Lavie Bio and United Agronomy Announce Signing of Distribution Agreement for Lavie Bio's Inoculant Product

REHOVOT, Israel and BERTHOLD, N.D., Sept. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lavie Bio Ltd. (Lavie), a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ: EVGN)  (TASE: EVGN), and a leading ag-biologicals company focusing on improving food quality, sustainability, and agriculture productivity through the introduction of microbiome-based products, and United Agronomy (UA), a full-service retailer of crop inputs, including seeds, inoculants, fertilizers, and chemicals, announce today that they have entered into a distribution agreement, initially for spring wheat, for LAV.211, a Lavie developed inoculant.  Under the terms of the agreement, LAV.211 will be distributed through UA's marketing channels in North Dakota, USA as part of UA's robust product offering, which includes top certified seed varieties and preferred seed treatments.  The parties expect that initial marketing and commercialization activity will target the 2022 spring wheat season, in North Dakota.

LAV.211 is a microbial based inoculant, that has been designed to empower plant performance based on its ability to improve the uptake and assimilation of nutrients, thereby increasing yield and improving growers' profitability, while contributing to environmental sustainability and soil health. LAV.211 will be applied as a seed treatment and is formulated as a water dispersible granule (WDG).

The signing of the distribution agreement follows the evaluation and testing of LAV.211 with UA and its partners (Vision Research Park and Genesis Seeds Solutions) across various locations and over multiple seasons, in target regions of North Dakota in the United States. 

Mr. Ido Dor, CEO of Lavie Bio, stated: "We are pleased to partner with United Agronomy, a leading agricultural company in our target region of North Dakota. United Agronomy and Lavie share similar values, putting farmer's needs first and foremost. With this agreement, Lavie Bio enthusiastically looks forward to the expected commercialization of its first product in 2022."

Mr. RJ Theis, CEO of United Agronomy, stated: "United Agronomy is excited to collaborate with a leading ag-biotech company, Lavie Bio.  Research trials conducted by Vision Research Park over the past three years have demonstrated positive results with LAV.211, throughout northwest North Dakota and we are thrilled to offer LAV.211 to producers as another tool to increase return on investment.  We firmly believe the innovative products created by Lavie Bio will continue to add value for producers throughout our trade territory."

About United Agronomy LLP:

United Agronomy LLP was formed October 31, 2000.  United Agronomy LLP, Vision Research Park and Genesis Seed Solutions combined offerings include: Certified Seed and Treatments, Crop Protection products, Biologicals, Fertilizers (NH3, Dry and Liquid), Custom Application and Agronomic Services. United Agronomy and partners continue to invest and support local communities where their employees work and live.

About Lavie Bio Ltd.:

Lavie Bio, a subsidiary of Evogene Ltd., aims to improve food quality, sustainability and agriculture productivity through the introduction of microbiome-based ag-biological products. Lavie Bio utilizes a proprietary computational predictive platform, the BDD platform, harnessing the power of big data and advanced informatics, for the discovery, optimization and development of bio-stimulant and bio-pesticide products. Corteva, Inc. holds approximately 28% in Lavie Bio. For more information, please visit www.lavie-bio.com.

About Evogene Ltd.:

Evogene (NASDAQ: EVGN, TASE: EVGN) is a leading computational biology company focused on revolutionizing product discovery and development in multiple life-science based industries, including human health and agriculture, through the use of its broadly applicable Computational Predictive Biology (CPB) platform.  The CPB platform, incorporating a deep understanding of biology leveraged through the power of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, has been designed to computationally discover and uniquely guide the development of life-science products based on microbes, small molecules and genetic elements.  Utilizing the CPB platform, Evogene and its subsidiaries are now advancing product pipelines for human microbiome-based therapeutics through Biomica Ltd., medical cannabis through Canonic Ltd., ag-biologicals through Lavie Bio Ltd., ag-chemicals through AgPlenus Ltd., and ag-solutions for castor oil production through Casterra Ltd.  For more information, please visit: www.evogene.com.

Forward Looking Statements:

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" relating to future events. These statements may be identified by words such as "may", "could", "expects", "intends", "anticipates", "plans", "believes", "scheduled", "estimates", or words of similar meaning. For example, Evogene and Lavie Bio are using forward-looking statements in this press release when they discuss Lavie Bio's commercialization plans, including timeline, product type and target territory, and the potential benefits of LAV.211. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions, describe opinions about future events, and involve certain risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and are not guarantees of future performance. Therefore, actual future results, performance or achievements of Evogene and its subsidiaries may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of Evogene and its subsidiaries, including, without limitation, the impact of COVID-19, the various restrictions deriving therefrom and those risk factors contained in Evogene's reports filed with the applicable securities authorities. In addition, Evogene and its subsidiaries rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties to conduct certain activities, such as their field-trials and if these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines (including as a result of the effect of COVID-19), Evogene and its subsidiaries may experience significant delays in the conduct of their activities. Evogene and its subsidiaries disclaim any obligation or commitment to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions.

SOURCE Lavie Bio; United Agronomy (UA)