PowerPollen Receives Foundational Patent for Groundbreaking Pollen Storage Methodology Decades of Discovery and Commercial Field Data Consistently Shows Yield Improvement Storage Patent Latest in IP Portfolio for Industry Leading Pollination Tech Stack
Ankeny, Iowa
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May 06, 2025 08:30 AM Central Daylight Time
PowerPollen, an agtech company improving crop pollination for increased agricultural productivity and profitability, has received U.S. Patent 12,245,587 for its groundbreaking process of using solid particulates blended with fresh pollen grains to protect pollen’s viability during storage. As the industry leader in commercial scale pollen collection, application and storage, PowerPollen’s IP strategy has been a key part of protecting their innovation while rapidly scaling to support global seed companies and farmers since the company was founded in 2015.
PowerPollen collects, preserves and applies pollen to corn, wheat, rice, and other important crops, eliminating the previously required dependency on natural pollen shedding to pollinate female plants. This process enables the ability to more reliably and cost-effectively produce high-quality seed farmers plant for crops. Corn, rice, wheat and barley rank as the top four grain crops grown globally. This patent is part of a one-of-a-kind portfolio of intellectual property PowerPollen has secured in their pursuit to increase the productivity, profitability and sustainability of modern agricultural practices.
“Our initial key discoveries more than a decade ago – and our ongoing innovation since – has enabled PowerPollen to scale our unique pollination tech stack of collection, storage and application to commercial levels in agriculture—helping farmers and seed production partners increase yields without increasing other inputs,” said Jason Cope, Chief Intellectual Property Officer, PowerPollen. “Our discoveries changed the previously held notion that row crop pollen was not capable of being stored for any duration. The ripple effect can clearly be seen by the consistent yield improvements in fields that PowerPollen has treated with stored pollen.”
Achieving Production and Sustainability in Modern Agricultural Practices
In 2015, PowerPollen began looking for ways to improve in-field crop pollination by collecting pollen and storing it for targeted application. In their discovery process, the greatest problem they encountered was that pollen tends to form large clumps when stored, which results in a rapid decline in pollen health.
“We theorized that when a pollen grain dies, its walls lose integrity and the contents of the dead cell leak out, contacting other pollen grains in the batch being stored,” Cope said. “This causes adjacent pollen grains to die, resulting in the large clumps of dead pollen cells.”
PowerPollen created a unique, cost-effective production process that blends fresh pollen with different materials that separate the live pollen grains from each other. This now patented process prevents the live pollen grains from contacting any material leaked from dead pollen grains, thus dramatically extending and prolonging the pollen’s viability.
Today, PowerPollen holds the most patents for pollination-based technology, crop application and related innovations, based on over a decade of intellectual data and discovery and more than eight years of commercial field data and ongoing innovation. Because of its novel technology and the founders’ understanding of marketplace realities, IP strategy has been a critical part of the business to usher in the best technology advancements for customers.
Patent Reinforces PowerPollen's Leadership in Pollination Technology for Agriculture
“Seed crop producers today use incredibly innovative breeding techniques yet risk it all with pollination methods that haven’t changed for generations,” Cope said. “With this patent claim, we continue to execute our IP strategy focused on the foundational building blocks of pollination-enabling technologies – and advancing this innovation across crops and geographies at the pace, scale and reliability critical to advancing higher-yield and climate-resilient food production.”
Seed industry partners already look to PowerPollen’s ability to practice on-demand pollination even within fields that are planted in the normal male to female row ratio. Pollination efficiency is the key rate limiting factor for yield and kernel quality. Further, producers can improve their seed purity by intentionally applying quantities of desirable pollen, which out competes undesirable pollen. By ensuring yield, quality and purity are all maximized, PowerPollen can generate significantly more value per acre.
PowerPollen’s technology will be used on thousands of acres again this season across the U.S., with expansion planned globally. Customers interested in a demo or learning more can contact PowerPollen.com.
PowerPollen offers a breakthrough, scalable technology to collect, preserve and apply pollen on-demand to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of modern farming practices. Following multiple seasons of year-round field trials, PowerPollen’s patented pollination technology increases yield and improves the quality of commercial hybrid corn seed production. The company has applied its technology across thousands of commercial acres over the past several years. PowerPollen is headquartered in Iowa with additional research operations in Puerto Rico and Texas. Learn more about how PowerPollen’s on-demand pollination technology works at www.powerpollen.com.
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AgTech PR
Jennifer Goldston
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