Item 1. Business
Item 1. Business.
Overview
We are a producer and marketer of innovative, plant-based health and wellness products. Our history as a leader in science-based approaches to developing high value crop improvements, primarily in wheat, designed to enhance farm economics by improving the performance of crops in the field, as well as their value as food ingredients, health and wellness products, and their viability for industrial applications, has laid the foundation for our path forward. We have used non-genetically modified (“non-GMO”) advanced breeding techniques to develop these proprietary innovations which we are now commercializing through the sales of seed and grain, food ingredients and products, hemp extracts, trait licensing and royalty agreements. The recent acquisition of the assets of Lief Holdings, LLC (“Lief”), EKO Holdings, LLC (“EKO”) and Live Zola, LLC (“Zola”) adds bath and body care products, CBD consumer products, as well as coconut water, to our portfolio of products.
Our commercial strategy is to satisfy consumer nutrition, health and wellness demands with the superior functional benefits our crops deliver directly from the farm, enabling us to share premium economics throughout the ag-food supply chain and to build a world-class estate of high value traits and varieties. The acquisition of the Lief, EKO and Zola brands allows us to broaden our reach within the health and wellness sector.
It is also estimated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”), that approximately one-fifth of the FDA recommended calories consumed by people in the US are from wheat. Therefore, the market opportunity for nutritional improvements in wheat are significant not only because the wheat market itself is vast, but also because of the “share of stomach” wheat represen ts. Considering that most people today are not getting enough fiber or protein in their daily diets, the superior nutrient density of our non-GMO GoodWheat (“GoodWheat”) technology can improve the dietary intake of average consumers, by increasing their fiber and protein consumption without changing the way they eat. We believe this proprietary advantage gives GoodWheat the potential to become a global standard in wheat.
Our Growth Strategy
We believe there are significant opportunities to grow our business by executing the following elements of our strategy:
• Accelerate the monetization of our GoodWheat wheat trait portfolio. Our proprietary IP with multiple non-GMO wheat traits have clear functional benefits, and we will continue to build partnerships across the wheat value chain. We will continue to invest in acquisition, development and retention of the requisite management and industry experience and production and logistics capacity to fully participate in, and control, the route to market for our high value food ingredients.
• Commercialize and Scale our Arcadia Wellness consumer brands through retail and e-commerce expansion. We plan to expand distribution of our core consumer brands through mass market retailers, grocery store chains, and other specialty nutrition stores, as well as through e-commerce. These brands can penetrate large and growing categories through high-value, differentiated benefits, with the ability to scale and generate attractive margins. We will continue to build our commercialization and scaling expertise, refine go-to-market strategies and invest in effective brand-building.
• Evaluate acquisitive growth opportunities. We intend to evaluate potential acquisitions representing vertical integration opportunities with multiple benefits to Arcadia’s growth plans. These could include integrating further into our supply chains to enhance margin capture, as well as speed to market new product innovations and food formulations.
Arcadia Wellness, LLC
In May 2021, our wholly-owned subsidiary Arcadia Wellness, LLC, acquired the assets of Eko, Lief, and Zola. We intend for Arcadia Wellness, LLC, to house all of Arcadia Biosciences consumer goods businesses, including core brands GoodWheat, Zola Coconut Water and ProVault Topical Pain Relief, as well as non-core brands SoulSpring and Saavy Naturals Body Care. The core brands will be the focus for investment and expansion.
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Our Product Portfolio
GoodWheat Consumer Products
The GoodWheat brand is a portfolio of non-GMO wheat-based consumer products that simplifies food ingredient formulations for consumers that are demanding “clean labeling” in their foods, and that are willing to pay a higher retail price for products made with ingredients they recognize. Because GoodWheat increases the nutrient density directly in the primary grains and oils, it provides the mechanism for food formulation simplification naturally and cost effectively to meet evolving consumer demands.
The brand launch is a key element of the company’s go-to-market strategy to achieve greater value for its innovations by participating in downstream consumer revenue opportunities. We designed the brand to make an immediate connection with consumers that products made with GoodWheat meet their demands for healthier wheat options that also taste great.
We are preparing for the launch of a line of food products under our GoodWheat brand, with pasta as the initial category to be introduced in the second quarter of 2022. Our pasta products will utilize our GoodWheat grain as the sole ingredient, providing 4X the fiber of traditional pasta and 9g protein per serving without sacrificing taste. In fact, our research shows taste parity to leading pasta brands, which is unique in the growing better-for-you pasta segment. In addition, GoodWheat is the only better-for-you pasta brand made from one simple ingredient, matching consumers’ preference for cleaner labels. Additional categories of products are slated for launch in 2023.
Zola Coconut Water
We believe that natural hydration and the power of plant-based ingredients are the keys to unlock your inspiration from within, and we are proud to make delicious plant-powered beverages that provide the energy and focus you need to crush your day. From the coconut groves of Thailand, we bring you great tasting coconut water and are proud of our long-lasting relationships with partners around the world who are essential to the quality of our products.
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ProVault Topical Pain Relief
ProVault’s proprietary THC-Free, CBD-infused blend of natural ingredients and fast-acting cooling agents are designed to safely and effectively relieve muscle and joint pain and soothe your skin. Our products are third-party tested for potency and purity from pesticides, fungicides, microbials and heavy metals. Our topical pain relievers are formulated to address performance concerns from everyday pain to skin protection. So whether you’re a true competitor, a weekend warrior or simply maintaining an active lifestyle, you can count on ProVault to help keep you in the game. We believe what you put on your body is just as important as what you put in your body.
SoulSpring Body Care
Inspired by nature’s ancient remedies and crafted with care, our SoulSpring products strive to help rejuvenate and renew your mind, body, and soul. Our CBD-infused blends of natural ingredients provide a more thoughtful, holistic approach to internal balance and overall well-being. SoulSpring premium, broad spectrum CBD is extracted from naturally-grown hemp and blended with nourishing botanicals and minerals. Our CBD is purity-tested, non-pshychoactive and non-intoxicating. Our passion for wellness means thoughtfully choosing honest, natural ingredients - inspired by ancient remedies and carefully selected for their healing properties. We then mindfully blend these ingredients to retain their inner essence and natural properties.
