Growing Marijuana Strategically With CEO of BreedIT Dr. Oded Sagee

Dr. Oded Sagee, founder and CEO of BreedIT, Ltd

, recently spoke with Alan Brochstein of 420 Investor in an exclusive conference call presented by Marketfy to discuss the company's opportunities for expansion in the

market. The Israel-based company covers tech solutions for plant breeders and academic purposes. Plant breeding allows for new varieties of plants to be produced in order to perfect their specific genetic structures and characteristics. Within the cannabis industry, BreedIT plans to focus on the medicinal qualities of marijuana while reducing unwanted chemicals and harvest times, Sagee said. “We grew the most-selling mandarin [orange] in the world; seedless; beautiful; good color; easy peeling; (inaudible) fruit. It took us [a] few years and we did it. We grew the most-selling tomato in the world. So we do have a lot of experience in breeding and cannabis. From that point of view is no different than any other plant,” said Sagee. “Got three major families; we all know them: the indica, the sativa, and the ruderalis. And each one of them have different characteristics. And they are— we are able to, to exchange genes from each one to the other and to do classical breeding.” The agricultural accomplishments belong to the company's team members, however, and not the company itself. Sagee noted that several of their team members have worked with cannabis before. BreedIT is ambitious, and looks to lead the way in Intelligent Decision Support Systems for plant breeds. This entails testing and analysis, strategic planning, and other forms of support in a seed market that brings in $42 billion in sales globally. The process of breeding usually takes years, with various locations and very intricate data in the mix. BreedIT manages that for breeders.They optimize genetic traits trough classical breeding methods that don't genetically modify plants through any artificial means. Using their technology, including support, costs over $100,000 a year.

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Currently, their potential costumers range from the World Bank and United Nations, as the UN is looking into such technologies to help feed developing countries, to those within the medical marijuana industry, which is also looking to source such methods amidst rapid growth. They're close to signing a deal with Israel's largest grower of medical cannabis. They've been growing for over ten years; and if Sagee and his team partner up with them, then they get their reputation as a leader in the cannabis industry too. BreedIT will also get to use grow houses for testing and innovation within the partnership. “The problem of the seed companies [is] that their work is very expensive. [It] take[s] them 3 to 5 years to develop new seed and about [a] $3 million investment. And not only is it long and labor-some work, but it has some risk in it, because if they come to the market too late and somebody else came with a better variety, then it's all for nothing. They may lose all [of] their investment,” said Sagee. “So if we optimize the work and help them to come to the market faster, and we reduce prices, they can be very competitive in the market, and this is a very competitive market be definition.”

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Their technology is already being used in field testing amidst other plant growers as they work to shorten harvest periods while increasing yields within the food industry. According to Sagee, a team of 20 scientist constantly update the software they use for analyzation and management in the field and the office/lab environment. This creates more synergy within the process of growing and tracking.