Foray Bioscience Announces Fabricated Seed Partnership With Z's Nutty Ridge to Unlock U.S. Domestic Hazelnut Supply

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Foray Bioscience, a plant biomanufacturing company growing plant products and “seeds” from cells, today announced a fabricated seed production partnership with Z's Nutty Ridge, a nut tree nursery and breeding orchard based in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The announcement follows Foray's fabricated seed partnership with West Coast Chestnut earlier this year, and highlights the need for a better path to scaling long-lived perennials like nut trees, where bringing new varieties to growers can take decades.

Under the signed agreement, Foray will develop fabricated seeds for a selection of Z’s Nutty Ridge's proprietary hybrid hazelnut parent varieties, making these regionally-adapted trees available at scale. The agreement includes a three-year, multi-million dollar forward purchase plan between the two companies.

Hazelnuts are a cornerstone of the global chocolate and confectionery industry, yet roughly 70% of world supply comes from a single geography, Turkey's Black Sea coast, leaving a market valued at over $12 billion chronically exposed to weather, disease, and geopolitical risk. European varieties that deliver the industry’s preferred nut properties do not perform well in North American regions as a result of a native fungal pathogen, Eastern Filbert Blight (EFB). Jeff and Dawn Zarnowski have spent 30 years breeding the ideal hazelnuts for a budding market of American growers.

After decades of testing and breeding, Z’s Nutty Ridge has identified hazelnut genetics that equip trees to thrive in the northeastern US – pairing cold-hardiness and blight resistance with high nut quality. Now, Z’s Nutty Ridge seeks an accelerated path to deliver these trees to long-waiting growers. This partnership will see Foray’s “fabricated seed” technology applied to Z's Nutty Ridge’s tree varieties, creating a path to scaled distribution several years faster.

"We've spent over 30 years developing hybrid hazelnut trees that can thrive in the northeastern United States. Now, scaling these varieties to get them in the hands of growers is the challenge. Foray's fabricated seed technology offers a path to get there," said Dawn Zarnowski, Owner of Z's Nutty Ridge.

Z's Nutty Ridge is a leading tree nut breeder in the Northeastern US with decades of experience cultivating hazelnuts, chestnuts, and walnuts. In their multi-acre breeding orchard in USDA climate zones 4/5, thousands of hybrid hazelnut trees have been planted, evaluated, and selected for cold hardiness, EFB-resistance, and nut quality.

"For hard-to-propagate crops like hazelnut, fabricated seed can help deliver productive and regionally-adapted varieties out into the world," said Dr. Ashley Beckwith, Founder & CEO of Foray Bioscience. "Despite the need for resilient, local food systems, many so-called ‘specialty’ crops never make it to growers, simply because we’re unable to scale the plants on hand. Foray’s bioproduction platform is designed to make deploying elite plant varieties a fast, predictable, repeatable process."

About Foray Bioscience
Foray grows plants and plant products from single cells, unlocking cross-industry transformation: resilient crops years faster, rapidly scalable seed, harvest-free plant products, and de-extinction. Foray brings bioproduction to a wide variety of species and applications with a predictive AI/ML platform, Pando, that accelerates the development of in vitro workflows.

About Z's Nutty Ridge
Z's Nutty Ridge is a hybrid hazelnut nursery and breeding orchard located in the Finger Lakes region of New York, operating in USDA climate zones 4b/5a. With over 30 years of experience developing EFB-resistant hybrid hazelnut varieties, Z's Nutty Ridge is recognized as a leading source of quality hybrid hazelnut trees for growers in the northeastern United States. The company is expanding its plantings toward New York's first commercial-scale hazelnut orchard.