Stevia Corp. Appoints Expert Agricultural Consultant Rodney Cook to Board
October 06 2011 - 7:00AM
Marketwired
Stevia Corp. (OTCBB: STEV) ("Stevia Corp." or
the "Company"), a farm management company focused on the economic
development of Stevia, the fastest growing product in the
alternative sweetener sector, is pleased to welcome Mr. Rodney L.
Cook to the Board of Directors.
Mr. Cook provides vision and experienced leadership across areas
of agricultural practices and food processing from the application
of research through to growing operations. His career encompasses
partnership development, strategic planning, IP rights management
and new product development. Mr. Cook is a strategic thinker and
planner with a proven ability to turn plans into reality. He brings
to Stevia Corp a track record of recognized leadership in the small
fruit industry including strong scientific insight including the
development of several new industry standards. He offers a unique
combination of skills as a practicing horticulturist with twenty
years' experience in grower education helping to deliver technology
transfer from university to field, and includes extensive research
and project development as well as significant management
experience in growing business startups, turnarounds, private
placement of equity instruments, and experience in corporations,
partnerships and cooperative forms of business.
He currently owns and operates Ag-View Consulting LLC, of
Olympia, WA, where his experiences include working with the largest
refiner of stevia in the world to direct and support the
development of stevia breeding programs as well as to assist in
trial agreements for expansion of the growing regions for global
stevia initiatives. He has assisted both growers and marketers by
developing training and education processes that offer alternative
markets for a variety of crops; has provided expert testimony, crop
and market analysis for the blueberry industry, provided third
party verification and review of vision, strategy, operational and
research initiatives for improvement and expansion of prune and
raspberry development in Chile.
He was previously CEO and President of the multinational
partnership, Naturipe Foods, LLC, and prior to that as CEO and
President of Producer Marketing Company (Overlake Foods Corp.), and
as President of Chilean owned (US based) Hortifrut NA; as Managing
Partner at Pan-American Berry Growers LLC, and in a variety of
leadership positions at MBG Marketing, the largest blueberry
grower's cooperative in the world. Mr. Cook earned his M. Sc. with
Honors in Horticulture and a B.S. with Honors in Resource
Development at Michigan State University. He has received several
industry awards and actively participates in a number of industry
and community initiatives.
Mr. George Blankenbaker, Stevia Corp. President, comments, "We
are extremely pleased by the appointment of Rod to our board. It is
our intent to involve him intimately with technical support
planning and to assist in oversight regarding the development of US
research and trials aimed at both supporting our global research as
well as developing a domestic source of Stevia. We anticipate that
his experience will be of great strategic benefit to those plans
and will accelerate our program exponentially."
Further details of the Company's business, finances,
appointments and agreements can be found as part of the Company's
continuous public disclosure as a reporting issuer under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission's ("SEC") EDGAR database. For more information
visit: www.stevia.co.
About Stevia Corp. (OTCBB: STEV) Stevia
Corp. is a farm management company focused on best practice
agronomic competency in order to deliver high value stevia through
proprietary plant breeding, excellent agricultural methodologies
and innovative post-harvest techniques. To date, the Company has
acquired two grower supply contracts and three nursery fields in
Vietnam. In 2010, stevia products were launched across thirty-five
countries and 38 categories. Within two years of the USA market
opening, Nielsen-based retail consumption data indicated almost $1
billion of retail sales. Market research group, Mintel, has said it
expects sales of stevia sweetened products to top $2 billion in
2011. Zenith International estimates worldwide sales of stevia
extract reached 3,500 tons in 2010 with an overall market value of
$285 million and forecasts the global market for stevia will reach
11,000 tons by 2014 requiring the tripling of stevia leaf
production at the farm level to keep pace with consumer demand. For
more information visit: www.stevia.co
Notice Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements This news release contains "forward-looking
statements" as that term is defined in Section 27A of the United
States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements in this
press release which are not purely historical are forward-looking
statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans,
expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such
forward-looking statements include, among other things, growth of
stevia global market, plans to expand stevia production, use of
resources, the development of new business opportunities, and
projected costs, revenue, profits and results operations. Actual
results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking
statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among
others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects and
development stage companies. These forward-looking statements are
made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no
obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update
the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in
the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any
beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press
release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such
beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be
accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth
herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure
outlined in our annual report on Form 10-K for the most recent
fiscal year, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic
reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
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Contact: Investor Relations Crescendo Communications, LLC
Email: Email Contact Tel: +1-888-940-4050 Web: www.stevia.co
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