Yield10 Bioscience and BioMar to grow Camelina crop containing enriched levels of EPA and DHA

Yield10 Bioscience and BioMar Group have signed an agreement to form a long-term partnership to commercialise a Camelina crop containing enriched levels of EPA and DHA equal to fish oil. After a decade of research, this Omega-3 Camelina technology is now advancing toward market availability and has the potential to become another important, high-quality supplement to the scarce supply of marine long-chain fatty acids.

This new Omega-3 Camelina product contains EPA and DHA levels comparable to many of the marine oil sources utilised today. It is ideally designed for the needs of the aquaculture industry and is a complementary fit into the BioMar Omega Technology concept together with other sources of essential omega-3s.

BioMar has been actively involved with the Rothamsted Omega-3 Camelina development effort since its inception in 2013 and has conducted many of the salmon trials published by the Rothamsted research team. Producing omega-3 oil in Camelina represents a land-based way to make this key aquafeed ingredient.

“A partnership with BioMar has the potential to combine the strengths of both companies for the accelerated development of the Omega-3 Camelina product. We look forward to working closely with BioMar to develop a collaborative program to bring this new source of high-quality EPA and EPA+DHA omega-3 oils to the market to strive to meet the aquaculture industry’s growth demand and sustainability goals,”

-Oliver Peoples, Ph.D. President and CEO, Yield10 Bioscience.

Over the next year, Yield10 expects to scale-up planted acres of Camelina to supply BioMar with oil for formulation and testing while also working towards securing regulatory approval for commercial production of Omega-3 Camelina oil and meal in the targeted production geographies. Yield10 and BioMar believe that the Omega-3 Camelina technology will play an important role in the future omega-3 market, enabling access to key nutrients from sustainable sources and paving the way for future growth within the aquaculture industry. BioMar is focused on developing innovative and sustainable nutritional solutions that positively impact the needs of seafood producers.

“We believe that the Yield10 Omega-3 Camelina technology represents a potentially excellent solution for producing crop omega-3 oils at commercial scale. Reliable and scalable sources of EPA and DHA is critical for aquafeeds to ensure the sustainable development of the aquaculture industry. We look forward to working together with the Yield10 team to make this product a commercial success,”

– Carlos Diaz, CEO BioMar Group.

Background on Yield10’s Omega-3 Camelina Program
Currently, the primary source of the essential fatty acids EPA and DHA are marine ingredients, where omega-3 oil produced from anchovy harvest is the industry benchmark. Producing omega-3 fatty acids in Camelina represents a potential way to enable a reliable supply of high-quality omega-3 oils to meet the global demand for EPA and DHA. In 2020, Yield10 signed an exclusive collaboration agreement with Rothamsted to support Rothamsted’s Flagship Program to develop omega-3 oils in Camelina. As part of the collaboration agreement, the Company received an exclusive option to sign a global, exclusive license agreement for the technology. Yield10 recently announced it had exercised this option and plans to finalize the global exclusive license with Rothamsted.

Yield10 prioritized development and scale-up of EPA8 Omega-3 Camelina and filed a Request for Status Review (“RSR”) for approval of this line for production in the United States with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (“USDA-APHIS”) in the second quarter of this year. Yield10 has planted the Omega-3 (EPA) Camelina at acre-scale in Chile to begin the ramp-up of seed inventory for future planting, as well as to produce omega-3 (EPA) oil samples for business development activities. Following immediately behind the EPA8 Camelina, Yield10 is also preparing an RSR application for filing with USDA-APHIS for the Omega-3 Camelina line DHA1 to produce omega-3 oil containing both EPA and DHA fatty acids.