MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EarthOptics announced today that Loam Bio has received regulatory clearance from USDA APHIS to expand use of its biological across additional states, supported by genomic evidence produced through EarthOptics TruOrigin™ Indigeneity Verification Service.
For soil microorganisms regulated by USDA APHIS, permitting for use in a given state generally depends on evidence that the organism already occurs naturally there. Companies have traditionally produced that evidence the hard way: collecting soil, isolating the organism, and sequencing it, location by location. The work is expensive, slow, and logistically complex, and companies must repeat it in each state where they plan to deploy the product.
EarthOptics took a different route. Using genome assemblies Loam Bio supplied for two fungal strains, EarthOptics' science team compared those genomes against its metagenomic database, the world's largest soil metagenomic database, collected across more than 10,000 U.S. field sites. The resulting reports documented where each organism naturally occurs at state-level resolution, with every threshold and method stated and reproducible. Loam Bio submitted that evidence as part of its APHIS permitting package. No new soil sampling was required for the states covered by the reports.
"To our knowledge, this is the first time a soil metagenomic dataset has been used in place of new sampling to document species indigeneity in support of USDA APHIS permitting," said Joshua Kling, PhD, Senior Bioinformatician in Data Science and Data Engineering at EarthOptics. "We spent months working through the evidence with Loam Bio to get the reporting into a form that answered USDA reviewers’ questions directly. That work is now behind us, and the path is considerably shorter for the companies that follow."
"EarthOptics gave us a path into states that would otherwise have meant seasons of soil collection, isolation, and sequencing before we could even begin the permitting process. Their team delivered rigorous, transparent evidence regulators can use, and it moved our expansion timeline forward. That kind of acceleration matters when farmers are ready to adopt and the need for durable carbon removal keeps growing," said Mark Schulte, Senior Manager of US Product Development at Loam Bio.
EarthOptics checks every TruOrigin result three ways. It confirms the organism's identity against its entire genome rather than a single genetic marker, so the match doesn't rest on one piece of evidence. It then tests that organism against a reference library of its closest relatives; a stretch of DNA from a soil sample counts as a match only if it fits the target organism better than any look-alike species. That approach correctly distinguishes the target from its relatives more than 99.9% of the time, with false matches below 0.04%. Finally, EarthOptics sets a minimum evidence threshold for each organism and reports a find only when the signal clears it. Where an organism isn't found, the report states how much sampling was done in that area rather than claiming the organism is absent.
"This is the outcome the biologicals industry has been waiting for," said Lars Dyrud, CEO at EarthOptics. "Regulatory evidence has been one of the slowest, most capital-intensive steps between a promising strain and a commercial product. We can now shorten that step meaningfully, and we have a completed project to point to."
EarthOptics is accepting new TruOrigin engagements for the 2027 permitting cycle.
About EarthOptics
EarthOptics, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, delivers advanced soil intelligence for agricultural organizations by integrating soil-sensing technologies, molecular analysis, bioinformatics, and data science. By combining high-resolution field-based sensor data with laboratory assays and computational biology workflows, EarthOptics characterizes the chemical, physical, and biological complexity of soil systems at scale. This enables biotech companies and large agricultural enterprises to gain deeper insights into soil function, microbial dynamics, nutrient behavior, and agronomic performance, supporting more precise product development, validation, and deployment. With industry-leading carbon measurement and quantification capabilities, EarthOptics also provides the rigorous, verifiable soil data infrastructure needed to support participation in carbon markets and broader sustainability programs.
About Loam Bio
Loam Bio is an agricultural biotechnology company using root-associated fungi to help transform plant-captured carbon into more stable soil carbon pools. Its patented and patent-pending CarbonBuilder™ technology works through existing farming systems, creating a scalable, low-input pathway for durable soil carbon removal while supporting healthier, more productive farms.
Through SecondCrop™, Loam Bio’s soil carbon programs measure, report, and verify these removals to generate high-integrity carbon credits for organizations seeking durable, scalable, science-backed carbon removal.
Science is at the core of Loam Bio’s approach. Mycosequestration is an engineered conversion layer that turns global agriculture's photosynthesis into permanence, controllable, measurable, and deployable through a seed coating at planting. By combining microbial science, direct soil measurement, independent verification, and farmer adoption through existing agricultural infrastructure, Loam Bio is creating a practical pathway for carbon removal at scale.
Media Contacts: Natalie McCracken VP of Marketing, EarthOptics natalie.mccracken@earthoptics.com Charlotte Wallin Global Brand & Media Manager, Loam Bio charlotte@loambio.com
