Symbiota Names Global Crop Protection Expert Peter Innes, Ph.D. to Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Symbiota™, pioneer of plant microbiome solutions that naturally promote crop health and improve agricultural production, today announced the addition of Peter Innes, Ph.D. to its board of directors.

"We are excited to add Peter to our expanding team of agricultural industry leaders," said Dr. Robert Berendes, Symbiota's Chairman and Venture Partner at Flagship Ventures. "Peter's impressive track record of translating farmers’ needs into innovative, effective biological solutions for agriculture will be highly valuable to Symbiota as we further our effort of delivering significant yield increases through the plant microbiome. We look forward to Peter's strategic support and guidance as we advance our pipeline through field trials and move toward commercialization."

"Symbiota is the only company looking at the microbes within plants to deliver substantial yield benefits, which makes their technology unique in agriculture," said Dr. Innes. "I am thrilled to be part of such an exciting company that has the potential to naturally boost crop performance in a way that is beneficial to plants in an environmentally-sensitive way."

Dr. Innes has over 30 years of experience in the agri-business and biotechnology industries, bringing biological solutions that have real plant impact to market. He was the former President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Becker Underwood, Inc., which was acquired by BASF in 2012. During his tenure at Becker Underwood, the company expanded from a single facility business in Iowa to a global company with operations on five continents. Prior to joining Becker Underwood, Dr. Innes was Group Managing Director of The MicroBio Group Limited, a manufacturer of bio-fertilizers and crop protection products that was acquired by Becker Underwood in 2000. He began his career at the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge, England. Dr. Innes earned his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Biological Sciences from Imperial College, London.

About Symbiota

Symbiota™ is pioneering plant microbiome solutions that naturally promote crop health and improve agricultural production by harnessing the beneficial microbes that reside within plants. By unlocking the power of the plant microbiome, Symbiota is developing products that form unique partnerships with crops to naturally protect plant health and promote yield. Founded by the innovation foundry, Flagship VentureLabs, Symbiota has built the first platform for product discovery and generated a large pipeline of candidates in globally important crops, including corn, soy, wheat, cotton and vegetables. Based in Cambridge, MA, Symbiota was launched in 2013 and is backed by leading life science venture capital firm, Flagship Ventures. For more information, please visit www.Symbiota.com.