Profile: Agria Corporation (GRO.N)

Agria Corporation (Agria), incorporated in May 2007, is a China-based agri-solutions provider engaged in research and development, and production and sale of three different types of upstream agricultural products. The Company offers corn seeds, sheep breeding products and seedling products. As of December 31, 2007, the Company had access to approximately 27,000 acres of farmland in seven provinces primarily through contractual arrangements, of which approximately 23,000 acres are used for production of its corn seeds, approximately 3,700 acres are used for its sheep farming and breeding activities and the remainder is used for its seedling production and research and development activities. During the year ended December 31, 2007, Agria owned approximately 11,180 sheep consisting of nine types of purebred breeder sheep and its self-developed Primalights III hybrid sheep. In addition to its Primalights III hybrid sheep, the Company sells sheep breeding products, which include frozen sheep semen, sheep embryos and breeder sheep. In April 2008, Agria formed Agria Brother Biotech (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (Agria Brother), as a wholly owned subsidiary, to engage in research and development and other activities.

During 2007, Agria sold approximately 41,973 tons of corn seeds, 25 million straws of frozen sheep semen, 9,430 sheep embryos, 4,700 breeder sheep, 31,840 Primalights III hybrid sheep and a total of 26.4 million seedlings. As of December 31, 2007, the Company grew corn seed products in seven provinces in China, through contractual arrangements with village collectives and seed production companies, under which it provides farming, harvesting and other technical guidance and supervision to farmers. Agria processes and packages corn seed products and then sells them to local and regional distributors. Agria produces sheep breeding products in five breeding bases located in Shanxi Province, and sells these products primarily to government-operated breed improvement and reproductive stations (BIRs) breeding companies and other sheep reproduction stations and farms. Its corn seed and sheep breeding products are ultimately sold to and used by farmers in 14 provinces in China.

The Company produces white bark pine, blackberry, raspberry and date seedlings and sells them directly to end users, such as municipal agencies and seedling companies. Agria also produces white bark pine seedlings for urban greenery. Majority of its corn seed sales take place between October and May, sales of most of its sheep breeding products occur mainly in spring from March to June, and in fall from August to November, and the majority of its seedling products are sold mainly in spring from March to June, and in the fall from September to October. The Company specializes in three types of products: corn seeds, sheep breeding products and seedlings. As of December 31, 2007, it offered 22 corn seed products, 34 sheep breeding products and 20 seedling products in 15 provinces in China. During 2007, sales of corn seed, sheep breeding and seedling products accounted for 51.2%, 38.1% and 10.7%, respectively, of its total revenues.

Corn Seeds

During 2007, Agria sold approximately 41,973 tons of corn seed products. The Company produces four types of corn seed products: Primalights III-591, Primalights III-391, Primalights III-891 and Primalights III-28, which collectively contributed to 61.5% of its total corn seed revenues during 2007. In addition to its products, the Company is a distributor in Shanxi for four varieties of corn seed produced by other seed companies outside Shanxi. Agria also produces and sells four generic corn seeds, whose intellectual property rights have expired in China.

Sheep Breeding Products

The Company’s sheep breeding business consists primarily of the production and sale of frozen semen, embryos, breeder sheep and its Primalights III hybrid sheep. During 2007, sales of its frozen semen, embryos, breeder sheep and Primalights III hybrid sheep accounted for 65.6%, 4%,10.1% and 20.3%, respectively, of the Company’s total revenues from its sheep breeding business. Agria’s frozen sheep semen products are primarily used for artificial insemination to produce breeder sheep or sheep for mutton or wool. Sheep semen is collected and frozen in plastic straws. During 2007, it sold a total of 25 million straws of frozen semen. As of December 31, 2007, the Company owned approximately 5,570 breeder sheep, including Poll Dorset, Suffolk, Texel, Merino and Dorper sheep.

Seedlings

As of December 31, 2007, Agria primarily produced and sold four types of seedlings, blackberries and raspberries, dates and white bark pine. The Company had four seedling propagation bases that occupy approximately 300 acres of land that it has leased or the Company has acquired the land use rights between five and 46 years.

The Company uses tissue culture technology to conduct virus-free rapid propagation for the production of blackberry and raspberry seedlings. The raspberry and blackberry seedling varieties Agria has developed can grow under cold and dry weather conditions in rough soil with a sprouting ability. Agria uses tissue culture technology to conduct virus-free rapid propagation for the production of date seedlings. The Company uses grafting techniques to change the attributes of date trees to lower their height. The Company produces seedlings for evergreen white bark pine.

The Company competes with Denghai Seed Joint Stock Limited Company, Beijing Denong Seed Company Limited, Shangxi Tunyu Seed Science, Technology Joint Stock Limited Company, Pioneer, Monsanto, Sygenta, Tianjin Jisheng Sheep Breeding Center, Hualiang Group, Fumin Muslim Food Co., Ltd., Zhongtian Group and Tianxing Sheep Co., Ltd.