A new beginning

For the last 2 years, we have operated as a project of Manzanita Cooperative, working with native Californian plants that have agricultural potential in order to develop new crops. In that time, we developed the most advanced Acorn tannin leaching system in the world, patented a feed supplement for cattle derived from waste tannins, won a prestigious National Science Foundations SBIR grant for our crop domestication work, and successfully completed the first phase of research to create a new climate-adapted legume crop that can thrive across North America and Western Europe. It’s been a busy two years!

Unfortunately, with the recent changes in the US federal grant funding ecosystem, it is now necessary to raise private capital to continue the crop domestication work we originally set out to do. That is impossible as a Cooperative since Venture Capital funds get paid when a company they invest in exits - is sold or goes public - and as a worker-owned Cooperative Manzanita could never do either.

After talking it over with advisors and having long conversations among the Cooperative’s membership, in June Manzanita's membership voted unanimously to split the company into two. Aurorevo will continue our cutting edge crop domestication work as a C-Corp while Manzanita will remain a Cooperative and focus on their agroforestry work around Acorn and other native tree nuts.

This change will allow both companies to pursue their core missions with increased focus and greater transparency to our stakeholders.

We remain dedicated to the mission of climate adaptation and lasting food security through biodiversity. We are developing the crops of the future, foods that can survive the increased heat and extreme weather that farmers across the world are already facing. We hope you will follow us on this new phase in our journey.