RFA Ethanol Podcast

BASF and NRGene Collaborate for Accelerated Crop Breeding

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF and NRGene have announced a new collaboration that includes the adoption of NRGene’s cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) GenoMAGIC™ technology into BASF soybean research projects to allow for more comprehensive evaluations to accelerate trait discovery and breeding across diverse crops.

“This collaboration will explore the power of digitalization to improve and accelerate agricultural research, and aligns with our soybean crop system strategy,” said Rick Turner, Senior Vice President Seeds & Traits in BASF’s Agricultural Solutions division. “BASF and NRGene are both focused on developing and delivering technologies to support farmers to grow better harvests, protect their crops and deliver more to society in the face of mounting environmental challenges.”

NRGene’s advanced multi-purpose breeding platform is a cloud-based solution for managing the full genomic diversity of species. It can analyze unlimited volumes of genomic data, enabling scientists and breeders to easily relate genomic sequences with beneficial traits, making genomic selection and trait mapping much more productive. Data use is accelerated, making breeding both faster and more cost effective.

NRGene CEO Dr. Gil Ronen adds, “Over the years, we have accumulated a vast amount of data as well as specific competences in soy, which will add value in the collaboration with BASF to make their breeding more productive and efficient.”

BASF