SESVanderHave and Arcadia Biosciences Achieve Field Performance Milestone for Nitrogen Use Efficient Sugar Beets
June 04 2012 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
Arcadia Biosciences, Inc., an agricultural technology company
focused on developing technologies and products that benefit the
environment and human health, and SESVanderHave, a leading sugar
beet breeding and marketing company, today announced the
achievement of key field performance milestones for Nitrogen Use
Efficient (NUE) sugar beets.
The companies conducted three years of field trials to assess
yield performance of Arcadia’s NUE technology in SESVanderHave’s
sugar beet varieties. Results from these trials show that
experimental NUE sugar beets produce higher yields than controls
under different fertilizer applications over multiple years.
“Results from the SESVanderHave field trials have been very
encouraging,” said Eric Rey, president and CEO of Arcadia. “These
results, along with results in other crops with Arcadia licensees,
will enable us to focus on the next stage of development, namely
the preparation of regulatory data that will become available to
all of our NUE technology licensees.”
”The data we have produced with the experimental NUE sugar beets
have shown a very significant potential for yield improvement under
various nitrogen regimes and have indicated that in some conditions
highly competitive yield could be achieved with less nitrogen
input,” commented Klaas Van der Woude, Research & Development
Director of SESVanderHave. “We are very enthusiastic to progress
the development of the technology in sugar beets rapidly, and to
bring NUE seed products to support the competitiveness and
sustainability of the sugar beet industry.”
Yield in sugar beets is nitrogen-dependent as in many other
crops, and nitrogen fertilizers constitute a significant cost to
the grower. Sugar beets typically absorb only around one half of
the fertilizer applied; the rest can enter ground or surface
water systems, or volatize as nitrous oxide. Successful
commercialization of NUE sugar beets can help growers lower
nitrogen fertilizer use while contributing to a sustainable
agriculture and reducing their environmental impact, rendering both
growers and the sugar industry more competitive in all regions
where beets are grown.
About Arcadia Biosciences, Inc.
Based in Davis, Calif., with additional facilities in Seattle,
Wash. and Phoenix, Ariz., Arcadia Biosciences is an agricultural
technology company focused on the development of agricultural
products that improve the environment and enhance human health. For
more information visit www.arcadiabio.com.
About SESVanderHave
SESVanderHave is an international market leader in the sugar
beet seed industry, specialized in every aspect of the research,
breeding, production, processing and marketing of sugar beet seed.
Worldwide, SESVanderHave sells sugar beet varieties resulting from
the continuous research and breeding process with its proprietary
germplasm. Each variety represents a customized solution to the
needs of a specific sugar beet market. SESVanderHave pursues a
proactive policy of investments in biotechnology, modern breeding
technologies and improved seed technologies to improve the
performance of the sugar beet crop. Wherever sugar beets grow,
SESVanderHave is present.