Creating a New Crop

You’ve probably never heard of a crop called CoverCress, but with $6.9 million in capital— $2 million of it scored in November—five-year-old CoverCress, formerly Arvegenix, plans to change that. The company’s 12 employees have genetically improved pennycress—a spindly, flat-seeded plant—to create CoverCress, which grows in winter and yields oil and animal feed. The company hopes it will soon stand alongside corn, soybeans, and other powerhouse crops. “Usually you take decades to develop a new crop,” says VP of operations Cristine Handel. “We were able to do it much faster.”