18 2 2016

Plant Impact, a leader in research and development in crop enhancement to create products that growers can rely on to improve the yield and quality of their crops, is pleased to announce the establishment of its North American business operations and the senior appointment of Mike Eade as Commercial and Marketing Director, effective 15 February 2016. The Group's US subsidiary, Plant Impact Inc., will establish its permanent offices in the Research Triangle Park region of North Carolina.

This new US and North America business for Plant Impact follows several years of consistent, yield-improving success for the Group's technologies and products in other markets, in particular Brazil. The early priorities for Plant Impact in the US are the final technical development and commercial launch of new products to enhance yields and improve returns for growers dealing with tough soybean and wheat crop prices.

Mike Eade joins Plant Impact from DuPont Pioneer, a division of DuPont and a global leader in seed technology and seed production. At Pioneer he was most recently the Commercial Unit Lead in Sales and Marketing for the Delta Commercial Unit, an area with significant soybean, cotton and corn production. In addition, Mike brings more than 30 years of sales and marketing leadership experience in animal health, agrochemicals, and crop insurance at industry leaders such as Merial, American Cyanamid and RCIS. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Agronomy from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.

Mike will be responsible for the success of Plant Impact's US sales and marketing programs as well as for its relationships with strategic and channel partners in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In addition, building on the Group's solid basis of technology performance for horticultural crops in EMEA, Mike and the Group's US team will be evaluating the growth opportunity for Plant Impact's products in specialty crops, including tree fruit, tree nuts and specialty turf.

John Brubaker, CEO of Plant Impact, commented:
'I am delighted to welcome Mike to Plant Impact. His appointment and our establishment of a North American business reflects our confidence in the growth opportunities ahead for us in US broad acre crop markets following positive 2015 product trial results for our soy and wheat research programs. Our product range, pipeline and commercial expertise position us to bring new technologies to the American grower, and Mike brings with him a wealth of experience and industry relationships. I have every confidence that under his leadership, North America will develop into a significant business for our Group.'

About Plant Impact plc

Established in 2003, Plant Impact plc's head office and primary research facility are at the Rothamsted Centre for Research and Enterprise (RoCRE) in Harpenden, UK (near London). The Group has additional offices in Sao Paulo and Goais Brazil, as well as colleagues based in Argentina, France and Turkey.

Using in-house scientific research and via collaborations with academic and research institutes such as Lancaster University and Rothamsted Research, the Group has developed reliable crop enhancement products that improve both yield and quality. Multi-year trials have proved the impact of the products and their compatibility with other plant protection inputs. Plant Impact markets products in 20 countries, via regional agrochemical distributors and global strategic partners that growers trust. Leading products include Veritas® for soybean crops, available to Brazilian growers via Bayer CropScience, Banzai™ available to cocoa growers in West Africa via Arysta LifeScience and several products for horticultural crops via leading distributors across Europe and the Middle East

For further information, contact:
John Brubaker, Chief Executive
Ailish Tracy, Global Communications Manager
Tel: +44(0) 1582 465 540
www.plantimpact.com

Plant Impact plc issued this content on 18 February 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 18 February 2016 10:35:01 UTC

Original Document: http://www.plantimpact.com/media/press-releases/2016/plant-impact-usa