling better hybrid rice pollination systems has the potential to increase the global rice value and sustainable production.
“We are absolutely convinced of the technology and its importance for more sustainable agriculture and global food security. For RiceTec, our rice seed company, the technology also has enormous potential to further increase the efficiency of this staple food crop for billions of people worldwide,” said Johannes Meran, CEO of the Liechtenstein Group. “Through RiceTec genetics and PowerPollen’s technology, we can unlock untapped efficiencies in hybrid rice production, setting the stage for a significant leap forward in global food security and climate change mitigation.”
This research collaboration will result in commercialization of PowerPollen’s technology for rice seed production by 2027.
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