There’s been a lot of focus recently on the food that we eat and where it comes from.

When you’re at the grocery store, you can’t help but notice the influx of products labeled “organic,” “farm raised,” or “all-natural.”

It’s become trendy to be health conscious, but I think this trend comes from a good place and shouldn’t be written off.

Obesity has significantly increased over the past few decades, and there are a lot of factors at play. A big one is our food choices and how those choices affect our digestive health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one-third (36.5%) of adults in the U.S. suffer from obesity. Being overweight or obese puts you at a higher risk for other health conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancers.

Not to mention, it incurs a significant cost: In 2008, the annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion.

While obesity is a huge health concern in the U.S., there’s a bigger issue that’s finally being addressed because of the newfound interest in what we eat and where it comes from.

Food affects your body and well-being. If you put food loaded with preservatives into your body, you’re likely not getting the nutrition that you need. Or you’ll need to eat a lot more just to get your daily dose of vitamins and minerals.

Unfortunately, a lot of Americans don’t have access to the freshest produce or food that isn’t full of preservatives, and that prevents them from getting proper nutrition.

And that’s where one food and agriculture company comes into the scenario…

Midwest-based company Calyxt (NASDAQ: CLXT) was founded in 2010 as a separate division of its parent company, Cellectis (NASDAQ: CLLS), a France-based gene editing company.

Calyxt wants to lead the way in delivering healthier food ingredients for consumers and also in assisting farmers with their crop supplies.

Changing the Way You Think

So, you may be asking: How, exactly, is Calyxt creating new agricultural products? Maybe you caught the small detail earlier that its parent company (Cellectis) is focused on gene editing.

That’s right. Calyxt is genetically engineering agriculture to increase health benefits while also editing crop traits so those crops are more resilient to environmental factors from farming, such as increasing a crop’s herbicide tolerance.

The company has been working hard for the past seven years and has already created new versions of these agricultural products:

• Gluten-reduced wheat.
• Reduced trans-fat soybean oil.
• Improved quality of the potato.
• Lower saturated fat canola oil.

Calyxt’s technology platform, TALEN^Ⓡ, makes modifying, rectifying, and implementing new traits (whether for physiological or economic interests) quick and easy.

With TALEN^Ⓡ, the company is able to develop products and have them ready for commercialization within three to six years and at a fraction of the cost.

The company continues to have a strong track record with both its technologies and expertise in genetic engineering. Since Calyxt’s inception, it has successfully edited more than 20 unique genes in six plant species.

Calyxt’s primary focus continues to be on the North American market. But eventually, it would like to globalize its products. This could mean that it would start exporting its products to international markets or establishing new supply chains in other attractive markets.

Either way, it’s focused on growth and global expansion.

Genetically Engineering Your Food

Calyxt is currently developing high-fiber wheat traits that could produce white flour with up to three times more dietary fiber than the standard. This trait could be incorporated into a lot of the food that you eat today — from a bowl of pasta to the bread you use for a sandwich.

Research has shown that fiber plays a significant role in our health by maintaining digestive health, lowering cholesterol, stabilizing blood glucose levels, and controlling weight gain.

Since the emergence of this research, there has been an increased interest in high-fiber diets — so much so that 35% of grocery shoppers seek out high-fiber foods.

People are becoming more aware that they need things like fiber in their diets. So, if they were able to pick up some pasta with three times the amount of fiber, then they would be closer to ingesting the suggested daily value.

Some of Calyxt’s other products include high-oleic soybeans, powdery mildew-resistant wheat, cold storable potatoes, reduced browning potatoes, and herbicide-tolerant wheat.

In Conclusion

Agricultural biotechnology product development is a highly speculative endeavor. And new laws could emerge to regulate genetically engineered products, which would significantly have an impact on Calyxt and the market as a whole.

The hesitation that people have toward genetically modified food could have a detrimental effect on any company focused on the industry — even if its intentions are good.

Calyxt has the right intentions for its technology. The company wants to make it easier for people to get the nutrition that they need. However, the market for this technology is still nascent. And more importantly, the public’s perception of it remains skeptical.

Until next time,

Jennifer Clark
Pro Trader Today