Oosterhout, the Netherlands
July 5, 2002

The international grass seed company Barenbrug appointed Martin Bijl (38), currently General Manager of Barenbrug Holland BV, in the position of Division Manager Europe.

The appointment of Mr. Bijl completes the make-up of a European organisational structure. This structure enhances the collaboration between Barenbrug companies and research stations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Romania and Poland. Martin Bijl will manage the European Division, based at Barenbrug’s headquarters in the Netherlands.

The European market shows an increasing transparency in which business is more and more conducted on a cross-border basis. With the European co-ordination, Barenbrug intends to strengthen its market position, to facilitate international alliances and to assure optimalization of the overall business results.

The Barenbrug Group is an international company, whose major activities are plant breeding, seed production and worldwide marketing of grass seed and seed for forage crops. With 25 subsidiaries on 5 continents and 570 employees, Barenbrug realises a turnover of 172 million Euro and is one of the largest grass seed companies in the world.