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Saavy Naturals Body Care
Saavy Naturals products are plant-based, simple and natural. Saavy Naturals products never contain parabens, silicones, sulfates, phenoxyethanol, propylene glycol PEGs, petroleum products, artificial colors or fragrances. Rigorous third-party testing ensures adherence to our strict standards. We're that daily feel-good little luxury that can make all the difference.
GoodWheat Wheat Traits
Enhanced Quality Grains
The GoodWheat brand also encompasses our current and future non-GMO wheat portfolio of high fiber Resistant Starch (RS), Reduced Gluten wheat varieties, and extended shelf life wheat, as well as future wheat innovations. We now hold more than 15 global patents on our high fiber Resistant Starch wheat, protecting both bread wheat and durum (pasta) wheat. Claims granted recently strengthen our intellectual property for our Resistant Starch portfolio of products.
Our GoodWheat wheat traits redesign wheat as a functional food adding value to the wheat supply chain by enabling a wider range of choices to meet consumer demands. One such program generated multiple bread wheat and pasta wheat lines with very high levels of amylose, leading to increased levels of resistant starch. Resistant starch increases the total dietary fiber content of wheat and reduces its glycemic index, which are both desirable nutritional qualities that are important in the management of diabetes and healthy blood glucose levels. High fiber resistant starch wheat can deliver fiber and other benefits to refined white flour products and also whole grain food products. According to the American Heart Association, o n average, Americans consume only approximately 50% of the daily recommended levels of fiber. We believe improving the fiber content of wheat can deliver improved health benefits to a wide population.
High Fiber Resistant Starch Wheat
Our high fiber resistant starch (RS) wheat provides a source of wheat with inherently high levels of resistant starch, increasing the total dietary fiber content of food products without the need for fiber additives from other sources. Currently, corn resistant starch is a product in two market segments: dietary fiber additives and modified starch additives. Major growth in these markets is being driven by the convenience health food sector and functional food sector. Flour from our RS wheat lines has resistant starch levels that are 12 to 20 times higher than the control wheat, and total dietary fiber, or TDF, which is more than eight times higher than the control. RS wheat flour has been tested in applications in bread, where loaf quality was comparable to bread made with conventional wheat flour, and pasta, where it had the highest consumer preference rankings in tests carried out by a major consumer products company.
RS wheat bread flour is currently being introduced to North American bakery and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies by our partners, Bay State Milling. In markets outside North America, RS wheat is currently being tested in a range of additional bakery, ready-to-eat cereals and pasta products with industrial partners. We have many RS wheat lines that are being evaluated for optimal quality and agronomic characteristics.
Reduced Gluten (RG) Wheat
Many consumers are interested in reducing levels of gluten in their diet. Critically, for some, this is due to having Celiac disease (CD), an autoimmune disease that impacts many people worldwide with estimates from 1% of the population in Europe to 3.5% in Mexico. Furthermore, non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) impacts an estimated additional 6% of the population. Both CD and NCGS are characterized by sensitivity to dietary gluten. The only effective treatment of CD and NCGS requires removal of gluten sources from the diet. Since required adherence to a gluten-free diet is extremely difficult to accomplish for average consumers, efforts to develop alternative approaches are needed.
Arcadia is continuing to advance a new wheat variety with reduced gluten levels. Our proprietary, non-GMO wheat variety developed using advanced screening and plant breeding techniques have reduced allergenic glutens and increased essential amino acids such as lysine, along with all the other health benefits of high protein wheat. Importantly, this variety also delivers impressively high fiber content at approximately 14 grams per serving compared to 2-3 grams per serving of traditional wheat, providing additional value to health-conscious consumers as well as optionality as we advance the commercialization of this project. We are breeding the trait into additional commercial wheat varieties and working with food processors to give people a choice to enjoy higher quality wheat in the products they love while reducing gluten in their diet.
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Improved Shelf Life of Whole Grain Flour
The USDA recommends that “at least one serving of grains per day must be whole grain-rich” due to evidence that a diet containing whole grains provides a multitude of benefits, including lower risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type-2 diabetes. Despite these health benefits, consumption of whole grain products is negatively affected by the bitter and rancid flavors and odors that accumulate in whole wheat flour after milling. Our improved stability and flavor wheat lines greatly reduced the production of rancid and bitter compounds in milled whole grain flour as it progresses through the supply chain. Whole wheat flour from these lines is being tested further for sensory characteristics and improved shelf life stability. This new trait could help improve the shelf life and flavor profile of whole grain products, thus reducing formulation costs and increasing consumer preference and palatability for whole grains.
Product Development
With our food and wellness products now entering the market, we are firmly in the commercialization phase of our corporate lifecycle. We are de-emphasizing new trait discovery research and development (“R&D”) and are increasing our focus on food-science innovation to fully leverage the value in our existing superior wheat genetics. We are evolving our organizational capabilities to match this strategy progression to include in-house food formulation and CPG supply chain expertise.
Food Formulation Innovation. We will expand the application of our innovation platform to build on our pipeline of products focused on health and wellness. Our innovation team is focused on using science-based solutions to leverage our wheat and hemp varieties to develop an array of food products and wellness ingredients. Because we are innovating directly from our own well-established plant technology traits, we expect this extension of our involvement will provide more meaningful improvements.
Field Trials and Breeder & Foundation Seed Production . Our trait evaluation and development staff conducts field operations for both trials and production in American Falls, Idaho, and oversee production in other areas of the country, as needed. Similarly, regulatory trials may be needed to develop data for use in submissions for regulatory review and may involve plant varieties developed by our collaborators or our own oil quality and grain quality programs.
Biological Materials Inventory and Tracking . Our proprietary Pedigree and Inventory Management System, or PIMS, tracks the genetic, phenotypic and location information for all our plant materials. The performance of our plant materials is recorded through a variety of laboratory and field observations, and the data are stored within PIMS. The location of all plant materials is tracked throughout the plant life cycle. This includes specific seeds planted within a specific plot of a specific field trial, harvest, seed storage location and use by, or distribution of plant material to, our collaborators or elsewhere. We ensure all of our plant materials are accounted for, tracked and inventoried, which enables us to maintain direct control and proper documentation.
Intellectual Property
We rely on patents and other proprietary right protections, including trade secrets and contractual protection of our proprietary know-how and confidential information, to preserve our competitive position.
