Origin Agritech appoints Joe Ramelli to the role of Vice President of Business Development

Date:03-15-2023

Origin Agritech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEED) (the "Company" or "Origin"), an agriculture technology company, announced that it has appointed Joe Ramelli to the role of Vice President of Business Development.

Ramelli brings a wealth of experience to this role having served as Interim CFO and one of the original team members for ValenzaBio, which was recently acquired by Acelyrin. Previously he was CEO of Marina Biotech where he closed several business development deals and put together a merger to remake the company. Ramelli also worked as an analyst at Eos Holdings, an investment fund that was an early and successful investor in Chinese companies listing in the United States. Prior to that he was an analyst for Robert W. Duggan & Associates. He has been our Director of Investor Relations since July of 2020.

Given the positive GMO corn approval policy by the Chinese government, Origin is well positioned in this potential multi-billion market. Origin's Bt/Gt corn hybrids which include triple stack traits, BFL4-2, are in the MOA's demo program and pilot seed production. The drought resistant trait, which is highly desirable given more erratic weather patterns in recent years, has successfully completed evaluation trial and an application has been filed for biosafety approval.

Our nutrition enhanced corn (NEC) hybrids have demonstrated great market value for the feed and food industries. Origin is expanding the production capability and building an NEC supply chain to meet the increased demand for the products.

"I am so thrilled to move into this business development role," said Joe Ramelli. "Before deciding to accept this role, I had the opportunity to hear Chairman Han's long-range plan for the company. I was really impressed with his vision and after hearing it, believe that we have a path to becoming a billion-dollar corporation. We also have an amazing opportunity to remake the feedstock supply chain for hogs with our nutritionally enhanced corn, or NEC."

"It is an ideal time to have Joe leading our business development," said Origin Agritech's Chairman Gangchen Han. "We not only have great opportunities in the GMO corn seed business, but also tremendous potential creating a fully integrated corn feed/food supply chain in China, which is a business opportunity in the tens of billions of dollars."