Danielle Rose works under a pop-up grow tent inside Velocity’s main incubator workspace.
Danielle Rose works under a pop-up grow tent inside Velocity’s main incubator workspace. It’s an unusual sight in the buzzing open-plan room amongst fellow tech founders.
Rose is harvesting lettuce, a common crop that her startup, Ceragen, is trying to improve. What makes her lettuce unique is a microbial technology that promotes the plant’s growth and helps to increase crop yields.
Ceragen is a biotech company that is innovating Canadian agriculture and has the potential to transform the global agriculture sector.
“Conventional agricultural techniques often harm the plant microbiome and the soil structures,” Rose says. Soil erosion and degradation are estimated to be a $10 trillion problem globally. “I want to reverse the negative impacts and help farmers harness the power of these microbiomes so they can grow more food on less land. This will help sustainably intensify agriculture so we can feed our growing population.”
Read more at University of Waterloo
Image: Rose working inside her pop-up grow tent located in Velocity’s main incubator workspace (Credit: University of Waterloo)