As of December 31, 2021, we owned or exclusively controlled 73 issued patents, 58 pending patent applications worldwide, and 6 pending plant variety protection applications. These totals reflect the following: (i) with respect to the U.S. territory, we owned 23 and exclusively in-licensed 2 U.S. issued patents, and we owned 11 U.S. patent applications and 6 pending plant variety protection applications relating to our plants, trait technologies, and business methods; and (ii) in connection with foreign territories, we owned 28 and exclusively in-licensed 19 foreign issued patents, and owned 48 pending foreign patent applications. With respect to all of the foregoing patent and plant protection assets, our exclusive licenses afford us control over the prosecution and maintenance of the licensed patents and patent applications. These numbers do not include in-licensed patents for which we either do not have exclusive rights (such as certain enabling technology licenses), or for which we have exclusive rights only in a limited field of use or do not control prosecution and maintenance of the licensed patents.
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As of December 31, 2021, Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. and Arcadia Wellness, LLC each had five registered trademarks in the United States. We also have three registered trademarks in various other countries.
Key Collaborations
We have established numerous trait collaborations and have developed close relationships with industry-leading seed and consumer product companies. Our partnerships with global strategic seed and consumer product players enable us to further participate in the development and commercialization of innovative products that promise to play significant roles in improving global crop efficiency and enhancing human health. We believe that the expertise and opportunities created by these collaborations represent important assets to our business. Below is a summary of selected collaborative partnerships that we view as key to the achievement of our near-term and mid-term business objectives.
Corteva Agriscience
In 2017, we entered into a strategic collaboration with Corteva Agriscience to jointly develop and commercialize a breakthrough improved wheat quality trait in North America. The collaboration leverages our TILLING platform with Corteva Agriscience’s enabling technology platforms, high-quality elite germplasm and global commercial channels.
Under the collaboration, the companies will further develop and commercialize an improved wheat quality trait, which has completed initial field trials and is advancing to next-stage field trials. Corteva Agriscience will introgress Arcadia’s trait into its proprietary elite germplasm lines and manage all aspects related to the trait commercialization. Certain development costs will be co-funded, and we will share in the commercial value resulting from products produced.
Arista Cereal Seeds Pty Ltd and Bay State Milling Company
In 2019, we entered into an agreement with Arista and Bay State Milling ("BSM"). Under the agreement, BSM is the exclusive commercial partner for our high fiber resistant starch bread wheat in North America under its HealthSense brand portfolio, while Arista has exclusive rights under our high fiber resistant starch bread wheat intellectual property in certain geographies, including Australia and Europe. We will continue to market our high fiber wheat under our GoodWheat portfolio of specialty wheat ingredients in other international markets.
Competition
The markets for consumer goods are highly competitive, and we face significant direct and indirect competition in several aspects of our business. We compete with both large, established manufacturers, as well as small, innovative producers of pasta and wellness products. There are several companies working to improve genetics in crops, such as wheat, that may compete with the trait used in our GoodWheat products.
In general, we believe that our competitors generally fall into the following categories:
• Companies Selling Wheat Products: As we enter the direct to consumer and retail markets with our GoodWheat products, we believe we face significant competition from a variety of consumer-packaged goods companies. Our competitors in the pasta market range from companies like Banza and Ancient Harvest who offer high-nutrition pasta alternatives to large, traditional pasta producers including Barilla and De Cecco.
• Specialty health and nutrition ingredient companies : In response to the growing consumer demand for healthier food alternatives, a number of agricultural and food-based companies are augmenting their product and market strategies to bring new quality food ingredients to market. Calyxt is an agriculture biotechnology company that has a similar strategy to ours to create healthier specialty food ingredients and agriculturally advantageous food crops.
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• Coconut water: The beverage industry is competitive. Competitors in this market compete for brand recognition, ingredient sourcing, product shelf space, and e-commerce page rankings. Our competitors have similar distribution channels and retailers to deliver and sell their products. Competitors in this space include Vita Coco, ZICO, C20 and Harmless Harvest.
• CBD-based wellness products: The market for the sale of CBD-based products is fragmented and intensely competitive. Currently, we do not believe that there are any businesses that can demonstrate or claim a dominant market share of the growing CBD bath and body care products market. Our competitors of CBD-based products include a combination of public and private companies who operate a combination of e-commerce and wholesale brands as well as brick and mortar retail operations like cbdMD and Charlotte’s Web.
Employees
As of December 31, 2021, we had 11 full-time employees dedicated to research and product development. Our team possesses technical expertise in a number of fields and activities have been conducted principally at our Davis and Chatsworth, California facilities, with occasional field trials conducted in American Falls, Idaho. In prior years, we have made substantial investments in research and development, and have turned our current focus to developing commercial products, anticipating future research and development expenses to decrease substantially. Our research and development expenses were $3.9 million and $8.0 million in the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
As of December 31, 2021, we had 58 full-time employees. As mentioned above, 11 employees were engaged in research and product development and 47 in management, operations, commercial production, accounting/finance, legal and administration. We believe our employee relations to be good. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or collective bargaining agreement.
Diversity and Inclusion
At Arcadia, we recognize the immense benefits that a diverse team brings to our organization, including delivering better business outcomes. Our talented people leverage their diverse backgrounds and skills toward a common goal: meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. This spirit of inclusive collaboration can be felt throughout our Company. Our commitment to diversity begins at the highest levels of our organization, as evidenced by the fact that 50% of our Board of Directors are female. From a management perspective, 60% of our CEO's direct reports are female, racially or ethnically diverse, which we believe sets the right tone and expectation for diversity and inclusion within the Company. More broadly, 52% of our employees are female.
Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG")
Since our founding, Arcadia has been on a mission to enhance crop yields by enabling plants to more efficiently manage environmental and nutrient stresses, and to enhance the quality and value of agricultural and food products. Now that Arcadia has evolved to its commercial stage, the goal is still to lead in a safe, scalable, efficient, and sustainable way. Our Board of Directors oversees ESG matters, and is committed to advancing a sustainable development through our products, working to systematically grow our business to meet the challenges of the global energy transition and combat the global climate crisis.
