Friedberg states the global potato industry is worth $100 billion annually.
“So the global potato industry is about a $100,000,000,000 a year. And, I'm not sure if you guys have ever visited a potato farm, but potato farm potatoes”
Friedberg states the global potato industry is worth approximately $100 billion annually.
“So the global potato industry is about a $100,000,000,000 a year. And, I'm not sure if you guys have ever visited a potato farm, but potato farm potatoes are vegetatively propagated.”
Friedberg says true potato seed replaces warehouses of chopped potato, reducing cost and environmental impact.
“eventually, a handful of seed replaces warehouses of potato chopped up potato that are being put in the ground. So you can move to an, you know, a low cost, more energy, more environmentally friendly,”
Friedberg notes potatoes are the third largest calorie source globally, with 90-95% of India's crop for direct consumption.
“potatoes are a very significant staple crop, third largest source of calories for humans on Earth. 95% or 90% of the potato grown in India, for example, are used in table potatoes.”
Friedberg says Ohalo's system creates uniform potato seed, allowing a handful to replace warehouses of potato.
“So now we can take that seed and farmers can use it to plant. So eventually, a handful of seed replaces warehouses of potato”
Friedberg details potato economics: $5,000 per acre revenue with $1,000-2,000 operating costs, demonstrating room for Ohalo's value capture.
“That potato farmer today is spending somewhere between one top line, that potato farmer is making about $5,000 an acre in The US. K?”
Friedberg explains Ohalo's system produces uniform potato seed, eliminating need for warehouse storage of seed potatoes.
“With boosted, with our system, not only can we breed potato, but we can then make uniform seed. So every seed that comes out of that potato is the same.”
Friedberg states the global potato industry is $100 billion annually and uses inefficient vegetative propagation instead of seeds.
“the global potato industry is about a $100,000,000,000 a year. And, I'm not sure if you guys have ever visited a potato farm, but potato farm potatoes are vegetatively propagated.”
Friedberg explains boosted breeding creates tetraploid true seed in potato, enabling higher yields through genetic uniformity.
“In our system, we can actually combine two hybrid or two kind of genetically distinct diploid potato to make a tetraploid offspring, but all the seed is tetraploid.”
Friedberg states current potato planting costs can reach 40% of grower revenue.
“So when you add up the cost of the labor, the fuel, of the resourcing needed to store all of the what's called seed potato, all the fumigants, it can be as much as 40% of the revenue of that potato grower.”
Friedberg predicts Ohalo's true seed model could reduce potato planting costs by over 75%.
“And so we could reduce that cost down, we think by over 75% if we can move to a true seed model.”
Friedberg explains potato farmers dedicate 10% of harvest to replanting, requiring substantial fuel and labor resources.
“Potato farmers today use about 10% of their harvest to replant leftover potato vegetative biomass back in the ground. That's how they're doing planting.”
Friedberg states current potato farming costs can reach 40% of revenue due to labor, fuel, and fumigation.
“It takes a lot of fuel, lot of labor, and it's pretty resource intensive. And then there's obviously a pretty significant fumigation effort that goes on.”
Friedberg projects Ohalo potato seed at $500 per acre could deliver $1,500 per acre profit improvement.
“You know, you can probably see that you could save at least 15 or create at least $1,500 an acre of operating profit improvement for that potato grower.”
Friedberg explains that a single potato plant produces 12,000 genetically distinct seeds, preventing traditional seed use.
“So while a potato might make 12,000 seed from the flowers that grow out of that potato, every single one of those seed is genetically different.”
Friedberg notes the $100 billion global potato industry relies on inefficient vegetative propagation instead of seed.
“So the global potato industry is about 100,000,000,000 a year. And, I'm not sure if you guys have ever visited a potato farm, but potato farm potatoes are vegetatively propagated.”
Friedberg estimates Ohalo's potato seed could create $1,500 per acre operating profit improvement for growers.
“You could probably see that you could save at least 15 or create at least $1,500 an acre of operating profit improvement for that potato grower.”
Friedberg says Ohalo's system creates uniform potato seed, replacing warehouses of chopped potatoes with handfuls of seed.
“With boosted with our system, not only can we breed potato, but we can then make uniform seed. So every seed that comes out of that potato is the same.”
Friedberg states potatoes are the third largest calorie source globally, with India's market being 90% table potatoes.
“Around the world, potatoes are a very significant staple crop, third largest source of calories for humans on earth.”
Friedberg envisions replacing warehouse-scale potato storage with handfuls of true seed for planting.
“So now we can take that seed and farmers can use it to plant. So eventually, handful of seed replaces warehouses of potato chopped up potato that are being put in the ground.”
Friedberg details potato economics: $5,000 per acre revenue with $1,000-$2,000 operating costs for current methods.
“Okay? And that $5,000 of revenue is requiring an investment of 1 to $2,000 an acre.”
Friedberg details potato economics showing farmers spend 20-40% of $5,000 per acre revenue on current planting methods.
“And that $5,000 of revenue is requiring an investment of 1 to $2,000 an acre. So 20 to 40% of revenue to deal with all of the planting and fumigation and storage”
Friedberg says Ohalo's potato seed will replace warehouses of chopped potatoes currently used for planting.
“So eventually a handful of seed replaces warehouses of potato, chopped up potato that are being put in the ground.”
Friedberg says Ohalo's true potato seed replaces 5,000 pounds of chopped potatoes with a handful of seed, launching spring 2025.
“Farmers are planting our true seed, world's first world's first true seed of potato. Instead of planting 5,000 pounds of chopped up potatoes, you plant a handful of seed.”