Gene editing behind two new self-pollinating Nonpareils 

By Ching Lee

The race is on. 

Two California companies are in the final stretch of a multiyear marathon to bring farmers the world’s first Nonpareil almond variety that can pollinate itself—a development that could help growers reduce the need for bees, lower production costs and increase their bottom line.   

Ohalo Genetics, an agriculture biotechnology company based in Aptos, announced the creation of its FruitionOne last October after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it had completed review of the company’s gene-edited self-fertile Nonpareil almond, which will be tested and sold by Sierra Gold Nurseries in Yuba City.

Oakdale-based Burchell Nursery followed suit, introducing late last year its Nonpareil+, also developed using gene-editing technology. 

The companies are on a similar timeline: They plan to begin nursery trials this year and to have limited supplies by late 2026 to allow growers to plant them for testing on a first-come basis. Both expect to begin commercial deliveries to growers in 2027. 

Long considered the gold standard, Nonpareil is by far the most widely grown almond variety in the world, accounting for 38% of the state’s almond receipts last year. The nut is prized for its soft shell and smooth, light-colored kernels, which consistently earn growers a premium. 

Because Nonpareil cannot pollinate itself, growers must plant pollenizer trees and rely on bees to produce a crop. Having to bring in beehives every year is costly, Stanislaus County grower Darrell Cordova said, and managing two different varieties in one orchard also complicates harvest and other agronomic practices, as the trees have different schedules. Monterey, a common pollenizer, for example, are more susceptible to the navel orangeworm, he pointed out, “so you might have to go through and spray them again.”

Tom Burchell, whose nursery operates a breeding program started by his grandfather in the 1960s, said developing a self-fertile Nonpareil “was always something that we were striving for.” The company is behind some of the industry’s major almond varieties, including Monterey, Wood Colony, Carmel, Fritz and Livington, and in the past 10 years has released two self-fertile varieties: Shasta—the second most popular after Independence—and Pyrenees. 

Though all the nursery’s previous varieties were done through traditional breeding, Burchell said such efforts could take 10 years or more. To speed the process, he sought the help of Yale professor Steve Dellaporta, an expert in plant genetics whose company—New Haven, Connecticut-based Verinomics—specializes in gene editing. 

Both Burchell and Ohalo make the point that gene editing allows them to make very precise, targeted changes to the plant’s genome—in this case, modifying a single trait in Nonpareil that makes it incompatible with its own pollen. Since self-fertility already exists in other almond varieties and in plants such as peaches, all they’ve done is make small tweaks that can occur naturally.

“Think of it more like an accelerated breeding process where you’re going in and you’re looking at what’s already there and you’re making minor modifications,” Dellaporta said. 

Burchell compared the process to making a simple edit to the word “can’t”: “You cut out the apostrophe T, and now it says, ‘I can pollinate myself,’” he said. 

From a federal regulatory standpoint, gene-edited plants are treated like conventionally bred plants, unlike GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, which are subject to “a long and very expensive review because you’re adding genetic information into that plant’s genome that has never been there before,” Dellaporta said.

Dave Friedberg, Ohalo’s CEO and a former executive of Monsanto (now Bayer), said he expects most of the 30 to 40 major countries that import almonds from California will regulate gene-edited crops with minimal restrictions by the time self-fertile Nonpareil trees are in full production. As of last November, the U.S. and Canada do not require companies to file notice of their gene-edited plants before going to market. That means gene-edited products need no labeling or reporting as GMOs do, he said. 

“The future is likely going to look like everything will be deregulated all over the world,” Friedberg said of gene-edited plants. “It’ll make things quite easy to bring new products to market. It’s going to be hugely beneficial to farmers, consumers and the environment.”

Sebastian Saa, associate director of agricultural research for the Almond Board of California, said there is no question that self-compatible varieties simplify life for growers. But the benefit of this one trait should serve as a baseline when evaluating the new varieties. Growers should also ask: What else do they offer? Do the varieties set good fruit? Do they produce kernels that consumers like? Can the trees perform well in California conditions? How about disease and insect resistance? 

“There are hundreds of examples where on paper a variety looks really good, but then when growers plant it and they have invested for seven years, they had to pull them off,” Saa said.

There’s also the question of whether it is practical to plant all acres to Nonpareil, which remains in high demand. Imagine having to harvest the state’s 1.3 million almond acres in one week, he said. 

As for other characteristics of FruitionOne and Nonpareil+, Ohalo’s Friedberg and Burchell said they should be identical to traditional Nonpareil—and the goal of the orchard trials is to prove it, giving growers confidence that the varieties are indeed self-fertile with all the attributes of Nonpareil.

Claiming the new varieties “should be” the same as traditional Nonpareil doesn’t necessarily mean they will be, cautioned Tom Gradziel, a University of California, Davis, plant geneticist who has been breeding and evaluating almond and peach varieties for 30 years. Though self-compatibility is a single, major gene, it is also a complicated one, he said, as “it’s actually two or three genes fused together,” and there are other genes that tend to modify it. 

“Having this one discrete change isn’t necessarily going to guarantee that you’re going to get that high degree of self-compatibility that you need,” Gradziel said. “Time will tell.”

He noted how the UC tests varieties for 25 years before releasing them, to ensure the trees will be productive for 20 years or more. This type of timeline could prove challenging for private breeders, he said, as they must “move aggressively enough to make a profit” on their investment while allowing enough testing so that growers can feel confident in their own investment.

Since farmers already have more than 100 years of experience growing traditional Nonpareil, Reid Robinson, CEO of Sierra Gold Nurseries, said he thinks their acceptance of FruitionOne may be faster than other new releases. He noted the high level of interest and phone calls the nursery received shortly after the variety was announced last fall. 

Burchell Nursery has planned three townhall events in February and March to provide details and answer grower questions about its Nonpareil+. Robinson said Sierra Gold has yet to decide on the type of event to introduce FruitionOne.

Robinson said California farmers are known for their innovation, which has made the almond industry and California agriculture successful. There will always be leaders and early adopters who want to be the first to try the latest breakthrough—and those who choose to wait and see, he added. As a commercial almond grower himself, he said he will be planting 27 acres of FruitionOne next year. 

“It’s not going to be huge,” Robinson said, “but I am comfortable with planting it.” 

(Ching Lee is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at clee@cfbf.com.)