A simple, What if' question, combined with the convergence of gene-editing technology and AI, has advanced humanity's most ancient (and first) technology: agriculture.
Ohalo Genetics CEO and founder David Friedberg noticed the slow breeding times and stagnating yields in crops like potatoes and asked: What if we could accelerate breeding by changing a plant's reproductive system?
After five years of research, his company did exactly that'and it has begun transforming potato farming.
Historically, it took a decade or more to create a new potato variety for market. Growers didn't use seeds for their crops; instead, they planted tubers (sprouting potato pieces) that produced an exact replica of the parent plant. This was crucial because potato seeds don't produce the same potato as their parents'genes from both parents mix randomly, creating offspring with varying traits in flavor, storability, color, and disease resistance.
But Friedberg wanted growers to sow tiny seeds that would reliably produce offspring with all the best qualities from both parents, bypassing the hassle of transporting bulky tubers.
Ohalo achieved that vision by using gene-editing tools like CRISPR, along with proprietary proteins, to switch off the natural process that splits and randomizes chromosomes during reproduction. The resulting hybrid seeds inherit all beneficial traits from both parents. Modern AI and computational tools helped design these proteins and predict outcomes, slashing breeding timelines from decades to just two to three years.
In trials, these boosted potato seeds have delivered yield jumps of 50'100 percent or more compared to traditional methods. That means farmers can grow significantly more potatoes on the same land'often because the plants avoid diseases carried by old tubers and simply grow bigger and stronger from the start.
Ohalo's Boosted Breeding' technology is different from traditional Genetic Modification (GMO). No foreign DNA is inserted from unrelated species. The entire genetics remain fully native to the potato, much like an advanced hybrid that unlocks the plant's own potential.
