AgriBioTech Inc. Announces Management Team for Post-Integration Operations.

HENDERSON, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 10, 1999--

Richard Budd, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of AgriBioTech Inc. (NASDAQ/NM:ABTX) (ABT) announced this week that the company has put into place a new senior management structure now that much of the work related to the integration of the company's 34 acquired companies into one business has been accomplished.

The new senior management team will lead the post-integration ABT.

"This change is appropriate now that the integration plan has been developed and implementation is nearing completion. We are returning to a more traditional management structure because the tremendous amount of work required to successfully develop and implement the integration is essentially done," said Budd.

"It could not have been accomplished under a traditional structure. We needed a team of leaders with the authority to do the work that one or two could not physically accomplish: identify all the needed cost cuts, select new leaders and managers for nine business units, and establish operating principles and policies for a new combined organization."

Budd added, "We view our ability to return to a more traditional senior management as a measure of how successful the co-presidents have been in developing and implementing the integration plan, and we thank them for their work and contribution. We believe the post-integration team is the right one for achieving our goal of being profitable in fiscal year 2000 and beyond, and the right one to execute ABT's long-term business plan."

Effective Wednesday, June 9, 1999, four senior managers will report to Richard Budd and assume specific responsibilities for corporate and operational functions.

The four senior executives are: Kenneth Budd, President and Chief Operating Officer (COO); Dr. Thomas B. Rice, Executive Vice President, Director of Research; Randy Ingram, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer (CFO); and Douglas Fisher, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary and Director of Business Services.

Reporting to these four senior executives are: Kathy Gillespie, Vice President; Tony Blum, Vice President, Director of Communications, Planning and Development; and Henry Ingalls, Vice President. Randy Ingram and Rice are also members of the Board of Directors.

Kenneth Budd joins the senior management group with responsibilities primarily in the areas of ABT's retail seed operations, retail marketing and mass merchants. He had been ABT's Eastern Operations Director. Budd has over 15 years' experience in the seed industry. During this time, he has been a senior manager at The Budd Group, Winston-Salem, N.C., managing its seed operations, where he led the consolidation of three companies into one.

Budd is formerly president of Lofts Seeds Inc., ABT's largest acquisition, and is a former President of the North Carolina Seedmans Association and a past member of the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Crop Improvement Association. He replaces Drew Kinder on the senior management team. Drew Kinder resigned his post as co-president in order to take on new responsibilities at ABT.

AgriBioTech Inc. is a vertically 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. ABT's vision is to lead the turf and forage seed industry in discovering its value potential.