Performance Plants Strengthens Business Partnerships in China

Yangling, Shaanxi Province,  China- November 7, 2011 – Performance Plants Inc. (“PPI”), a leading global agricultural biotechnology provider, and Shaanxi Hybrid Rapeseed Research Center (SHRRC) of China, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at the Fourth China-Canada-Israel Roundtable on Agri-Innovation at the CAF2011 in Yangling, Shaanxi Province of China.  

This signing demonstrates the commitment of both parties to co-develop high performance rapeseed varieties to address farmers’ needs in China.

This MOU represents a second example of PPI’s strategic business development plan to form global technology and product development alliances for commercialization of the company’s leading technologies.  In mid-July, the company signed a commercial licensing agreement in corn and a four year R&D agreement for rice and soybean with a leading Chinese agricultural company, Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Co. Ltd. (DBN). 

In addition to containing research and development directions and collaboration terms, the MOU forms the basis for a commercial technology transfer and licensing agreement between the parties. 

PPI was invited to join the annual Canadian agricultural technology and business partnering mission to CAF2011 in Yangling.  This mission is the result of joint efforts between the International Science and Technology Partnerships of Canada (ISTP Canada) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, as well as the Shaanxi provincial and the Yangling local government agencies.  During this official-sponsored signing ceremony, a MOU for the China-Canada Science and Innovation Centre on Arid Agriculture was also signed by the representatives of the Canadian and Chinese government agencies. 

“I am very pleased with this MOU between our company and Shaanxi Hybrid Rapeseed Research Center,” said Dr. Yafan Huang, President and Chief Scientific Officer, PPI.   “This is a significant milestone towards establishing a full-scale R&D collaboration and product development platform to incorporate our yield related genetic engineering technologies into the country’s leading elite rapeseed germplasms developed by this renowned canola research center of China.” 

“We are very excited about the establishment of this MOU and the prospects of future collaboration between PPI and SHRRC,” said Mr. Jianxin Mu, Director of Shaanxi Hybrid Research Centre.   “We believe that the combination of PPI’s stress tolerance and yield enhancement technologies with SHRRC’s strong rapeseed breeding ability will allow us to produce a new generation of high-yield rapeseed germplasm to address the urgent need of the country’s farmers in the vast arid and semi-arid canola fields.”

About Performance Plants Inc. – www.performanceplants.com

Performance Plants Inc. (PPI) is a global leader in development of second-generation agricultural biotechnologies. The company’s patented technologies weatherproof food and non-food biofuel crops through periods of drought and heat stress resulting in a more abundant, consistent and cost-effective harvests for farmers, and feedstock suppliers. The company has a robust gene-discovery pipeline and has licensed multiple breakthrough technologies to many worlds’ leading seed companies.  The privately-held Canadian company is headquartered with R&D facilities in Kingston, Ontario.  

About the Shaanxi Hybrid Rapeseed Research Center  – www.shrc.org.cn

The Shaanxi Hybrid Rapeseed Research Center is a public institution in agricultural research under the direct leadership of Ministry of Science and Technology of Shaanxi Province of China. As the leading rapeseed research centre in China, it is one of the largest germplasm providers and breeding base for high quality double-low rapeseed.  The center has excellent capabilities in research, experimentation, technology development and demonstration to support the innovative breeding and cultivation of a wide variety of rapeseed. To date, the center has cultivated 34 varieties of rapeseed with an accumulated planting area of over 250 million mu (or about 17 million hectares). It has also generated about US $2.2 billion in socioeconomic value across China, obtaining 42 awards for science and technology innovations.

Media inquiries:

Ms. Paige Talledo Manager of Information and Communications Performance Plants, Inc. talledop@performanceplants.com