Facilities
Our corporate headquarters are located in Davis, California, in a facility consisting of approximately 9,224 square feet of office, laboratory and growth chamber space under a lease which expires on March 31, 2025. This facility accommodates research and development, finance and accounting, investor relations, and administrative activities. Our manufacturing plant is located in Chatsworth, California, in a facility consisting of approximately 14,720 square feet of office, warehouse and production lines. We lease greenhouse space and farmland for agricultural use in Northern California, Idaho, and Hawaii.
We believe that our leased facilities are adequate to meet our current needs and that, if needed, suitable additional or alternative space will be available to accommodate our operations.
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Item 1A. Ris k Factors.
You should carefully consider the following risk factors, in addition to the other information contained in this report on Form 10-K, including the section of this report titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and related notes. If any of the events described in the following risk factors and the risks described elsewhere in this report occurs, our business, operating results and financial condition could be seriously harmed. This report on Form 10-K also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of factors that are described below and elsewhere in this report.
Risks Related to Our Hemp Business
We will be subject to a myriad of different laws and regulations governing hemp and our inability to comply with such laws in a cost-effective manner may have an adverse effect on our business and result of operations.
Laws and regulations governing the use of hemp in the United States are broad in scope, subject to evolving interpretations, and subject to enforcement by a myriad of regulatory agencies and law enforcement entities. Under the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, also known as the 2018 Farm Bill, a state or Indian tribe that desires to have primary regulatory authority over the production of hemp in the state or territory of the Indian tribe must submit a plan to monitor and regulate hemp production to the Secretary of the USDA. The Secretary must then approve the state or tribal plan after determining if the plan complies with the requirements set forth in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. The Secretary may also audit the state or Indian tribe’s compliance with the federally-approved plan. If the Secretary does not approve the state or Indian tribe’s plan, then the production of hemp in that state or territory of that Indian tribe will be subject to a plan established by USDA. USDA published a final rule on January 19, 2021, that provided regulations for the production of hemp in the USA that went into effect on March 22, 2021. We anticipate that some states will seek to have primary regulatory authority over the production of hemp. States that seek such authority may create new laws and regulations that limit or restrict the use of hemp.
Federal and state laws and regulations on hemp may address production, monitoring, manufacturing, distribution, and laboratory testing to ensure that that the hemp has a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3% on a dry weight basis. Federal laws and regulations may also address the transportation or shipment of hemp or hemp products, as the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 prohibits states and Indian tribes from prohibiting the transportation or shipment of hemp or hemp products produced in accordance with that law through the state or territory of the Indian tribe, as applicable. We may be subject to many different state-based regulatory regimens for hemp, all of which could require us to incur substantial costs associated with compliance requirements. Our research and development operations will be restricted to only where such operations are legal on the local, state and federal levels.
The DEA issued an interim final rule to codify statutory amendments to the controlled substances act made by the 2018 farm bill. It is possible that the DEA will make additional changes in a final rule that may have a material impact on our hemp business and our ability to operate.
The Food and Drug Administration has published guidance related to the CBD and hemp-extract business but has not formally released a regulatory framework for the industry. It is possible that the FDA will provide additional guidance or implement future regulations that may have a material impact on our hemp business.
In addition, it is possible that additional regulations may be enacted in the future in the United States and globally that will be directly applicable to our research and development operations. We cannot predict the nature of any future laws, regulations, interpretations, or applications, nor can we determine what effect additional governmental regulations or administrative policies and procedures, when and if promulgated, could have on our business.
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There is limited operating history in the legal hemp or cannabis industry, which makes it difficult to accurately assess our future growth prospects.
The legal hemp and cannabis industry is an evolving industry that may not develop as expected. Furthermore, our operations continue to evolve as we continually assess new strategic opportunities for our business within this industry. Assessing the future prospects of this industry is challenging in light of both known and unknown risks and difficulties we may encounter. Growth prospects in the legal hemp and cannabis industry can be affected by a wide variety of factors including:
• Competition from other similar companies;
• Fluctuations in the market price of hemp seeds and CBD oil;
• Regulatory limitations on the types of research and development with respect to cannabis;
• Other changes in the regulation of cannabis and legal hemp use; and
• Changes in underlying consumer behavior, which may affect the demand of our legal hemp and cannabis traits.
We may not be able to successfully address the above factors, which could negatively impact our intended business plans and financial statements.
Negative press from being in the hemp/cannabis space could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
The hemp plant and the cannabis/marijuana plant are both part of the same cannabis sativa genus/species of plant, except that hemp, by definition, has less than 0.3% THC content, but the same plant with a higher THC content is cannabis/marijuana, which is legal under certain state laws, but which is not legal under federal law. The similarities between these plants can cause confusion, and our activities with legal hemp may be incorrectly perceived as us being involved in federally illegal cannabis. Also, despite growing support for the cannabis industry and legalization of cannabis in certain U.S. states, many individuals and businesses remain opposed to the cannabis industry. Any negative press resulting from any incorrect perception that we have entered into the cannabis space could result in a loss of current or future business. It could also adversely affect the public’s perception of us and lead to reluctance by new parties to do business with us or to own our common stock. We cannot assure you that additional business partners, including but not limited to financial institutions and customers, will not attempt to end or curtail their relationships with us. Any such negative press or cessation of business could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Business and Our Other Industries
Unfavorable global economic or political conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy and in the global financial markets. A global financial crisis or a global or regional political disruption could cause extreme volatility in the capital and credit markets. For example, outbreaks of epidemic, pandemic, or contagious diseases, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, could disrupt our business. Business disruptions could include disruptions to the productivity of our employees working remotely and restrictions on their travel may hinder their ability to meet with potential customers and close transactions, as well as temporary closures of the facilities of suppliers or contract growers in our supply chain. While we’ve seen very recent signs of improvement, hemp growers have been slower to make decisions to purchase hemp seeds due to economic uncertainty and wheat consumer packaged goods companies have been heavily focused on production over R&D evaluation as demand for staples like pasta and flour have increased. A weak or declining economy or political disruption could also strain our manufacturers or suppliers, possibly resulting in supply disruption, or cause our customers to delay making payments for our services. Any of the foregoing could harm our business and we cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the political or economic climate and financial market conditions could adversely impact our business.
We or our partners may not be successful in developing commercial products that incorporate our traits and for which there is consumer demand.
