ScottsMiracle-Gro and Marrone Bio Innovations Enter Into Research and Development Agreement for Natural Lawn and Garden Protection Products

MARYSVILLE, Ohio, and DAVIS, Calif., Oct. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE: SMG), the world's largest marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products, and Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI), a leading global provider of natural products for pest management in the agricultural and water treatment markets, announced today an exclusive research and development agreement designed to provide consumers new natural plant protection products.

Under terms of the deal, ScottsMiracle-Gro will have access to MBI's full portfolio of innovative biopesticides for the development of new products for the lawn and garden market. The two companies will collaborate on research and development efforts, and MBI will manufacture and supply any resulting products and ScottsMiracle-Gro will maintain worldwide marketing rights. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Derived from naturally occurring compounds, MBI's biopesticides are used increasingly in farming because they effectively control pests, can enhance plant health and increase yields, and leave no residues on crops or in the environment. These same benefits are desired by many of today's consumers for their own yards and gardens. MBI has three registered products and a pipeline of early stage and advanced biopesticides for farming and water treatment. With this new partnership, ScottsMiracle-Gro will access MBI's portfolio with the goal of offering consumers the same effective natural products used in farming, but in specialized lawn and garden formulations and in easy-to-use applicators.

"We are excited about this new partnership with MBI because we believe it will lead to improved products that enable gardeners who choose natural options to get great results," said Bruce Caldwell, ScottsMiracle-Gro's Global R&D Leader. "Our goal is to provide the tools and products consumers need to be successful, and it is important to offer natural products that are truly effective. Working with partners like Marrone Bio Innovations helps drive a robust development process that combines consumer insights with the most advanced R&D in the business to create products that are simple, sustainable and significant."

"It's exciting to work with a company that shares our vision of bringing effective natural products to the marketplace," said Marrone Bio Innovations CEO Pam Marrone. "This agreement with Scotts is an example of executing on our strategy to focus on core agriculture and water markets while partnering with leading companies for other markets. There is no better partner than ScottsMiracle-Gro for understanding and accessing the consumer Lawn and Garden market."

About ScottsMiracle-Gro

With approximately $3 billion in worldwide sales, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, The Scotts Company LLC, is the world's largest marketer of branded consumer products for lawn and garden care. The Company's brands are the most recognized in the industry. In the U.S., the Company's Scotts®, Miracle-Gro® and Ortho® brands are market-leading in their categories, as is the consumer Roundup® brand, which is marketed in North America and most of Europe exclusively by Scotts and owned by Monsanto. In Europe, the Company's brands include Weedol®, Pathclear®, Evergreen®, Miracle-Gro®, KB®, Fertiligene®, Naturen® and Substral®. For additional information, visit us at www.scotts.com.

About Marrone Bio Innovations

Marrone Bio Innovations Inc. is a leading global provider of natural products for pest management in the agricultural and water treatment markets. Its effective and environmentally friendly natural agricultural products provide higher yields and quality while managing pesticide resistance and residues. Through its proprietary discovery and development platform and strategically in licensed technologies, MBI has developed a pipeline of advanced and early-stage products for significant agricultural and water treatment markets. MBI is selling its award-winning Regalia® biofungicide in the U.S. and other countries, is launching Grandevo™ bioinsecticide and has recently received EPA approval for Zequanox™ for controlling invasive aquatic mussels in fresh waterways. MBI currently has three dozen patents pending in the U.S. and globally. For additional information, visit us at http://www.marronebioinnovations.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, which address activities, events and developments that ScottsMiracle-Gro, Marrone Bio Innovations or management of either company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including, but not limited to, the plans and objectives of management and assumptions regarding such plans are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified as statements that include phrases such as "guidance," "outlook," "projected," "believe," "target," "predict," "estimate," "forecast," "strategy," "may," "goal," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "foresee," "likely," "will," "should" or other similar words or phrases. Actual results could differ materially from the forward-looking information in this release due to a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to the ability to adapt agricultural biopesticides to the consumer market, the ability to develop new products pursuant to the research and development agreement, the effectiveness of any products developed under the agreement, and the other risks and uncertainties identified in ScottsMiracle-Gro's publicly filed quarterly, annual and other reports. Neither ScottsMiracle-Gro nor Marrone Bio Innovations undertakes any obligation to update developments of these risk factors or to announce publicly any revision to any of the forward-looking statements contained in this release, or to make corrections to reflect future events or developments.

SOURCE The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company