On a cold October morning in western Louisiana, our team assembles at PRT-IFCO’s Evans tree nursery. We’re here to inoculate loblolly pine seedlings with healthy, biodiverse microbial communities that will grow alongside the trees, accelerating growth and bolstering resilience. Not only are our forestry and applied science team members present, but also folks from product, marketing, growth, and even our CEO. This is a cornerstone event for us, the culmination of Funga’s work across all teams.
For some of us, this is the first time seeing the impressive scale of an industrial tree nursery, and we take in the vast pivot tables with awe. These massive grids of seedlings that form large circles a couple hundred feet across (around which the irrigation system can pivot), hold approximately four million seedlings each. The spread of bright green needles in front of us is set to become nearly 100,000 acres of forest acres in the coming year, some of which will be planted with their belowground fungal counterparts—a system reconnected.
We are greeted by the nursery manager, Brad, who has managed this location for ten years, and has worked in forestry almost all his life. He has always been enthusiastic about innovation, and is excited that his nursery is one of our inoculation sites this year. Since connecting with Funga, he's been avidly researching all things microbiome restoration.
After Brad guides us to the pivot tables we will be working on, we count everything out. We mark how many inoculated and control seedlings are going to which land partner, so that every seedling will be accounted for.
We prepare the inoculants and ready the equipment. Choosing which inoculants will be used for a given location is a year-round process that includes data analysis, nursery trials, and field trials. Through this ongoing research and development, we are able to offer inoculants that are tailored for the environment and geography where the seedlings will be planted, and have been shown to spark accelerated growth and improved forest health outcomes.
When everything is loaded up, we get out there and start spraying! This requires one to two people to operate the equipment, and two people moving through the aisles doing “QC” (quality control), checking the periphery to ensure that every seedling gets a sufficient dose of inoculant.
"It’s inspiring that so many of our team members had the chance to gain hands-on experience with the inoculation process. My time in Louisiana afforded me valuable perspective—not just on how we work and who we partner with, but why we’re here. I am even more motivated to continue building real solutions for people and for nature, and to just keep doing the thing.”
— Joey Webber, Product Marketing Manager
“One of the first critical rules that you learn in statistics and data science is that you have to go to the lab or visit the study area to understand the process. Are there quality problems that we can address? Are there operational realities that practically constrain what we can and should do? It is always useful to see and experience how a system operates so that I can best support our science analytically.”
— Dr. Alison Ketz, Ecological Data Scientist
“The most rewarding part of this process is knowing that the seedlings we’re inoculating today are going out to landowners we've built relationships with over months and even years. It’s amazing to combine cutting-edge science with personal connections, all in service of our mission to rewild forest soils. A win-win-win.”
— Anthony Seliskar, Landowner Engagement Manager
“Being out here with the team, observing how efficient we’ve become, it gives me confidence that we have the technical capacity to scale much further. I can now see clearly how we will be ready to inoculate tens of millions of seedlings in future planting seasons.”
— Dr. Colin Averill, Founder and CEO
We call ourselves a tech company, but the real work happens right here—in the soil, under the sun. Together with our partners at PRT-IFCO, we’re reconnecting tomorrow’s forests with the life beneath them, rebuilding ecosystems that flourish as whole, interconnected systems. We do this work to cultivate forests that store more carbon, support diverse life above and below ground, endure disruptions, and continue to supply regenerative fiber for society. This shared purpose pulls us beyond screens and spreadsheets, grounding us in the tangible impact we’re creating together.