AgriBioTech Inc. Acquires License to Whiskers Transformation Technology to Complete Platform for Biotechnology Developments.

HENDERSON, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 1, 1998--AgriBioTech Inc. ("ABT") (Nasdaq/NM:ABTX) Tuesday announced that the company has acquired a license to use whiskers transformation technology from Garst Seed Co. (a member of the Advanta Group).

With this license, the company has acquired access to a technology which will give it "freedom to operate" for transformation of all turfgrass and forage species, the company's strategic crop species.

Transformation refers to the tools to introduce functional foreign genes into plant species. The agreement is initially a research license for this technology with the right, at ABT's option, to enter into a commercial license.

"In itself, this is a significant, and important event in the history of AgriBioTech," said Dr. Tom Rice, vice president and director of research, "because it gives the company a clear path to practice transformation on all forage and turfgrass species and to commercialize the results."

Rice added: "More important, together with all the other biotechnology agreements and tools the company has acquired in the last five months, it means that ABT now has a complete platform for biotechnology development and has in place all the elements needed to begin to execute our strategy to use new technologies to add value to the forage and turfgrass seed sector."

The agreements and tools that the company has acquired in the past 5 months include establishment of an ABT molecular biology and transformation laboratory at the University of Rhode Island, the hiring of prominent scientists, and previously announced agreements with The Noble Foundation, Global Agro Inc., FFR Cooperative and Mycogen Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE:DOW) that give ABT exclusive access to seven or more genes for use in turfgrass and/or forage crops.

ABT believes that biotechnology-enhanced forage and turfgrass seeds with important new traits can create and add significant value to its target seed sector. Management estimates, for example, that the commercialization of a single biotechnology-derived value-added trait to important forage and a turfgrass species could potentially double the market value of its seed sector.

Significant increases in market value have already occurred in other seed sectors like corn, soybean and cotton as a result of the commercialization of biotechnology-enhanced seeds with value-added traits.

Rice concluded: "We now have a lab, initial scientific staff, genes, leading germplasm and breedrofit-making opportunities as do users of other seeds."

Garst is a member of the Advanta Group of Seed Cos., one of the top five seed companies globally. Garst focuses primarily on corn with a large breeding and biotechnology effort aimed at the global corn market. Whiskers is a unique transformation system developed in house by Garst and for which Garst holds patent rights.

AgriBioTech is a fully integrated full-service seed company specializing in the forage and turfgrass seed sector, complete with research and development of proprietary seed varieties, seed processing plants, and a national and international distribution and sales network.

The company has completed 33 acquisitions since Jan. 1, 1995, and is the largest forage and cool season turfgrass seed company in the world, with a current level of annualized net sales of approximately $475 million, after the previously announced divestiture of the chemical and fertilizer division of Willamette Seed Co., which has annualized net sales of approximately $20 million, and including the previously announced pending acquisitions of the alfalfa business and international sorghum units of AgriPro Seeds, Inc., Moore Seed Processors, and Production Plus+, which have annualized net sales aggregating approximately $35 million.

The statements discussed in this news release include forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These include the company's historical lack of profitability, need to manage its growth, intense competition in the seed industry, seasonality of quarterly results, weather conditions, volatile stock price and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's SEC reports.