Olombria is an early stage agricultural technology company that is working to enhance pollination rates and crop yields by working with flies and other wild pollinators.
Insect pollinators provide a vital ecosystem service for crop pollination in wild plants, and over 75% of crops worldwide benefit from insect pollination through increased yields at harvest. The number of wild pollinators, especially bees, is steadily declining globally due to industrial agriculture, pathogens, loss of biodiversity, use of pesticides and climate change. This documented decline poses a significant risk to the production of many crops and threatens food security.
Olombria encourages flies to be more efficient pollinators, in scenarios where bees are no longer as viable. Flies are already adept pollinators, being the main pollinators in urban environments, and in total, accounting for over 30% of all pollination.
Olombria provides horticultural growers with information on pollinators and environmental conditions and uses chemical volatiles to manage pollinating fly species, thereby increasing crop productivity, and ensuring sustainable food harvests for the future.
The company has already raised venture capital investment through InnovationRCA 1 Fund, and SVG Ventures (THRIVE accelerator).
Olombria originated from the RCA’s entry to the 2017 Biodesign Challenge and is led by Royal College of Art graduate Tashia Tucker.
