Through the partnership, Stricks Ag will lead production, primary processing, and commercial market development of high-protein chickpea ingredients through its established grower network and modern processing facilities, enabling rapid expansion. With more protein and less fat than commodity chickpea, NuCicer's variety enables simply-processed, high-protein ingredients that naturally deliver improved nutrition, functionality, and flavor with an initial focus on supporting pasta, baked goods, and snack food brands.
Founded in 2019, NuCicer set out to unlock the full potential of chickpea using advanced predictive breeding and natural diversity to breed for nutrient-density, flavor, and improved agronomics. One of NuCicer's core differentiators is their chickpea breeding library. The library was developed through a systematic crossbreeding program led by co-founder Professor Douglas Cook from the University of California Davis, and brings together wild chickpea relatives with modern-day commercial varieties, expanding available natural diversity by 40x and unlocking key agronomic and food quality traits.
"This strategic partnership represents an exciting and important milestone for NuCicer as we move from innovation to scale," said Kathryn Cook, Founder and CEO of NuCicer. "By partnering with Stricks Ag, we're ensuring that these high-protein chickpea varieties can move efficiently from field to food manufacturers — strengthening quality, performance, and supply reliability."
"This partnership represents a massive opportunity to expand the commercial potential of chickpea ingredients due to the increased functionality and flavor profile NuCicer's technology enables," said Jason Aytes, Director – Business & Corporate Development. "By combining NuCicer's advanced breeding innovations with our production and market infrastructure, we can accelerate availability of high-protein chickpeas at a meaningful scale and create value for our partners and customers — farmers, food manufacturers, and food brands."
Planting for 2026 production begins late spring with harvest expected in August. NuCicer will be exhibiting next week at the Southern California IFT Suppliers Expo booth #1015 N as well as the Natural Products Expo West booth #145.
About NuCicer
NuCicer is a crop innovation company unlocking the full potential of chickpea through advanced predictive breeding. By harnessing natural diversity and applying modern data-driven breeding methods, NuCicer develops nutrient-dense, high-performance chickpea varieties designed to improve nutrition, functionality, and supply reliability for stakeholders across the agriculture and food industries. The company's proprietary breeding platform transforms underutilized wild diversity into commercially elite varieties, enabling the development of scalable, next-generation ingredients that meet growing global demand for better nutrient-dense foods. Founded in 2019, NuCicer is focused on establishing chickpea as a foundational crop for the future of food. http://nucicer.com
About Stricks Ag
Stricks Ag is a leading, full-service solution provider of pulses to various end-use manufacturers of human food, pet food and intermediaries throughout North America and around the globe. With a unique focus on growing, processing and marketing chickpeas – coupled with an intense focus on quality assurance, R&D and service - Stricks Ag has become one of the largest and most trusted chickpea ingredient suppliers to many of North America's most prominent brands and manufacturers. http://stricksag.com
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Source: NuCicer
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