Ichora builds machines that treat seeds using cold plasma which improves crops in nearly every metric.
→ See how it worksBy 2050, there will be 9.6 billion of us — and we'll need to grow 70% more food to feed everyone. At the same time, the planet is losing fertile soil to degradation, flooding, erosion, and urban sprawl, which makes feeding everyone less and less plausible.
Food insecurity isn't a problem waiting for us in the future. It's already here — concentrated in Central Africa and Southeast Asia, where small-scale farmers are battling conditions their seeds were never built for.
Ichora harnesses cold plasma to treat seeds — a proven, non-thermal process that etches microscopic openings in the seed coat to let water in and roots out. The result: faster germination, stronger plants, deeper roots, and built-in resistance to drought and disease.
Dormant. Coat impermeable. Slow to absorb water.
Non-thermal plasma etches microscopic pores in the coat.
Faster germination, deeper roots, drought resilience.
One treatment. Zero chemicals. No recurring cost. Our next-generation prototype uses cold atmospheric plasma with no specialty gases or consumables — a one-time boost that works with nature, not against it.
From raw seed to field-ready, the ichora treatment is simple enough for a smallholder to benefit from and powerful enough to change a harvest.
Farmers place untreated seeds into the module's treatment chamber.
An electrical arc ionizes compressed ambient air into cold plasma.
Seeds are exposed for a few minutes — the plasma etches microscopic pores in the seed coat.
Seeds go in the ground and grow stronger, faster, and more drought-resistant.
What started in a garage out of curiosity is now a working prototype. We built our first cold plasma generator using accessible, off-the-shelf parts — and then we put it to work.
We've since expanded to rice, corn, and beans, with more trials underway. We're currently building out the ambient-air version of the system.
We're grade 12 students from Ottawa, Canada — engineers, biologists, designers, and builders — united by one stubborn belief: that a simple idea, executed well, can reach the people who need it most.
Founder of several small businesses and veteran of an electrical engineering internship. Designs circuits from whatever parts he can get his hands on.
Gardener since age four. Incoming biochemistry & neuroscience student at Columbia. Runs our seed trials and leads outreach to NGOs and agricultural agencies abroad.
2026 Schulich Leader nominee. Has founded multiple startups and is training for his private pilot's license. Handles administration, finance, and software.
Project management chops from a past startup, a closed-loop wind tunnel build, and leading a yearbook team. Keeps the team on track and on budget.
Lifelong builder with a background in AI, plus work across electrical, mechanical, and software projects. Endurance cyclist on the side.
Imagine a world where plants grow faster and stronger at almost no cost — where a harvest that once depended on luck depends on a five-minute treatment instead.
Within a decade, we imagine cold plasma being used by millions of farmers. We imagine food that was once a luxury becoming a commodity. We imagine fewer pesticides in the soil, less fertilizer in the rivers, and less land cleared to feed the same number of people.
And we imagine Ichora out in the field — in the villages and smallholder plots that need it most — helping communities grow their own food on their own terms.
Ichora is our answer to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger) and 10 (Reduced Inequalities). Cold plasma won't end world hunger on its own. But it can be part of the solution — and we intend to build that part.
We're looking for partners, mentors, and funders who want to help get this technology into the hands of the people who need it.
Reach out anytime:
info@ichora.ca →