by The main goal of the United Nations is to ‘end world hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture’. And it’s one that a company based at Norwich Research Park is confident it can help solve by growing rice on the surface of the ocean.
Alora aims to create the world’s first ocean agriculture system with revolutionary technology that aims to increase yields, use zero fresh water and minimal land.
He has developed a patented genetic design that will enable his rice crop to grow in a highly saline ocean environment. This means that crops can be grown without fertilizer or fresh water while achieving increased yields and incurring lower production costs. It has already developed a salt tolerance trait that allows the rice to grow in environments up to 50pc of ocean salinity.
Using marine nutrients, a symbiotic approach and tailored soil amendments, Alora’s ocean agriculture has higher yields than both traditional and modern methods of growing food, with the engineered platforms alone increasing yields by up to 70pc.
Luke Young (left) and Rory Hornby met when they were studying for their science degrees at Durham University (Image: Alora)
Alora was co-founded by Luke Young and Rory Hornby, both 28, who first met when they were studying for their science degrees at Durham University.
“We first became friends because we were the only two on our course who wanted to talk about science outside of our lectures,” said Lúcás. “We found that we were both very happy with its potential and we talked about a lot of ideas.
“But what is important to both of us is that we wanted to apply the results of scientific research so that it would have a positive impact on society. That’s what drew us towards establishing the business idea.”
Many avenues were open to the friends, but what really motivated them was how to help solve the world’s hunger crisis. Ocean agriculture was the vision they shared.
“The first question we wanted to answer was why is the world food shortage a crisis when billions of pounds are poured into it every year,” said Rory. “The answers are in the agricultural boundaries.
“One is the amount of fertile land available that contains all the nutrients needed to grow crops, and the other is the source of good fresh water available. We realized that both of these things are found in our oceans and started designing our solution.”
Of course, the biggest issue they faced was that ocean water has a high salt content, which is not usually a good environment for growing staple crops. The solution was to engineer salt-tolerant rice varieties that would adapt to the ocean environment, be able to absorb the available nutrients and survive in water that is more saline than a terrestrial environment.
They did this by using gene editing techniques to identify and ‘pass on’ the salt-tolerant genes in their patented rice varieties. The plant’s stem cells are then transformed and can be regrown with active salt tolerance. The rice is cultivated on sea surface ‘farms’, where several pods are covered to protect the growing rice from birds and the weather.
A number of partnership projects and pilot projects are being run around the globe in places such as the USA, Grand Bahama Island, Kenya, Namibia, Madagascar, Singapore, Vietnam and India. (Image: Alora)
This method of growing rice also has a positive environmental impact. Rice grown on land is responsible for creating 1.5pc of all global greenhouse gas emissions, which is linked to the bacteria in the soil that thrive in rice paddy fields. That issue is solved by growing rice on the surface of the sea.
There was so much interest in their ideas that IndieBio, a biotechnology accelerator program based in San Francisco, California, invited Luke and Rory Alora to set up there, where it funded their development program.
While there, they attracted the attention of a Singaporean investor, who funded the $500,000 USD they needed to get things going.
With the concept created, they moved to Canada to continue their work developing the first crop with high salt tolerance, the sea farms and stealth bacterial technology with the goal of launching the first ocean farm pilot in Singapore in 2022.
After raising $3.7m from investors, they then began searching for a base from which to build their business. After visiting many potential sites, including San Diego and Boston in the US and Amsterdam in Europe, they decided that Norwich Research Park would present them with the best location to successfully grow the business. They moved into the Centrum building in February this year.
“I knew about the great reputation of the John Innes Center for plant science from a couple of friends who worked there, who knew Norwich Research Park,” said Luke. “But we didn’t know how big a good fit until we visited.
“The team from the Anglia Innovation Partnership were very proactive in showing us around and putting together an itinerary to meet key people on campus.
Alora has already developed a salt tolerance trait that allows rice to grow in environments up to 50pc ocean salinity. (Image: Alora)
“But to be honest, as soon as we walked into the Centrum building, we knew this was going to be our home. The opportunity to work with the six partner institutions on the Park, the excellent facilities and the talent pool we could tap into as we grow our business was an unparalleled proposition.
“And with plans for new buildings we could move into as we expand, as well as many more at our fingertips, it meant we were able to make the decision to move here in just 24 hours !”
The coming year is expected to be very exciting for Luke, Rory and their team. They are currently preparing to open their Series A funding round later this year, where they hope to raise between $15-30m USD to fund their Norwich location and pilot projects around the world.
They are now employed to increase their staff from five to about a dozen, and to get their first products to market, which they expect to be in salt-degraded soils in South America, South East Asia, Africa South and in the USA. .
Currently, they are running several partnership projects and pilot projects around the world in places such as the USA, Grand Bahama Island, Kenya, Namibia, Madagascar, Singapore, Vietnam and India, where they hope to start harvesting rice. for the local population.
The opportunity before them is huge. Currently, the soil-based rice market is worth about $376bn, where salt intrusion affects up to a third of irrigated paddies today. Ocean-based rice farming where costs such as irrigation, pesticides and fertilizers are not required and yields are expected to be better than rice grown on land, will mean greater profitability and, therefore, greater sustainability .
In addition, there is the added benefit of a reduced carbon footprint. And they don’t intend to stop at rice. Next on the list for ocean farming are soybeans and cotton.
Roz Bird, CEO of Anglia Innovation Partnership (Image: Chris Ball Photography)
Roz Bird, Chief Executive of Anglia Innovation Partnership, said: “We are delighted that Alora has chosen Norwich Research Park to grow its business and develop its truly innovative and game-changing products.
“As one of the largest research communities in Europe, offering access to specialized technology platforms, networks and expertise, to meet Alora’s evolving needs, I have no doubt that they will succeed, following steps like Colorifix and Tropic – finding solutions to some of the world’s most important problems, such as food security, while creating new jobs for our local economy.”