Our future growth depends on our ability to monetize the trait assets we’ve created by bringing products to market that incorporate our technology, as well as licensing these traits to our collaborators to develop and
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commercialize seeds and products that contain our traits. The development process could take longer than we anticipate or could ultimately fail to achieve commercial success for any of the following reasons, including but not limited to: non-competitive pricing, ineffective advertising and marketing campaigns, increased competition, failure to align with consumer tastes and lack of brand acceptance.
If products containing our traits are never commercialized or are not well-received in the marketplace, our ability to generate revenues and become profitable, as well as our long-term growth strategy, would be materially and adversely affected. Even if we or our collaborators are able to develop commercial products that incorporate our traits, any such products may not achieve commercial success as quickly as we project, or at all.
We have a history of significant losses, which we expect to continue, and we may never achieve or maintain profitability.
We have incurred significant net losses since our formation in 2002 and expect to continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future. We incurred net losses of $16.1 million, and $6.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. As of December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $226.5 million. Net cash used in operations was $25.9 million and $30.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. We expect to continue to incur losses. Because we have incurred and will continue to incur significant costs and expenses for these efforts before we obtain any incremental revenues from the sale of seeds or products incorporating our traits, our losses in future periods could be even more significant. In addition, we may find our development and commercialization efforts are more expensive than we anticipate or that they do not generate revenues in the time period we anticipate, which would further increase our losses. If we are unable to adequately control the costs associated with operating our business, including costs of development and commercialization of our traits, our business, financial condition, operating results, and prospects will suffer.
We may require additional financing and may not be able to obtain such financing on favorable terms, if at all, which could force us to delay, reduce, or eliminate our research and development activities.
We will continue to need capital to fund our development projects, the commercialization of our products, and to provide working capital to fund other aspects of our business. If our capital resources are insufficient to meet our capital requirements, we will have to raise additional funds. If future financings involve the issuance of equity securities, our existing stockholders would suffer dilution. If we are able to raise debt financing, we may be subject to restrictive covenants that limit our operating flexibility. We may not be able to raise sufficient additional funds on terms that are favorable to us, if at all. If we fail to raise sufficient funds and continue to incur losses, our ability to fund our operations, take advantage of strategic opportunities, develop and commercialize products or technologies, or otherwise respond to competitive pressures could be significantly limited. If this happens, we may be forced to delay or terminate research and development programs or the commercialization of products or curtail operations. If adequate funds are not available, we will not be able to successfully execute on our business strategy or continue our business.
Our gross profit margins on the products we’ve recently introduced containing our GoodWheat as an ingredient may be impacted by a variety of factors, including but not limited to, variations in raw materials and packaging pricing, customer requirements, market acceptance rate and promotional support costs.
We expect that our gross profit as a percentage of net sales could fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including product pricing, retail discounts, and the availability and cost of ingredients and packaging. In addition, our gross profit margin may be impacted by shifts in the overall mix of products having a higher or lower profit margin. If we are not able to increase our selling prices or reduce product sizes sufficiently, or in a timely manner, to offset increased raw material, packaging, or other input costs, or if our sales volume decreases significantly, there could be a negative impact on our financial condition and results of operations. Should the rate of market acceptance of our products be slower than anticipated, we may incur additional expense by increasing promotional activities.
Competition is intense and requires continuous technological development, and, if we are unable to compete effectively, our financial results will suffer.
We face significant competition in the markets in which we operate. The markets for pasta, body care and coconut water products are intensely competitive and rapidly changing. In most segments of the seed and agricultural biotechnology market, the number of products available to consumers is steadily increasing as new
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products are introduced. At the same time, the expiration of patents covering existing products reduces the barriers to entry for competitors. We may be unable to compete successfully against our current and future competitors, which may result in price reductions, reduced margins and the inability to achieve market acceptance for products containing our traits. In addition, several of our competitors have substantially greater financial, marketing, sales, distribution, research and development, and technical resources than us, and some of our collaborators have more experience in research and development, regulatory matters, manufacturing, and marketing. We anticipate increased competition in the future as new companies enter the market and new technologies become available. Our technologies may be rendered obsolete or uneconomical by technological advances or entirely different approaches developed by one or more of our competitors, which will prevent or limit our ability to generate revenues from the commercialization of our traits being developed.
We rely on third parties to conduct, monitor, support, and oversee field trials and commercial production and, in some cases, to maintain regulatory files for those products in development, and any performance issues by third parties, or our inability to engage third parties on acceptable terms, may impact our or our collaborators’ ability to complete the regulatory process for or commercialize such products.
We rely on third parties, including farmers, to conduct, monitor, support, and oversee field trials and commercial production. As a result, we have less control over the timing and cost of these activities than if we conducted them with our own personnel. If we are unable to maintain or enter into agreements with these third parties on acceptable terms, or if any such engagement is terminated prematurely, we may be unable to conduct and complete our trials and commercial production in the manner we anticipate. In addition, there is no guarantee that these third parties will devote adequate time and resources to our activities or perform as required by our contract or in accordance with regulatory requirements, including maintenance of field trial or production information. If these third parties fail to meet expected deadlines, fail to transfer to us any regulatory or other information in a timely manner, fail to adhere to protocols, or fail to act in accordance with regulatory requirements or our agreements with them, or if they otherwise perform in a substandard manner or in a way that compromises the quality or accuracy of their activities or the data they obtain, then field trials and commercial production of our products in development may be extended or delayed with additional costs incurred, or our data may be rejected by the USDA or FDA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, or other regulatory agencies. Ultimately, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our field trials and commercial production is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal, regulatory and scientific standards, and our reliance on third parties does not relieve us of our responsibilities.
If our relationship with any of these third parties is terminated, we may be unable to enter into arrangements with alternative parties on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. Switching or adding growers or other suppliers can involve substantial cost and require extensive management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new farmer or other third party commences work. As a result, delays may occur, which can materially impact our ability to meet our desired development or commercial timelines. If we are required to seek alternative supply arrangements, the resulting delays and potential inability to find a suitable replacement could materially and adversely impact our business.
Most of our collaborators have significant resources and development capabilities and may develop their own products that compete with or negatively impact the advancement or sale of products containing our traits.
