S&W and Trigall Genetics - a JV between Bioceres Crop Solutions and Florimond Desprez - Enter Discussions to Combine Wheat Efforts in Australia

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May 11, 2022, 16:15 ET

Trigall Genetics to potentially own a majority position in newly created Australian company, Trigall Australia, which would include the wheat breeding activity of S&W to further develop performant varieties for Australian farmers.
Trigall Australia is expected to benefit from S&W´s existing footprint – including varieties, sales and marketing, Florimond Desprez's worldwide breeding expertise and Bioceres Crop Solutions´ drought-tolerance HB4® EcoWheat® technologies.

ADELAIDE, Australia and MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay and ROSARIO, Argentina and LONGMONT, Colorado, May 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Trigall Genetics, the world leader in transgenic wheat, and S&W Seed Company (Nasdaq: SANW), a leading middle-market agricultural company, have entered preliminary, nonbinding discussions to potentially combine wheat operations through the creation of Trigall Australia, a wheat breeding company. The combination would harness S&W's Australian footprint and the capabilities of both Bioceres Crop Solutions (Nasdaq: BIOX) and Florimond Desprez, co-owners of Trigall Genetics.

Trigall Genetics is the world leader in transgenic wheat thanks to the development of its drought-tolerance HB4® EcoWheat® technology and a leader in conventional wheat breeding in Argentina. Trigall Genetics aims to expand its activities into regions where farmers face climate change challenges and, more specifically, drought. With a harvest of more than 32 million tons of wheat, Australia is a priority development geography for Trigall Genetics, where the effects of climate change are ever more pressing.

S&W Seed Company currently conducts wheat breeding activities in Australia, counting wheat within its crop portfolio alongside sorghum, alfalfa, and various pasture crops. To ensure the most successful development of its wheat variety portfolio, S&W seeks to benefit from the expertise of an international wheat breeder such as Florimond Desprez. Florimond Desprez historically breeds wheat in Greater Europe, North Africa, and Latin America.

Trigall Australia activities would be based in New South Wales and would aim first at developing wheat varieties for all Australian regions and uses, all the while supporting Australian cereal farmers. Trigall Australia would be expected to be the favoured platform for Bioceres Crop Solutions and Florimond Desprez to develop their activities in Australia, be it crop productivity solutions or alternative breeding activities for crops such as barley, durum wheat, potato, or pulses. All Australian wheat breeding activities of S&W would be owned and operated by Trigall Australia.

François Desprez, president of Trigall Genetics and Florimond Desprez declares: "As a cereals and pulses breeder, we are very excited with this opportunity which could potentially allow us to step into a major wheat country in the world and reinforces the fruitful cooperation that exists between Bioceres Crop Solutions and Florimond Desprez since 2013."

Federico Trucco, vice-president of Trigall Genetics and CEO of Bioceres Crop Solutions comments: "This investment would be a very important step in our strategy to bring HB4® EcoWheat® to farmers in every corner of the world. Australia is not only a leading participant of the global wheat value chain, but it is also a geography that is chronically affected by severe drought events, a condition we seek to mitigate with our drought tolerance technology. Partnering with S&W would allow us to make this opportunity a near-term reality."

Mark Wong, CEO of S&W Seed comments: "We believe this joint venture could significantly strengthen S&W's position in wheat, enabling us to benefit from the worldwide exposure the combined entity provides. Further, it would allow us to focus our efforts internally on our key centers of value. We look forward to further exploring the benefits this unique partnership would enable."

About Trigall Genetics

Trigall Genetics is a joint venture between Bioceres Crop Solutions (Nasdaq: BIOX) and Groupe Florimond Desprez for the development of wheat varieties. Bioceres Crop Solutions is a fully-integrated provider of crop productivity solutions, including high-impact, patented technologies for seeds and microbial ag-inputs, as well as next-generation crop nutrition and protection solutions, each of which offers substantial economic and environmental benefits and are anchored by the HB4® technology, which is behind the world's only drought-tolerant soybeans and wheat. Florimond Desprez is a French independent family-owned breeding company that operates in 65 countries, devotes 15% of its turnover to R&D, and employs 1,200 persons worldwide. Florimond Desprez is an active player of the agroecology transition and works mainly on crops intended for human consumption ‒ a world leader in sugar beet seeds, a leading European cereal breeder, and a major player in the European seed potato market.

About S&W Seed

Founded in 1980, S&W Seed Company is a global agricultural company headquartered in Longmont, Colorado. S&W's vision is to be the world's preferred proprietary seed company which supplies a range of forage and specialty crop products that supports the growing global demand for animal proteins and healthier consumer diets. S&W is a global leader in proprietary alfalfa, sorghum, and pasture seeds, with significant research and development, production, and distribution capabilities. S&W's product portfolio also includes hybrid sunflower and wheat, and the company is utilizing its research and breeding expertise to develop and produce stevia, the all-natural, zero-calorie sweetener for the food and beverage industry. For more information, please visit www.swseedco.com.

S&W Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may," "future," "plan" or "planned," "intend", "will" or "should," "expect," "anticipates," "draft," "eventually" or "projected." Forward-looking statements in this release include but are not limited to statements regarding the existence of preliminary, nonbinding discussions to potentially create a wheat joint venture, the substance and status of those discussions and the possible benefits that could result from a joint venture. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including: the risk that the preliminary, nonbinding discussions may not result in a consummated transaction; the risk that the joint venture may not be created in the manner or on the terms expected, or at all; and the risk that the joint venture may not provide the benefits anticipated. These and other risks are identified in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2021 and in other filings subsequently made by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made and are based on management's assumptions and estimates as of such date. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of the receipt of new information, the occurrence of future events or otherwise.

SOURCE S&W Seed Company