Benson Hill And Limagrain Establish Partnership In Corn And Wheat To Increase Yield

ST. LOUIS and PARIS, April 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Benson Hill Biosystems and Limagrain, through its affiliates Vilmorin & Cie and Biogemma, today announced the establishment of a partnership to develop and commercialize traits to increase corn and wheat yields. Benson Hill Biosystems, The Photosynthesis Company™, is an agricultural biotechnology company focused on the development of traits to increase crop productivity. Limagrain is the fourth largest seed company in the world and is a global leader in field seeds, vegetable seeds and cereal products.

The collaboration and commercial partnership will involve significant contributions by both parties of intellectual property and know-how to collaboratively discover, optimize, and develop complex traits that will provide significant value to growers and the agriculture and energy value chains. It will jointly leverage Benson Hill Biosystem's PSKbase™ and Biogemma's historical and ongoing investments to evaluate diverse germplasm and generate a breadth of valuable genetic data linked to internal gene discovery activity.

In the next 35 years, crop productivity must double, yet valuable resources such as arable land and water are only expected to decrease. Benson Hill Biosystems and Limagrain share a common mission to develop innovative solutions to address this immense challenge, and have structured a partnership that enables a nimble and iterative product development approach, which will expedite the delivery of impactful technologies to the market.

"Complex traits are just that, complex. Given its pipeline of promising trait candidates, its computational and systems biology horsepower, and its scientific leadership, Benson Hill Biosystems is an ideal partner. We look forward to a very productive collaboration and commercial partnership," commented Pascual Perez, head of trait research at Vilmorin & Cie. Olivier Dugas, CEO of Biogemma further commented, "Benson Hill's focus on photosynthesis, a key component of yield, makes them an important company to work with. The novelty of our partnership reflects a shared vision to develop complex traits, and a strong complementarity with our existing work in seed development that can increase mutual success."

"Our colleagues at Limagrain appreciate the value that a model of collaboration and cooperation can provide. The structure and spirit of this relationship affords both of our companies a significant advantage in developing and commercializing next-generation traits to increase crop yields," said Matthew Crisp, president and CEO of Benson Hill Biosystems. "We are enthusiastic to work with the innovative team across the Limagrain organization and commence this program to make a significant impact to the productivity of corn and wheat, which are planted on more than a billion acres worldwide."

About Benson Hill Biosystems

Benson Hill Biosystems is an agricultural biotechnology company focused on the development of traits to increase crop productivity. The company employs an integrated, systems-based approach to trait discovery and validation, and has developed a robust pipeline of next-generation trait candidates. Benson Hill and its partners are dedicated to addressing the foremost challenge in sustainable production agriculture – boosting crop yields on existing acreage and with limited inputs. More information can be found at www.bensonhillbio.com. - #BensonHillBio

About Limagrain

Limagrain, an international cooperative group founded and directed by French farmers, moves agriculture forward to meet food challenges. As a creator and producer of plant and cereal varieties, the Group markets field seeds, vegetable seeds and cereal products intended for farmers, growers, home gardeners and for agri-food industrialists and consumers. Limagrain makes sales of almost 2 billion Euros and has more than 8,600 employees spread over 41 countries, including more than 1,800 working in research. The Limagrain Cooperative has almost 2,000 farmer members.

www.limagrain.com - #Limagrain

About Biogemma

Biogemma is a European biotechnology research company resulting of the merger of the biotech activity of three major seed companies, Limagrain, Euralis and RAGT, with the help of two financial institutions. The company is developing R&D programs with its partners, in field crops (Corn, Wheat, Sunflower and Oilseed rape), focused on yield improvement, biotic and abiotic stress resistance.

SOURCE Benson Hill Biosystems

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