Davis, California, USA
July 18, 2011
AgraQuest, a global leader in biopesticides for sustainable food production, today announced that it has been selected as one of “California’s 2011 Leaders In Agriculture Innovation” by Grow-California for its impact on the agricultural industry and positive impact on the state’s economy. The award will be presented by California Secretary of Agriculture, Karen Ross, during a ceremony at Grow-California’s inaugural California Agriculture Innovation conference at UC Davis on July 21st.
“At AgraQuest, we discover and commercialize new crop protection technologies to reinvent food production in ways that balance the needs of both a growing population and the environment,” said Ashish Malik, Senior VP of Marketing at AgraQuest. “We are honored that our team has been recognized for its work discovering and commercializing biopesticides to offer growers sustainable tools to increase yields.”
During the conference, AgraQuest will host a panel of growers and food producers focused on innovation in sustainable agriculture.
“There are many exciting ways farming operations and food companies are using new technologies to drive their triple bottom line,” said Malik. “This will be a good opportunity to learn how each company is focusing on people, planet and profit when designing their agricultural practices.”
Grow-California represents a private sector driven approach to foster jobs and wealth creation in California by connecting entrepreneurs, growth companies and market leaders with capital, talent and customers. Conference organizers believe that by bringing the venture capital community together with the agricultural community, there will be tremendous potential to create an innovative technology hub for agriculture in the Central Valley as was done in the Silicon Valley for high tech, which will spawn new ag-related companies, jobs and economic activity throughout California.
“AgraQuest is thriving and its recent financing round and job-growth is a leading example of the way that agriculture continues to be the backbone of California’s economy,” said Jon Gregory, president and CEO of Grow-California. “We are pleased to be able to recognize AgraQuest and other innovative companies, university initiatives and innovative nonprofit programs which are doing fabulous work to continue to advance agriculture and its ability to feed the world’s population.”
AgraQuest is in a period of high growth, expanding revenues by more than 30% per annum and adding 53 jobs in the past three years. These jobs strengthen AgraQuest’s leadership position in biopesticide and natural products R&D by expanding capabilities at their headquarters in Davis, California.
To be considered as a Game Changer of the Year, companies must be headquartered in California or have significant operations or facilities in the state, have at least $5 million in annual revenue in 2010, and be in existence for at least four years. A selection committee comprised of investment banks, venture capital funds, academia and conference sponsors reviewed more than 300 nominations and determined the fourteen winners.
For more information about the California Agriculture Innovation conference and the “Game Changer of the Year” awards, visit: http://www.grow-california.com/.
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