Green Plains Announces Aquafeed Partnership with Riverence

OMAHA, Neb., May 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRE) today announced a partnership with the Riverence Group to form a joint venture to expand aquafeed production in Idaho. The venture will produce trout and salmon feeds for the Riverence Group, utilizing wholesome, sustainable ingredients including the 60%+ fermented protein product recently announced after the success of the development trial at Green Plains Wood River.

“This partnership is yet another validation of our transformational path, creating a portfolio of innovative ingredients tailored to meet specific customer needs,” said Todd Becker, President and Chief Executive Officer of Green Plains. “The Riverence Group is a highly respected aquaculture producer and we are eager to realize the value this collaboration brings to both partners. Using our low-carbon ingredients in Riverence’s feeds can help them achieve their goal of using sustainable, domestically produced plant-based ingredients.”

As part of the joint venture, Green Plains contributed capital and supplied key ingredient services, while the Riverence Group contributed existing assets and a feed offtake agreement to support its own production, helping to meet the rapidly growing consumer demand from aquaculture in North America. The joint venture is anticipated to become operational in 2023.

“The Riverence Group has a simple, actionable definition of sustainability—to do more with less,” said Rob Young, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Riverence Group. “To provide healthy seafood for a hungry world, we need feeds and feed ingredients that nourish our fish as much as our commitment to sustainability. In Green Plains, we have found a partner that is committed to growing domestic aquaculture and stocking the industry’s ‘pantry’ with quality ingredients.”

“This unique partnership will allow for end-to-end innovation, bringing ingredient production and fish farming together to create better feeds and better fish,” said Leslie van der Meulen, Executive Vice President, Product Marketing and Innovation of Green Plains. “Historically, aquaculture ingredients have been developed without direct input from customers. Our collaboration allows us to disrupt that trend, and hone in on opportunities to optimize our ingredients. With the recent breakthrough to produce 60%+ protein concentrations at scale, we believe our unique, innovative aquafeed solutions will become disruptive and we are seeing interest in our ingredient solutions globally.”

Green Plains will use its biorefinery platform and innovation center network to continuously improve the sustainable ingredients it creates through fermentation, focusing on the removal of anti-nutritional elements and continuously improving the biological utilization of unique plant-based proteins and yeasts.

About the Riverence Group
Riverence Holdings LLC and its subsidiaries are a group of privately-owned aquaculture companies based in Idaho and Washington. Riverence Brood LLC—the group’s breeding operation—is a producer of premium Rainbow Trout genetics and the only domestic commercial supplier of Atlantic Salmon and Coho Salmon eggs. Riverence Farms LLC primarily raises Steelhead and Golden Rainbow Trout while Riverence Provisions LLC raises Rainbow Trout—collectively they are the largest producers of trout in the Americas. Riverence Provisions LLC also handles the processing, distribution, food sales, and byproducts. As breeders and farmers of trout and salmon and thought leaders in the aquaculture space, the Riverence Group is helping to redefine seafood sustainability and security in the USA.

About Green Plains Inc.
Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) is a leading biorefining company focused on the development and utilization of fermentation, agricultural and biological technologies in the processing of annually renewable crops into sustainable value-added ingredients. This includes the production of cleaner low carbon biofuels, renewable feedstocks for advanced biofuels and high purity alcohols for use in cleaners and disinfectants. Green Plains is an innovative producer of Ultra-High Protein and novel ingredients for animal and aquaculture diets to help satisfy a growing global appetite for sustainable protein. The Company also owns a 48.9% limited partner interest and a 2.0% general partner interest in Green Plains Partners LP. For more information, visit www.gpreinc.com

Green Plains Inc. Contacts
Investors: Phil Boggs | Executive Vice President, Investor Relations | 402.884.8700 | phil.boggs@gpreinc.com
Media: Lisa Gibson | Communications Manager | 402.952.4971 | lisa.gibson@gpreinc.com