USDA-APHIS Determines that Yield10 Bioscience’s Stacked Herbicide Tolerant Camelina May Be Planted and Bred in the United States

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November 15, 2023

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(Yield10) -Herbicide Technology Critical to Enabling Large-Acreage Adoption of Camelina in North America -- Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq:YTEN) (“Yield10” or the “Company”), an agricultural bioscience company, today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service’s (“USDA-APHIS’s”) Biotechnology Regulatory Services (“BRS”) has determined that Yield10’s stacked herbicide tolerant (“HT”) Camelina sativa ("Camelina”) may be grown and bred in the United States.

In April 2023, Yield10 submitted Request for Confirmation of Regulatory Status packages to the BRS under the Sustainable, Ecological, Consistent, Uniform, Responsible, Efficient (“SECURE”) Rule, for stacked HT Camelina varieties. The response from USDA-APHIS means that the agency does not consider the modified Camelina varieties to be an increased plant pest risk as compared to unmodified Camelina] and are therefore not subject to regulation under 7 CFR part 340 regulations. Yield10’s submissions along with the USDA-APHIS BRS responses are posted on the USDA’s website.

Yield10 is developing stacked HT Camelina varieties with tolerance to the application of glufosinate, a Group 10 herbicide used to control broadleaf weeds, as well as tolerance to soil residues of Group 2 herbicides, specifically including tolerance to both imidazolinones (“IMIs”) and sulfonylureas (“SUs”). Group 2 herbicides are commonly used to manage weeds in cereal and pulse crop rotations and can persist in the soil for months following use. Yield10 is executing a program to develop and commercialize spring and winter Camelina varieties with stacked herbicide tolerance traits to achieve large-acreage adoption of the crop in North America.

“The regulatory clearance of our stacked HT Camelina represents another significant commercial milestone achieved by the Yield10 team, underscoring our commitment to establishing both technical and commercial leadership positions in Camelina,” said Kristi Snell, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Yield10 Bioscience. “Earlier this year, we conducted our first field tests of stacked HT Camelina and reported positive results. Going forward, we expect to generate additional field data as well as build seed inventory to support the commercial launch of our stacked HT Camelina varieties.”

“Our team has done outstanding work advancing the development and commercialization of HT and stacked HT Camelina,” said Oliver Peoples, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Yield10 Bioscience. “We expect these varieties to form the centerpiece of our portfolio of elite Camelina varieties that our team will be able to offer to growers and will be critical to enabling the cultivation of Camelina on large acreage in North America. Our commercial strategy is to advance our leadership position in Camelina by innovating to bring forward new value-added traits to the Camelina crop that provide meaningful improvements in yield, agronomic, and economic performance to the grower.”

About the SECURE Rule

The SECURE Rule was published on May 18, 2020 and represented the first comprehensive revision of APHIS’ biotechnology regulations since 1987. The revisions enable APHIS to regulate organisms developed using genetic engineering for plant pest risk with greater precision and reduced regulatory burden for developers of organisms that are unlikely to pose plant pest risks. Once a specific plant developed through genetic engineering is found not to require regulation, new varieties of the plant containing the same genetic modification would similarly not be regulated. Camelina plants containing herbicide tolerance traits are subject to labeling under EPA regulations.

About Yield10 Bioscience

Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. ("Yield10" or the "Company") is an agricultural bioscience company that is leveraging advanced genetics to develop the oilseed Camelina sativa ("Camelina") as a platform crop for large-scale production of sustainable seed products. These seed products include feedstock oils for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation biofuels; omega-3 (EPA and DHA+EPA) oils for pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and aquafeed applications; and, in the future, PHA bioplastics for use as biodegradable bioplastics. Our commercial plan is based on establishing a grain contracting business leveraging our proprietary elite Camelina seed varieties, focusing on the growing demand for low-carbon intensity feedstock oil for biofuels and omega-3 oils for nutritional applications. Yield10 is headquartered in Woburn, MA and has a Canadian subsidiary, Yield10 Oilseeds Inc., located in Saskatoon, Canada.

