Investment cooperative Horticoop announces a strategic investment in the US-based company 25:2. This plant breeding company combines its extensive seed bank with proprietary AI technology in a fully integrated process. This accelerates the development of new crop varieties and enables more targeted selection of desired traits. In doing so, the company contributes to future-proof agriculture and horticulture, an ambition aligned with Horticoop's objectives.
25:2 responds to the growing demand from growers for crops with enhanced characteristics, such as drought tolerance, disease resistance and higher nutritional value. The company focuses on both outdoor and indoor cultivation and a broad range of crops. Its proprietary AI technology enables an integrated selection and crossing system, combining genetic data from more than 20,000 varieties in its own seed bank with practical trial data. Based on this, the most promising crosses can be predicted with greater precision. This approach enables 25:2 to develop better seeds and to organise the breeding process in a more predictable and efficient manner, shortening the traditional breeding cycle by approximately eighteen months.
© Horticoop
The European market
The breeding company, headquartered in Idaho (USA), operates a global network of trial locations and serves customers across diverse climate zones. Horticoop's investment enables 25:2 to establish a stronger presence in the European market. The company intends to open an office in the Netherlands and further expand the coverage of its trial locations.
Patrick Groeneveld, Managing Director of Horticoop, explains: "25:2's unique technology represents a breakthrough in our sector. The ability to drastically shorten the breeding process for new varieties through AI and data analytics offers substantial value to farmers and growers worldwide. With this investment, Horticoop takes a strategic step aligned with our mission to invest in companies that make a positive and sustainable contribution to global agriculture and horticulture."
Eric Jackson, CEO of 25:2, adds: "With Horticoop, we welcome a strategic partner with in-depth knowledge of the international agriculture and horticulture sector who shares our ambition to make breeding faster and more efficient, thereby strengthening and improving the nutritional value of crops worldwide. This investment enables us to strengthen our commercial activities and roll out our technology more broadly in Europe, giving growers and seed companies faster access to innovative varieties."
For more information:
Horticoop
[email protected]
www.horticoop.nl
