ArborGen announcements made
12 April 2013
Today Rubicon filed the attached announcements released by ArborGen Inc, (31.67% owned by Rubicon), the world's leading developer of biotechnology tree seedling products and one of the largest providers of conventional and technology-enhanced seedlings to the global commercial forestry industry.
ArborGen Celebrates Major Milestone with Production of 100 Millionth MCP® Seedling
Market for MCP seedlings demonstrate growing demand for elite genetic forestry products
RIDGEVILLE, SC - 12 April, 2013 - ArborGen, the world leader in reforestation, recently celebrated the production of the company's 100 millionth Mass Control Pollinated® (MCP) Loblolly Pine seedling. MCP seedlings are produced from crossing specific elite parents to generate seedlings with the highest genetic potential. These hybrid seedlings offer significant productivity improvements and economic benefits over open pollinated (OP) seeds, where only one parent is known, and have the potential to increase a forest landowner's returns more than 100 percent.
"Advanced genetic products such as MCP seedlings are transforming forestry in the 21st century in the same way they transformed agriculture in the last one," said John Pait, vice president of sales, marketing and product development. "This recent milestone makes clear this transformation is well underway, and ArborGen is proud to be the leader bringing this technology to our forestry customers."
To develop MCP seedlings, elite parents are selected by ArborGen's tree breeders based on key productivity traits such as growth, form, branching and resistance to disease, stress and insects. ArborGen has designed breeding programs to combine the specific traits of top trees to produce truly superior seedlings.
"We are proud of this accomplishment and of the economic value MCP seedlings can bring to our customers, providing the technology to increase the volume and quality of wood on their timberlands," added Pait. "We have dedicated years to genetic research to select, breed, test and validate these high performing MCP seedlings, which can be purchased today to give our customers higher returns on their forestry assets. Growing our 100 millionth seedling demonstrates that our customers recognize the value of elite genetics while underscoring how our work is transforming forestry productivity."
To put this milestone into perspective, the planting of 100 million seedlings, at 500 trees per acre, would cover 312 square miles. That would be slightly larger than the entire area of New York City or over 145,000 football fields.
ArborGen Enhances Reforestation Expertise with Strategic New Hires
The three new additions bring over 50 years of experience and will accelerate growth for the leading global provider of seedlings
RIDGEVILLE, SC - ArborGen, the world leader in reforestation, announced the expansion of its sales, marketing and product development team with the additions of Dr. Rafael de la Torre in forest planning and finance, Jason Watson in sales, and Chris Rosier in product development. Collectively, the three new hires bring over 50 years of forestry experience to ArborGen.
"We are very pleased to welcome Rafael, Jason and Chris to the ArborGen team. All three individuals bring an impressive track record and unique expertise that will help advance the company's commercial growth while expanding our reforestation capabilities," said John Pait, vice president of sales, marketing and product development of ArborGen. "The previous year has included some very important milestones for ArborGen with the acquisition of CellFor and its industry leading Varietal Pine assets. These gentlemen will complement our talented team of nursery professionals and skilled scientists, which include four with doctorates in quantitative genetics."
Dr. de la Torre comes to ArborGen with 25 years of progressive work experience in global forestry, including forest finance, procurement, planning, wood quality, wood processing and reforestation. In his role as planning and analysis manager for ArborGen, Dr. de la Torre's responsibilities include assessing the value of Varietal and Mass Control Pollinated® (MCP) Pine plantations. He will also evaluate new market opportunities and provide analytic support and asset valuation for capital investments. Dr. de la Torre most recently worked as a manager of planning and analysis at CellFor Inc. Having authored or co-authored over 20 peer-reviewed articles and white papers for forestry journals and magazines, Dr. de la Torre is an internationally-recognized financial forest markets expert. Dr. de la Torre received both his Masters and Doctorate from the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia.
Watson has over 15 years of experience in seedling sales, reforestation support and forestry management and will serve as a Piedmont regional sales coordinator for ArborGen. Watson joins ArborGen from International Forest Company, a containerized seedling company where he served as a sales manager. In addition, Watson previously served as eastern regional manager in business development for CellFor Inc., seedling sales manager at Weyerhauser Company, staff consulting forester with Tigrett, Inc., and assistant block manager for Anderson-Tully Company. Watson graduated from Mississippi State University with a B.S. in forestry.
Rosier has over 12 years of experience in tree improvement, product development, marketing and operations in the forest products industry. He will serve as a Pine breeding project leader out of ArborGen's Tallahassee, Fla., operations, where he will oversee the breeding, testing, selection and production of Loblolly and Slash Pine seedlings. Prior to joining ArborGen, he served as product development and marketing manager at International Forest Company. Previously, he worked for CellFor Inc. for four years where he held positions as a nursery quality and development manager and a nursery operations manager. Prior to CellFor, he worked in tree improvement as a seed orchard manager with Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation. Rosier holds a B.S. in both Environmental Science and Natural Resources and a Master of Science in tree improvement/Christmas tree genetics from North Carolina State University.
About ArborGen
ArborGen is the world leader in reforestation and a global supplier of genetically elite seedlings. As the premier provider of improved technologies to forests managers and landowners, ArborGen is developing high-value products that significantly improve the economic returns and productivity of a given acre of land. These products enable ArborGen's customers to grow trees that yield more wood per acre with greater consistency and quality in a shorter period of time. ArborGen's work is improving the sustainability of working forests while helping to meet the world's growing need for wood, fiber and energy. For more information, please visit www.arborgen.com.