Key Takeaways
- Dave Friedberg has taken over as CEO of Ohalo Genetics, a gene-editing agtech startup.
- The USDA approved Ohalo’s gene-edited potatoes, allowing for commercialization without extensive regulation.
- Friedberg’s leadership may accelerate the company’s growth, building on significant advancements in agricultural gene editing.
Leadership Change at Ohalo Genetics
Dave Friedberg, a veteran in the food and agricultural technology sector, has announced his new role as CEO of Ohalo Genetics, a gene-editing startup that has remained under the radar for the past four years. Ohalo was launched from Friedberg’s investment incubator, The Production Board.
In his announcement on Twitter, Friedberg asserted that Ohalo is poised to revolutionize agriculture through gene editing. The startup aims to develop new plant varieties for major crops, significantly enhancing yields while requiring fewer resources, ultimately enabling farmers to produce more food on less land. Highlighting recent breakthroughs, Friedberg expressed confidence in Ohalo’s potential to become a pivotal player in the agtech industry.
Friedberg previously founded The Climate Corporation, which was sold to Monsanto for $1.1 billion—a landmark event in the agtech landscape, marking the industry’s first billion-dollar exit.
As Friedberg takes the helm at Ohalo, the company is starting to reveal its operations, coinciding with positive results from the USDA’s Regulatory Status Reviews (RSRs). These reviews pertained to Ohalo’s gene-edited potatoes, which are designed to improve health benefits and durability. Ohalo submitted RSRs to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), requesting that its genetically modified potatoes not be subject to federal regulations.
The USDA approved both requests, enabling Ohalo to advance toward commercial sales in the U.S. without the additional regulatory scrutiny usually associated with genetically modified organisms under the Plant Protection Act of 2000. This approval indicates that the changes made to the potatoes through gene editing are comparable in risk to those produced through traditional agricultural practices.
Ohalo aligns with a growing group of companies utilizing gene-editing technology, such as CRISPR-Cas9, which has enabled significant advancements in agriculture, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. Although other gene-editing companies like Pairwise and Yield10 Bioscience have received considerable funding, their paths to commercialization have varied widely. For instance, Benson Hill, once valued at a billion dollars, is now exploring strategic options while downsizing its staff.
Friedberg plans to remain connected with The Production Board, where he has focused on various food and agtech initiatives over the years. While he adjusts back to an operating CEO role after more than seven years in an investment capacity, he remains active in supporting teams and projects within his firm.
“This is a huge shift for me personally,” Friedberg noted, “but the remarkable achievements by the Ohalo team made this decision an easy one.”
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