Menlo Park, California
August 8, 2002

Landec Corporation (Nasdaq: LNDC), has announced that Landec Ag, Inc., its seed technology subsidiary, is commercially launching its new Intellicoat(R) Early Plant(TM) corn seed coating technology on Fielder's Choice Direct (R), hybrid seed corn.

Starting in spring 2003, corn farmers using Intellicoat Early Plant coating technology on Fielder's Choice Direct hybrid seed corn will be able to plant from one to four weeks earlier than normal with minimal risk of stand loss traditionally associated with early planting. The commercial launch of Intellicoat Early Plant technology for spring planting in 2003 follows the 2002 corn planting season when wet spring conditions caused many corn farmers in the Central Corn Belt to miss their optimum planting dates.

"After several years of successful university and farmer trials, we have been able to scale the technology successfully in preparation for full commercial launch. For the 2002 planting season, the Early Plant coating technology is currently in use at over 500 farms on nearly 15,000 acres across the country," says Tom Crowley, Landec Ag President and CEO. "When comparing Intellicoat coated
seeds to uncoated seeds in early-planted trials, the Intellicoat coated seeds have consistently shown better, more uniform emergence and higher stand counts for improved yield potential."

"The weather conditions this past spring clearly illustrated the difficulty of planting corn during the ideal planting period because of extremely wet conditions in large parts of the Corn Belt. With Intellicoat coatings for Early Plant hybrid seed corn, many farmers in the Corn Belt could have planted corn before the rains began, avoiding the late plantings that occurred this year," continued Crowley.

Over the past few years, Landec Ag's research has focused on developing a commercial application of the technology for hybrid corn, which included testing Intellicoat coatings using Fielder's Choice Direct hybrid seed corn. The positive performance of the technology on Fielder's Choice hybrid seed corn has triggered Landec Ag's decision to commercially launch Intellicoat Early Plant corn in 2003.

"We are very excited about the potential of Intellicoat Early Plant technology because we have seen firsthand how it has developed into a very promising product for farmers," says Dennis Schlott, Vice President of Sales at Fielder's Choice Direct. "The Fielder's Choice hybrids we have selected for Early Plant coatings have strong genetics suited perfectly for this technology. This year we tested these hybrids in some tough conditions. The corn emerged really well and we are very encouraged based on how the stands currently appear in the fields."

In addition, Landec Ag has initiated collaborations with eight of the industry's top seed corn companies. These companies are conducting separate evaluations of the Intellicoat Early Plant hybrid seed corn technology on their own hybrids during 2002. 

The patented Intellicoat Early Plant coating is unique because it effectively controls seed germination in cold, early spring soils. When the soil temperature is too cold for healthy seedling growth, the coating protects the seed and restricts it from taking in enough water to germinate. Once the soil temperature warms, the coating changes, allowing water to permeate the seed and promote germination under optimum conditions. The Intellicoat Early Plant polymer seed coating is derived from natural, biodegradable fatty acids and degrades naturally in the soil.

Thirty major seed production companies are already using another Intellicoat coating, known as Pollinator Plus(TM), for coating male inbred seeds used in the production of hybrid seed corn. In this application, the coating delays germination of the male inbred seed in order to widen the pollination window to increase yields, minimize risks and reduce production costs in the production of hybrid seed corn. Seed production companies are rapidly increasing their use of this technology.

Also on the commercial horizon is another Intellicoat application, Relay(TM) Intercropping of wheat and Intellicoat coated soybeans. The Relay system enables Central and Northern Corn Belt farmers, whose growing season is normally too short for double cropping, to successfully inter-plant coated soybeans into wheat fields and gain more revenue by harvesting two crops off the same field in the same year. This Intellicoat application is in its third year of successful commercial on-farm trials.

Landec Corporation designs, develops, manufactures and sells temperature-activated and other specialty polymer products for a variety of food, agricultural and licensed partner applications. The company's temperature-activated polymer products are based on its proprietary Intelimer(R) polymers, which differ from other polymers in that they can be customized to abruptly change their physical characteristics when heated above or cooled below a preset temperature switch.