The agreement represents the third major development to Ingredion’s stevia business in the last 14 months
Ingredion Incorporated and S&W Seed Company have entered into an exclusive US stevia pilot production supply agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, S&W will leverage its proprietary stevia plant portfolio and production techniques to supply Ingredion and its PureCircle by Ingredion group of companies, with high-quality, US-sourced stevia plants.
Mark Wong, CEO, S&W Seed Company, commented, “S&W has developed unique, non-GMO, all-natural stevia varieties over the past ten years utilising our proprietary plant breeding programme. Recently, we have made what we believe is a significant leap forward by validating the efficacy of stevia production in the South-Eastern US. By leveraging a unique seed-to-plant process and mechanical harvesting system, we expect to dramatically reduce overall production costs. Importantly, this method is intended to allow the stevia to function as a green cover crop, helping to sequester carbon.”
“This agreement strengthens our ability to provide sugar reduction solutions for our customers by diversifying our supply of sustainably sourced stevia in the US,” stated Jeremy Xu, Ingredion’s Senior VP and CIO. “This agreement with S&W will allow us to evaluate the long-term opportunity to effectively produce large quantities of stevia in the US.”
The agreement represents the third major development to Ingredion’s stevia business in the last 14 months. Last July, Ingredion acquired a controlling stake in PureCircle (now PureCircle by Ingredion), and earlier this year the company announced a joint venture with Amyris to exclusively offer Fermented Sugarcane Reb M as part of its expanded stevia portfolio.