Most of our collaborators are significantly larger than us and may have substantially greater resources and development capabilities. As a result, we are subject to competition from many of our collaborators, who could develop or pursue competing products and traits that may ultimately prove more commercially viable than our traits. In addition, former collaborators, by virtue of having had access to our proprietary technology, may utilize this insight for their own development efforts, despite the fact that our collaboration agreements prohibit such use. The development or launch of a competing product by a collaborator may adversely affect the advancement and commercialization of any traits we develop and any associated research and development and milestone payments and value-sharing payments we receive from the sale of products containing our traits.
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We depend on our key personnel and, if we are not able to attract and retain qualified technical and business personnel, we may not be able to grow our business or develop and commercialize our products.
Our future performance depends on the continued services and contributions of our management team and other key employees, the loss of whose services might significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our technical or business objectives. The replacement of any member of our management team involves significant time and costs and such loss could significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our business objectives. A member of our leadership team who has been our employee for many years and therefore, has significant experience and understanding of our business, would be difficult to replace.
Additionally, the majority of our workforce is involved in development and commercial activities. Our business is therefore dependent on our ability to recruit and maintain a highly skilled and educated workforce with expertise in a range of disciplines, including food innovation, supply chain management, agribusiness, marketing, and other subjects relevant to our operations. All of our current employees are at-will employees, and the failure to retain or hire skilled and highly educated personnel could limit our growth and hinder our research and development efforts.
Our business is subject to the risks of earthquakes, fire, flood, crop losses, epidemics, and other catastrophic natural events, and security breaches, including cybersecurity incidents.
Our seed, grain and hemp crops are vulnerable to adverse weather conditions, including windstorms, floods, drought and temperature extremes, which are common but difficult to predict. In addition, the crops are vulnerable to crop disease and to pests, which may vary in severity and effect, depending on the stage of production at the time of infection or infestation, the type of treatment applied and climatic conditions. Unfavorable growing conditions can reduce both crop size and quality. Weather conditions, disease or pest infestation could damage the crop in spite of precautions we would normally take to avoid such losses. We take precautions to safeguard our facilities, including insurance, health and safety protocols, and off-site storage of critical research results and computer data. However, a natural disaster, such as a fire, flood, or earthquake, could cause substantial delays in our operations, damage or destroy our equipment, inventory, or development projects, and cause us to incur additional expenses. The insurance we maintain against natural disasters may not be adequate to cover our losses in any particular case.
We utilize and critically rely upon information technology systems in all aspects of our business, including increasingly large amounts of data to support our products and advance our research and development. Failure to effectively prevent, detect, and recover from the increasing number and sophistication of information security threats could result in theft, misuse, modification, and destruction of information, including trade secrets and confidential business information, and cause business disruptions, delays in research and development, and reputational damage, which could significantly affect our results of operations and financial condition.
Our use of hazardous materials exposes us to potential liabilities.
Certain of our operations involve the storage and controlled use of hazardous materials, including laboratory chemicals, herbicides, and pesticides. This requires us to conduct our operations in compliance with applicable environmental and safety standards, and we cannot completely eliminate the risk of accidental contamination from hazardous materials. In the event of such contamination, we may be held liable for significant damages or fines, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results.
Most of the licenses we grant to our collaborators to use our proprietary genes in certain crops are exclusive within certain jurisdictions, which limits our licensing opportunities.
Most of the licenses we grant our collaborators to use our proprietary genes in certain crops are exclusive within specified jurisdictions, so long as our collaborators comply with certain diligence requirements. That means that once genes are licensed to a collaborator in a specified crop or crops, we are generally prohibited from licensing those genes to any third party. The limitations imposed by these exclusive licenses could prevent us from expanding our business and increasing our product development initiatives with new collaborators, both of which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
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Our commercial success depends on our ability to protect our intellectual property and our proprietary technologies and on the ability to operate without infringing the patents and other proprietary rights of third parties.
Our success will depend in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection both in the United States and in other countries for any products we successfully develop. The patents and patent applications in our patent portfolio are either owned by us, exclusively licensed to us, or co-owned by us and others and exclusively licensed to us. Our ability to protect any products we successfully develop from unauthorized or infringing use by third parties depends substantially on our ability to obtain and maintain valid and enforceable patents. Due to evolving legal standards relating to the patentability, validity and enforceability of patents covering biotechnology inventions and the scope of claims made under these patents, our ability to obtain and enforce patents is uncertain and involves complex legal and factual questions. Accordingly, rights under any issued patents may not provide us with sufficient protection for any products we successfully develop or provide sufficient protection to afford us a commercial advantage against our competitors or their competitive products or processes. In addition, we cannot guarantee that any patents will be issued from any pending or future patent applications owned by or licensed to us. Even if patents have been issued or will be issued, we cannot guarantee that the claims of these patents are, or will be, valid or enforceable, or provide us with any significant protection against competitive products or otherwise be commercially valuable to us.
The U.S. Congress passed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the America Invents Act, which was signed into law in September 2011. The America Invents Act reforms U.S. patent law in part by changing the standard for patent approval from a “first to invent” standard to a “first inventor to file” standard and developing a post-grant review system. This new legislation affects U.S. patent law in a manner that may impact our ability to obtain or maintain patent protection for current or future inventions in the U.S. or otherwise cause uncertainty as to our patent protection.
We may not have identified all patents, published applications or published literature that may affect our business, either by blocking our ability to commercialize our traits, by preventing the patentability of our traits by us, our licensors or co-owners, or by covering the same or similar technologies that may invalidate our patents, limiting the scope of our future patent claims or adversely affecting our ability to market our products. For example, patent applications are maintained in confidence for at least 18 months after their filing. In some cases, patent applications remain confidential in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) for the entire time prior to issuance of a U.S. patent. Patent applications filed in countries outside the United States are not typically published until at least 18 months from their first filing date. Similarly, publication of discoveries in the scientific or patent literature often lags behind actual discoveries. Therefore, we cannot be certain that we or our licensors or co-owners were the first to invent, or the first inventors to file, patent applications on our processes, products or their uses. In the event that another party has filed a U.S. patent application covering the same invention as one of our patent applications or patents, we may have to participate in an adversarial proceeding, known as an interference, declared by the USPTO to determine priority of invention in the United States.
