Ceres Secures Crop Patents

Ceres Inc. has secured two patents for genetic plant traits that can help increase crop yields, the company announced Tuesday. The Thousand Oaks agricultural biotech said it will incorporate these traits in some of its own seed products, as well as license them to other companies for development. The company indicated that experimental results of plants with these traits can be grown more densely together or could be productive on marginal farmland. “There is a continuing need for crops that can thrive under dense populations and less than optimal environmental conditions,” Ceres Chief Executive Richard Hamilton said in a statement. “Traits that direct the plant to continue to focus on grain development or store energy in its stems and leaves could have a significant impact on increasing crop yields and farm income as well as revitalize low-value cropland.” Ceres owns or maintains exclusive rights to about 90 patents and has numerous pending patent applications in the United States and foreign countries. Shares closed unchanged at 25 cents on the Nasdaq.