Dec 10, 2003

Mum Partnership Turns HeadsSource: Various

Ball Seed Company has reached an agreement with Royal Van Zanten, LLC to be the exclusive licensee of all CBA and Cleangro-bred chrysanthemum varieties formerly produced by Royal Van Zanten in North America. Ball Seed will assume all responsibilities for cutting production, distribution and marketing activities for these varieties. In addition, Ball Seed has obtained long-term exclusivity in the United States and Canada for new and existing varieties from CBA and Cleangro.

Milgro Newcastle, Inc., Newcastle, Utah, will now produce unrooted cuttings of all Ball Seed mum varieties. Milgro is a family-owned company with more than 23 years of establishment.

Ball Seed and Milgro are currently in the process of transferring all mum cutting production from the former Royal Van Zanten facility in Nipomo, Calif., to the Milgro facility. The transfer is expected to be complete by March 1, 2004.

In our digging for more information on this development, we found that there is more to the story that is not finalized yet. We will keep you abreast of the happenings.