If we or one of our collaborators are sued for infringing the intellectual property rights of a third party, such litigation could be costly and time consuming and could prevent us or our collaborators from developing or commercializing our products.
Our ability to generate significant revenues from our products depends on our and our collaborators’ ability to develop, market and sell our products and utilize our proprietary technology without infringing the intellectual property and other rights of any third parties. In the United States and abroad there are numerous third-party patents and patent applications that may be applied toward our proprietary technology, business processes, or developed traits, some of which may be construed as containing claims that cover the subject matter of our products or intellectual property. Because of the rapid pace of technological change, the confidentiality of patent applications in some jurisdictions (including U.S. provisional patent applications), and the fact that patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending applications that are unknown to us that may later result in issued patents upon which our products in development or proprietary technologies infringe. Similarly, there may be issued patents relevant to our products in development of which we are not aware. These patents could reduce the value of the traits we develop or the plants containing our traits or, to the extent they cover key technologies on which we have unknowingly relied, require that we seek to obtain licenses or cease using the technology, no matter how valuable to our business. We may not be able to obtain such a license on commercially reasonable terms. If any third-party patent or patent application covers our intellectual property or proprietary rights and we are not able to obtain a license to it, we and our collaborators may be prevented from commercializing products containing our traits.
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As the agricultural biotechnology industry continues to develop, we may become party to, or threatened with, litigation or other adverse proceedings regarding intellectual property or proprietary rights in our technology, processes, or developed traits. Third parties may assert claims based on existing or future intellectual property rights and the outcome of any proceedings is subject to uncertainties that cannot be adequately quantified in advance. Any litigation proceedings could be costly and time consuming, and negative outcomes could result in liability for monetary damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees, if we are found to have willfully infringed a patent. There is also no guarantee that we would be able to obtain a license under such infringed intellectual property on commercially reasonable terms or at all. A finding of infringement could prevent us or our collaborators from developing, marketing or selling a product or force us to cease some or all of our business operations. Even if we are successful in these proceedings, we may incur substantial costs and the time and attention of our management and scientific personnel may be diverted as a result of these proceedings, which could have a material adverse effect on us. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could similarly have a negative impact on our business.
Our success will depend in part on our ability to uphold and enforce patents or patent applications owned or co-owned by us or licensed to us, which cover products we successfully develop. Proceedings involving our patents or patent applications could result in adverse decisions regarding:
• ownership of patents and patent applications;
• rights concerning licenses;
• the patentability of our inventions relating to our products; and/or
• the enforceability, validity or scope of protection offered by our patents relating to our products.
Even if we are successful in these proceedings, we may incur substantial costs and divert management’s time and attention in pursuing these proceedings, which could have a material adverse effect on us.
We are subject to governmental export and import controls that could impair our ability to compete in international markets due to licensing requirements and subject us to liability if we are not in compliance with applicable laws.
Our products and products in development are subject to export control and import laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations, and various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls. Exports of our products and technology must be made in compliance with these laws and regulations. If we fail to comply with these laws and regulations, we and certain of our employees could be subject to substantial civil or criminal penalties, including the possible loss of export or import privileges; fines, which may be imposed on us and responsible employees or managers; and, in extreme cases, the incarceration of responsible employees or managers.
In addition, changes in our products or solutions or changes in applicable export or import laws and regulations may create delays in the introduction and sale of our products and solutions in international markets, prevent our customers from deploying our products and solutions or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our products and solutions to certain countries, governments or persons altogether. Any change in export or import laws and regulations, shift in the enforcement or scope of existing laws and regulations, or change in the countries, governments, persons or technologies targeted by such laws and regulations, could also result in decreased use of our products and solutions, or in our decreased ability to export or sell our products and solutions to existing or potential customers. Any decreased use of our products and solutions or limitation on our ability to export or sell our products and solutions would likely adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Adverse outcomes in future legal proceedings could subject us to substantial damages and adversely affect our results of operations and profitability.
We may become party to legal proceedings, including matters involving personnel and employment issues, personal injury, environmental matters, and other proceedings. Some of these potential proceedings could result in substantial damages or payment awards that exceed our insurance coverage. We will estimate our exposure to any future legal proceedings and establish provisions for the estimated liabilities where it is reasonably possible to estimate and where an adverse outcome is probable. Assessing and predicting the outcome of these matters will involve substantial uncertainties. Furthermore, even if the outcome is ultimately in our favor, our costs associated with such litigation may be material. Adverse outcomes in future legal proceedings or the costs and expenses associated therewith could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.
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We may be required to pay substantial damages as a result of product liability claims for which insurance coverage is not available.
We are subject to product liability claims with respect to our products, and as additional products integrating our traits reach commercialization, product liability claims may increasingly be a commercial risk for our business. Product liability claims against us or our collaborators selling products that contain our traits, or allegations of product liability relating to seeds containing traits developed by us, could damage our reputation, harm our relationships with our collaborators, and materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and prospects. Furthermore, while our collaboration agreements typically require that our collaborators indemnify us for the cost of product liability claims brought against us as a result of our collaborator’s misconduct, such indemnification provisions may not always be enforced, and we may receive no indemnification if our own misconduct contributed to the claims.
We may seek to expand through acquisitions of and investments in other brands, businesses, and assets. These acquisition activities may be unsuccessful or divert management’s attention.
We may consider strategic and complementary acquisitions of and investments in other agricultural biotechnology and consumer brands, businesses or other assets, and such acquisitions or investments are subject to risks that could affect our business, including risks related to:
• the necessity of coordinating geographically disparate organizations;
• implementing common systems and controls;
• integrating personnel with diverse business and cultural backgrounds;
• integrating acquired manufacturing and production facilities, technology and products;
• combining different corporate cultures and legal systems;
• unanticipated expenses related to integration, including technical and operational integration;
• increased costs and unanticipated liabilities, including with respect to registration, environmental, health and safety matters, that may affect sales and operating results;
• retaining key employees;
• obtaining required government and third-party approvals;
• legal limitations in new jurisdictions;
• installing effective internal controls and audit procedures;
• issuing common stock that could dilute the interests of our existing stockholders;
• spending cash and incurring debt;
• assuming contingent liabilities; and
• creating additional expenses.
