SALE OF 1ST CRISPR-CAS9 GENE EDITED TOMATO SEEDLINGS BEGINS IN JAPAN

Pioneer EcoScience Co., Ltd. will start selling gene edited “Sicilian Rouge High GABA” tomato seedlings for home gardeners via its own online store from October 11, 2021. The gardening kit includes not only four seedlings, but also four types of fertilizers and a cultivation manual. In addition, we will offer online guidance by experts and an open chat experience via "Sodateru Hiroba" (translated as ”Growing Space") where gardeners can enjoy fun conversations and receive encouragement from participants.

“Aozora Tomato Gakuen / Sodateru Hiroba”, (directly translated as “Blue Sky Tomato School/ Growing Space”) is a community home gardening platform. Please note that the below contents are available only in Japan and in Japanese.

• Start Date and Time：
  • October 11th 2021 9:00AM JST (Reservations for gardening kits are close on February 28th, 2022)
• Homepage :
  • https://aozora.p-e-s.co.jp/marche/lp-hgtTrial
• Price：
  • JPY8,250（tax and shipping included, only available in Japan/in Japanese）
• Gardening Kit Contains:
  • 4 “Sicilian Rouge HIGH GABA” Tomato Seedlings
  • 4 kinds of fertilizers
  • Cultivation manual
  • Bonus
    • Cultivation Support By Professional Agronomists
      • You will receive an invitation to “Sodateru Hiroba” to attend a webinar held once every 2 weeks, starting from May 2022
    • Free Sample Hybrid Sweet Corn Seed Sample
      • You will receive Dolce Dream & Premium Mirai85 seed samples, 15seeds ×2 varieties, 30 kernes in total

We previously distributed “Sicilian Rouge High GABA'' tomato seedlings to more than 4,000 people throughout Japan in Spring-Summer 2021 as part of a consumer panel initiative to gain feedback and insight from the community before beginning sales to the general public. From this cohort, 180 home gardeners competed in the “GABA-1 Grand Prix”, a gene edited tomato cultivation contest, to see how much GABA their plants contained. The first place winner's GABA content was up to 20 times higher than that of regular tomatoes, with an average value of 140 mg per 100 g (about 7 times the amount of GABA of regular tomatoes).

We plan to hold another GABA-1 Grand Prix in Summer 2022. You can see this year's winners at the event page (available only in Japanese): https://p-e-s.co.jp/tomato/gaba1-grand-prix/

“CO-CREATING THE FUTURE OF FOOD WITH OUR CUSTOMERS”

By practicing cultivation management that seeks to maximize the nutritional value of the gene edited “Sicilian Rouge High GABA”, members of "Sodateru Hiroba" can enjoy producing and eating this highly nutritious tomato while enjoying interactions within the community. We will continue to share progressive information on gene edited crops and foods both domestically and internationally. Pioneer Ecoscience and Sanatech Seed promise that we will co-create the future of food with our customers.