Omaha, Nebraska
December 15, 2000

StaufferSeeds today announced its entry into the life sciences industry through the purchase of a substantial equity stake in ProdiGene, Inc. ProdiGene is an industry leading life science company based in College Station, Texas that develops innovative delivery systems for human, animal and industrial protein products with transgenic corn. ProdiGene’s Board of Directors has also voted to place StaufferSeeds President and CEO Anthony Laos in the position of CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors at ProdiGene.

"The Board of Directors welcomes Mr. Laos to the helm of ProdiGene. His operational management expertise and industry perspective are a perfect compliment to our current business growth
objectives," says ProdiGene founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. John Howard. "With Mr. Laos on board, myself and the other technology staff can focus on improving our technology platform and
allow Mr. Laos to coordinate day to day operations across StaufferSeeds and ProdiGene. This transition will benefit shareholders, employees, customers and partners of both companies."

For the past 3 years, StaufferSeeds has been working to develop the StaufferSeeds ICS product line of Identity Preserved hybrid seed corn. The StaufferSeeds ICS (Identity Containment System) hybrid corn seed products are the bio-reactors in ProdiGene’s high value industrial and pharmaceutical protein production system. This system has proven to be a viable alternative to traditional animal and bacteria cell based protein production systems.

The result of the StaufferSeeds/ProdiGene relationship has been nothing short of revolutionary. To date, ProdiGene is the first and only company to have commercialized recombinant proteins from transgenic plants for the biopharmaceutical and industrial markets. These products have been manufactured from seed and grain produced exclusively by StaufferSeeds.

"StaufferSeeds’ proprietary germ plasm along with the company’s plant breeding, agronomic and hybrid corn seed marketing experience has served to perfectly compliment ProdiGene’s intellectual property portfolio and expertise in genetic engineering, plant transformation and product development," says Mr. Laos. "Given our success working together, it is a natural evolution for us to further solidify our relationship."

ProdiGene currently has more than 15 high value industrial and pharmaceutical products in development. Many of these products have been bred into StaufferSeeds proprietary germ plasm and are nearing the production stage. During the year 2000 growing season StaufferSeeds and ProdiGene harvested seven high value industrial and pharmaceutical products including:

• Avidin and Aprotinin produced via a multi-year production contract in place with Sigma Chemical Corporation. These products are currently being sold by Sigma on the open market.
• Laccase, an industrial enzyme, produced under contract for Genencor, one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of industrial enzymes.
• Trypsin, an enzyme used in the leather and detergent industries as well as in research. Also produced under a multi-year multi-product contract with Genencor.
• An edible TGEV vaccine for swine that is currently being tested with the USDA for efficacy.
• An edible LTB vaccine for humans against E.Coli, currently in pre-clinical testing.
• Brazzein, an intense natural sweetener 2,000 times sweeter than sucrose with a potential worldwide market of over $1 billion, is produced for Nektar Worldwide.

"StaufferSeeds and ProdiGene have produced these high value products at a fraction of the total cost of comparable bacteria and animal based expression systems and concurrently reduced the costs for production, extraction and purification," explains Dr. Howard. "The success we have achieved and the partners we have attracted with our technology are qualitative and quantitative proof that what we are doing is for real."

StaufferSeeds and ProdiGene are currently building out a network of collection and distribution facilities across the corn belt to handle the production of the ICS products. In the future ProdiGene will also build local extraction and processing facilities to coordinate manufacturing of the company’s high value industrial and pharmaceutical products. By fusing ProdiGene’s technology into the existing production and distribution network, local economies will realize increased revenues while handling the StaufferSeeds ICS products. Growers will also realize increased revenues by growing the StaufferSeeds ICS seed products. Like collection and distribution points, growers will be paid a premium for grain produced under contract with StaufferSeeds.

"StaufferSeeds and ProdiGene are building a system that will create more value from existing resources, such as a grower’s land and local distribution infrastructure. This is what makes StaufferSeeds different from other seed companies," Mr. Laos explains. "As the only company able to bring ProdiGene’s unique technology to the field of the America grower, StaufferSeeds stands out from the rest of the seed companies currently focused on crop improvement technology such as Bt and RoundUp Ready corn. Through an equity investment in ProdiGene, StaufferSeeds has moved into the life sciences industry on par with, and arguably even ahead of, the seed industry giants."

As a seed industry veteran, Mr. Laos understands that there are many great hybrid seed corn products available on the market today. "But that’s the problem. There’s nothing that differentiates one hybrid
line from another because they all produce high quality commodity feed corn. The StaufferSeeds ICS hybrid products are grown to produce high value industrial and pharmaceutical products. When they are available, we will pay growers a significant premium to produce these products under contract with StaufferSeeds, That’s the difference we offer."

StaufferSeeds develops and markets high quality No.2 Yellow Dent and Identity Preserved hybrid seed products for the elite producers in the following areas:

• Irrigated acres in Nebraska
• Northern and Central Iowa
• Southern Minnesota
• Irrigated acres in Panhandle of Texas
• Irrigated acres in Western Kansas
• Irrigated acres in Southeast South Dakota

StaufferSeeds invites customers, growers and partners to visit the company web site at http://www.staufferseeds.com to learn more about StaufferSeeds and the ICS Seed Program.