For more information about the company, please visit www.yield10bio.com, or follow the Company on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and LinkedIn. READ MORE

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Yield10 Bioscience Reports that Proprietary Varieties of Winter Camelina Show Tolerance to Commonly Used Herbicides in First Field Tests (Yield10/Globe Newswire)

Excerpt from Yield10/Globe Newswire: Herbicide tolerance is critical to planting the Camelina crop on large acreage for the biofuel and omega-3 oil markets -- Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq:YTEN) (“Yield10” or the “Company”), an agricultural bioscience company, today (February 29, 2029) reported that its proprietary varieties of winter Camelina sativa (“Camelina”) in development responded as expected to herbicides in the first field tests conducted in the United States. Yield10 tested winter Camelina engineered with tolerance to glufosinate (“HT”), an herbicide widely used to manage weeds and protect yields in crop rotations in North America, as well as Camelina with stacked glufosinate and Group 2 tolerance (“Stacked HT”), to provide tolerance to Group 2 herbicide residues in soil persisting from use on prior crops. Yield10 believes that HT and Stacked HT traits in Camelina are critical to enabling grower adoption of the crop and planting on large acreage to produce feedstocks for biofuel and omega-3 oil for the aquafeed and nutrition markets. Yield10 has previously reported herbicide tolerance in spring Camelina, where the Company has selected lead and back-up commercial-quality lines for development.

In the fall of 2023, Yield10 researchers initiated the first field tests of candidate winter Camelina deployed with stacked HT traits intended to provide the plants with tolerance to the application of glufosinate, an over-the-top broadleaf herbicide, as well as tolerance to soil residues of Group 2 herbicides, specifically including tolerance to both imidazolinones (“IMI”) and sulfonylureas (“SU”). Group 2 herbicides are commonly used to manage weeds in cereal and other crop rotations and can persist in the soil for months following use. Prior to planting, the test fields were pretreated with Group 2 herbicides (two weeks prior to planting) to generate plots with soil residues of either IMI or SU herbicides. The winter stacked HT Camelina and control Camelina without HT were subsequently planted. Preliminary interim results of these field tests indicated that Yield10’s stacked HT winter Camelina performed well on the field plots pre-treated with Group 2 herbicides. By comparison, significant injury was observed to control winter Camelina grown on soil containing IMI or SU residues. In the spring of 2024, these winter field plots will be sprayed with glufosinate for broad leaf weed control.

Yield10 researchers also initiated in the fall of 2023 the first field tests of candidate winter Camelina lines deployed with the trait that provides tolerance to the spray application of glufosinate. The winter Camelina was planted, and the field plots were subsequently sprayed with glufosinate in accordance with the field trial design. Winter Camelina engineered with glufosinate tolerance remained healthy, while field plots of Camelina without the herbicide tolerance trait did not survive the spray. Additional spraying of glufosinate on the winter HT Camelina is planned in the spring of 2024.

Yield10 expects to harvest the winter field test plantings in the summer of 2024 and conduct an evaluation of its seed yield, oil content, herbicide tolerance and overall agronomy.

“Our focus on the development of herbicide tolerant and stacked herbicide tolerant Camelina is intended to provide significant differentiation of our elite Camelina varieties from conventional varieties while potentially enabling growers to seamlessly integrate Camelina production into their crop rotations on a large-scale,” said Kristi Snell, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer of Yield10 Bioscience. “Stacked HT technology is particularly important for planting winter Camelina in the fall after harvest of the previous crop. The encouraging results from the first field testing of our winter HT and Stacked HT Camelina varieties marks another milestone in our Camelina program and demonstrates the leadership position we have established deploying new traits into Camelina to potentially drive the value of the crop.”

Regulatory status

Yield10 is a leader in the development of elite Camelina, including herbicide tolerant varieties. In November of 2023, USDA-APHIS determined that Yield10’s glufosinate tolerant Camelina as well as its stacked herbicide tolerant Camelina may be planted and bred in the United States in response to two Requests for Regulatory Status Review packages submitted by Yield10. An application to add Camelina to a glufosinate label is pending with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

About Yield10 Bioscience

Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. ("Yield10" or the "Company") is an agricultural bioscience company that is leveraging advanced genetics to develop the oilseed Camelina sativa ("Camelina") as a platform crop for large-scale production of sustainable seed products. These seed products include feedstock oils for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation biofuels; omega-3 (EPA and DHA+EPA) oils for pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and aquafeed applications; and, in the future, PHA biomaterials for use as biodegradable bioplastics. Subject to the availability of sufficient financial resources to continue operations, our commercial plan is based on establishing a grain contracting business leveraging our proprietary elite Camelina seed varieties, focusing on the growing demand for low-carbon intensity feedstock oil for biofuels and omega-3 oils for nutritional applications. Yield10 is headquartered in Woburn, MA and has a Canadian subsidiary, Yield10 Oilseeds Inc., located in Saskatoon, Canada.

For more information about the company, please visit www.yield10bio.com, or follow the Company on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and LinkedIn. (YTEN-G) READ MORE