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S&W Seed Corporation, based in Longmont, Colorado, was founded in 1980 and is a global agricultural company. The firm is developing and producing stevia, an all-natural, zero-calorie sweetener for the food and beverage industry, using its research and breeding expertise.

Ingredion Incorporated (INGR) is a prominent worldwide ingredient solutions provider with customers in over 120 countries. It is in the Chicago suburbs. The Company transforms grains, fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based materials into value-added ingredient solutions for the food, beverage, animal nutrition, brewing, and industrial markets, with annual net sales of USD 6 billion in 2020.

Ingredion co-creates with consumers and fulfils its objective of bringing the potential of people, nature, and technology together to make life better through its 32 Idea Labs® innovation centres across the world and about 12,000 workers.

S&W Seed Company and Ingredion Incorporated have announced an exclusive U.S. stevia pilot production supply agreement. Under the agreement terms, S&W will employ its patented stevia plant portfolio and production techniques to provide high-quality, U.S.-sourced stevia plants to Ingredion and its PureCircle by Ingredion group of companies.

Over the past ten years, S&W has generated unique, non-GMO, all-natural stevia varieties through our proprietary plant breeding method, said Mark Wong, S&W Seed Company. Recently, we validated the efficacy of stevia manufacturing in the southeastern United States, which we believe is a huge step forward.
 
We intend to cut overall production costs drastically by utilising a revolutionary seed-to-plant process and mechanised harvesting technology. Importantly, this approach allows stevia to act as a green cover crop, assisting carbon sequestration. We're thrilled to embark on this pilot production supply deal with PureCircle, the world's largest stevia component producer, to confirm further and expand our current capabilities.

This arrangement increases our ability to deliver sugar reduction solutions for our clients by expanding our supply of sustainably derived stevia in the United States. This arrangement with S&W will allow us to assess the long-term feasibility of producing substantial quantities of stevia in the United States.

Stevia is a zero-calorie, natural-source sweetener that is up to 350 times sweeter than sugar and can be found in over 30,000 food and beverage products worldwide. According to LEK and Ingredion's studies, the worldwide stevia market will rise to USD 1.6 billion by 2028. Most stevia is currently grown outside of the United States due to historical climatic and harvesting limits.

Ingredion's stevia company has seen three critical developments in the last 14 months, with this agreement being the third. Ingredion purchased a controlling position in Pure Circle last July. The company launched a cooperative venture with Amyris to exclusively supply Fermented Sugarcane Reb M as part of its enlarged stevia line.

Pure Circle by Ingredion is the only stevia ingredient provider that offers all leading stevia manufacturing technologies (stevia from extraction, fermentation, and bioconversion). Ingredion, which makes stevia sweeteners and taste modifiers, continues to invest in the future of sugar reduction innovation.