CubicFarm Systems Corp. expands market for fresh produce system into insect farming with sale to Agragene Inc.

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 6, 2020 /CNW/ - CubicFarm® Systems Corp. (TSXV: CUB) ("CubicFarms" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the sale of its automated, controlled-environment system to Agragene Inc. ("Agragene"), a San Diego, US-based ag-tech company developing novel biological pest protection for crops, utilizing live sterile male insects as a form of insect pest control. This sale marks a new vertical for CubicFarms' fresh produce system, which will now be used by Agragene to grow insects predictably in an indoor, controlled environment.

The Company finalized an agreement for the sale of one CubicFarms growing machine, and received a deposit from Agragene. The machine is expected to be installed in San Diego by the end of the year.

Agragene plans to trial the breeding of its proprietary insect lines to produce only sterile male crop pests inside the machine. The sterile males are then released into the field where they effectively and safely control the wild pest population. Upon satisfactory completion of the trial, Agragene plans to scale up its insect factory with multiple CubicFarms machines.

Gordon Alton, CEO of Agragene, commented: "CubicFarms appears to offer the best value in the market with a clearly superior product. We are excited to launch operations with the equipment as it will provide tremendous productivity in a small footprint. The simplicity of the design, yet allowing sophisticated control of the environmental conditions, was a key factor in our purchase decision."

CubicFarms CEO Dave Dinesen commented: "Our customers often bring us the best ideas for our technology. We already know that our systems automate the growing of commercial-scale quantities of fresh produce and livestock feed, and so we're excited to be able to now offer a solution for insect farming. Agragene is a great example of a customer taking our technology and applying it in a completely new business vertical. The most exciting thing for our company is having our customers utilize our existing flexible machine design to open up a world of possibilities for their growing.

"We look forward to collaborating with Agragene, another portfolio company of our shared strategic investor Ospraie Ag Science, to unlock potential synergies in the future."

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

About CubicFarm® Systems Corp.

CubicFarm Systems Corp. ("CubicFarms") is a technology company developing and deploying technology to feed a changing world. Its proprietary technologies enable growers around the world to produce high quality, predictable crop yields. CubicFarms has two distinct technologies that address two distinct markets. The first technology is its CubicFarms™ system, which contains patented technology for growing leafy greens and other crops indoors, all year round. Using its unique, undulating-path growing system, the Company addresses the main challenges within the indoor farming industry by significantly reducing the need for physical labour and energy, and maximizing yield per cubic foot. CubicFarms leverages its patented technology by operating its own R&D facility in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, selling the system to growers, licensing its technology and providing vertical farming expertise to its customers.

The second technology is CubicFarms' HydroGreen system for growing nutritious livestock feed. This system utilizes a unique process to sprout grains, such as barley and wheat, in a controlled environment with minimal use of land, labour and water. The HydroGreen system is fully automated and performs all growing functions including seeding, watering, lighting, harvesting, and re-seeding – all with the push of a button – to deliver nutritious livestock feed without the typical investment in fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, field equipment and transportation. The HydroGreen system not only provides superior nutritious feed to benefit the animal, but also enables significant environmental benefits to the farm.

About Agragene

Agragene is the smart choice for organic and conventional biological crop pest control. Using advanced CRISPR-based genome engineering, Agragene creates eco-friendly products that are applicable to thousands of insect pests worldwide. Agragene's initial product targets spotted wing drosophila, a major global crop pest. Founded in 2017 in San Diego, California, the company is pursuing commercial product launch in the United States and an aggressive licensing strategy worldwide.

Cautionary statement on forward-looking information

Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the completion of the sale and installation of the system by the customer; the outcome of Agragene's insect breeding trial using the CubicFarms machine and subsequent purchase of additional machines. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of CubicFarm Systems Corp., or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information including the Company obtaining the approval of the Offering from the TSX Venture Exchange. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict", and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events, or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will" be taken, occur, or be achieved.

These statements reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events, performance, and results and speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except as required by securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if the Company's expectations regarding future events, performance, or results change. 

SOURCE CubicFarm Systems Corp.

Kimberly Lim, [email protected], Phone: [phone], www.cubicfarms.com