We may not be able to identify opportunities or complete transactions on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, or actually realize any anticipated benefits from such acquisitions or investments. Similarly, we may not be able to obtain financing for acquisitions or investments on attractive terms. In addition, the success of any acquisitions or investments also will depend, in part, on our ability to integrate the acquisition or investment with our existing operations.
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As a result of being a public company, we are obligated to develop and maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting. We may not complete our analysis of our internal control over financial reporting in a timely manner, or these internal controls may not be determined to be effective, which may adversely affect investor confidence in our company and, as a result, the value of our common stock.
Pursuant to Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“the Act”) and the related rules adopted by the SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, starting with the second annual report that we filed with the SEC after the consummation of our public offering, our management is required to report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Section 404(b) of the Act requires that our independent registered public accounting firm will also need to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting if we qualify as an accelerated filer or a large accelerated filer.
In connection with the preparation of our financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we identified certain internal control deficiencies that did not rise to the level of a significant deficiency or material weakness, on an individual basis or in the aggregate. We are continuously improving our internal control environment. As a result, we may experience higher than anticipated operating expenses, as well as higher auditor fees during and after the implementation of these changes. If we are unable to implement any of the required changes to our internal control over financial reporting effectively or efficiently or are required to do so earlier than anticipated, it could adversely affect our operations, financial reporting, and results of operations and could result in an adverse opinion on internal controls from our independent registered public accounting firm.
Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.
Under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its NOLs to offset future taxable income. A significant portion of our existing NOLs are limited due to an ownership change under IRC Section 382 that we experienced as a result of the common shares issued in connection with the January 2021 and December 2020 Offering. Future changes in our stock ownership, some of which are outside of our control, could result in an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code. If we undergo an ownership change in the future, our ability to utilize NOLs could be further limited by Section 382 of the Code. Furthermore, our ability to utilize NOLs of companies that we may acquire in the future may be subject to limitations. There is also a risk that, due to regulatory changes, such as suspensions on the use of NOLs, or other unforeseen reasons, our existing NOLs could expire or otherwise be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities. For these reasons, we may not be able to realize a tax benefit from the use of our NOLs, whether or not we obtain profitability.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales might occur, could cause our stock price to decline.
Sales of a substantial number of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales might occur, could cause the market price of our common stock to decline and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. As of December 31, 2021, there were 22,184,235 shares of our common stock outstanding, of which approximately 21,024,743 shares were held by non-affiliates. All of our common stock is freely transferable, except shares held by our “affiliates,” as defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act.
We may also issue common stock or options to purchase shares of our common stock that under our 2015 Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan and our 2015 Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Securities issued under these plans will be registered under a Form S-8 and are freely tradable upon issuance. There were 743,109 options exercisable as of December 31, 2021 at a weighted average exercise price of $7.54.
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Our stock price has been and may continue to be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
The market price of our common stock since our initial public offering has been and may continue to be volatile. Since shares of our common stock were sold in our initial public offering in May 2015 at a price of $160.00 per share, our stock price has ranged from $1.00 to $176.00, through December 31, 2021. The market price of our common stock is subject to wide fluctuations in response to various risk factors, some of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating performance, including:
• addition or loss of significant customers, collaborators or distributors;
• changes in laws or regulations applicable to our industry or traits;
• additions or departures of key personnel;
• the failure of securities analysts to cover our common stock after an offering;
• actual or anticipated changes in expectations regarding our performance by investors or securities analysts;
• price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market;
• volatility in the market price and trading volume of companies in our industry or companies that investors consider comparable;
• share price and volume fluctuations attributable to inconsistent trading volume levels of our shares;
• our ability to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights;
• sales of our common stock by us or our stockholders;
• the expiration of contractual lock-up agreements;
• litigation involving us, our industry, or both;
• major catastrophic events; and
• general economic and market conditions and trends.
Further, the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. In addition, the stock prices of many seed and agricultural biotechnology companies have experienced wide fluctuations that have often been unrelated to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political, and market conditions such as recessions, interest rate changes, or international currency fluctuations, may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. If the market price of our common stock fluctuates or declines, you may not realize any return on your investment and may lose some or all of your investment.
We expect our operating results to vary significantly from quarter to quarter, which may cause our stock price to fluctuate widely.
We expect our quarterly operating results to fluctuate widely and unpredictably for the following reasons, among others:
• our significant customer concentration;
• the variable timing, stage, and results of our and our collaborators’ development, and regulatory activities;
• the effectiveness of our marketing and advertising efforts;
• the impact of seasonality in agricultural operations on our sales of hemp seeds and products that incorporate our wheat traits;
• adjustments to inventory due to excess or slow-moving;
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• supplier, manufacturing, or quality problems; and
• variance in the timing of customer and distributor orders for our products.
Any unanticipated change in revenues or operating results is likely to cause our stock price to fluctuate since such changes reflect new information available to investors and analysts.
Because we do not expect to pay any dividends for the foreseeable future, investors may be forced to sell their stock to realize a return on their investment.
We do not anticipate that we will pay any dividends to holders of our common stock for the foreseeable future. Any payment of cash dividends will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, cash requirements, financial condition, contractual restrictions including compliance with covenants under our debt agreements, and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. Our ability to pay dividends might be restricted by the terms of any indebtedness that we incur in the future. In addition, certain of our current outstanding debt agreements prohibit us from paying cash dividends on our common stock. Consequently, you should not rely on dividends to receive a return on your investment.
Item 1B. Unresolve d Staff Comments.
Not applicable.
Item 2. Pr operties.
Our corporate headquarters are located in Davis, California, in a facility consisting of approximately 9,224 square feet of office and laboratory space under a lease which expires on March 31, 2025. This facility accommodates research and development, accounting and other administrative activities. Our manufacturing facility in Chatsworth, California, consists of 14,720 square feet under a lease expires on May 1, 2024. We lease greenhouse space and farmland for agricultural use in Idaho, Northern California, and Hawaii. We also lease office and warehouse space in Idaho under a lease that expires on December 31, 2023.
We believe that our leased facilities are adequate to meet our current needs and that, if needed, suitable additional or alternative space will be available to accommodate our operations.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings.
We currently are not a party to any material litigation or other material legal proceedings. From time to time, we may be subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business.
Item 4. Mine Saf ety Disclosures.
Not applicable.
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PAR T II
Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.