DURHAM, N.C. — April 14, 2025 — AI-powered crop-evolution company Avalo announced that textile-innovation veteran Tricia Carey joins as chief commercial officer to bring its new Low-Input Cotton to market.
Carey brings decades of experience in industry changing technologies. Over her career, she has helped move the textile/fashion world towards sustainability by introducing cutting-edge fibers like Tencel™, and fostered the march toward circularity during her time with Renewcell.
This exciting hire comes as Avalo is scaling up its cotton program in the Texas Panhandle. For the last two years, Avalo has been working closely with cotton growers (plagued by high fertilizer costs and decreasing water availability) to develop a regionally adapted cotton variety that requires no irrigation, and uses up to 30-percent less fertilizer. Not only does low-input cotton represent a giant leap forward in textile sustainability — it also provides a much-needed lifeline for the Texas Cotton industry, and all the agricultural communities that depend on it.
Starting this harvest season, Tricia will help Avalo scale this exciting new “high-quality, low-carbon footprint” cotton in order to help global brands address critical challenges like rising costs and scope 3 emissions.
“We’re so excited to have Tricia on board who has brought industry changing innovation to the textile world,” said Avalo CEO Brendan Collins. “That said, her experience as a strategist, supply-chain connector and coalition builder will help us bring similar innovation to other industries that desperately need it.”
Avalo is already making plans to bring similar innovation to the sugarcane industry, where they recently announced a partnership with CocaCola Europacific Partners (CCEP). They have also made progress in rubber, rice and other essential commodities facing critical market challenges or environmental externalities.
“I’m thrilled to join Avalo and be part of an exceptional team that’s pioneering innovative solutions at the intersection of agriculture, technology, and textiles,” Carey said. “Avalo’s machine-learning platform accelerates plant evolution in a ground-breaking new way, enabling us to bring more sustainable and efficient products to market faster and cheaper than ever before – which allows us to better keep pace with the agricultural challenges we’re facing. And they do this while helping the folks who sit at the center of it all, the farmers. This is an exciting moment for Avalo, and I’m energized by the opportunity to contribute to the company’s vision of making our global agriculture more sustainable, resilient and equitable.”
Posted: April 14, 2025
Source: Avalo Inc.