Origin Agritech Limited, headquartered in Zhongguancun Life Science Park in Beijing, is an agricultural biotechnology company, specializing in crop seed breeding, seed production, processing, distribution, and related technical services by adopting high technologies such as modern biotechnology and genetic breeding.
The company has integrated product lines for seeds of corn, rice, cotton and canola, as well as product lines for other agrochemical products. It owns 15 marketing centers, 7 producing and processing centers, 12 breeding stations throughout the country and one winter nursery in South China's Hainan province. Its sales network covers all key planting areas in China, and it provides products and services for some countries in southeastern and southern Asia. The company has established a life science research center, largest of all its kind in China.
The company applies advanced management methods and operational modes from developed countries. It also brought and practiced the operating idea of high quality, high value, service and innovation-oriented for the first time in China. The new mode created by the company for commercializing breeding has significantly accelerated the breeding of new varieties.
Pioneering in agricultural technology in China, the company has won many honors since it was founded 14 years ago. In 2000, it was listed as one of the first seeding enterprises certified by ISO9001:2000. In 2005, it became the first Chinese agricultural biotechnology company to be listed on NASDAQ in the United States,. In 2003 and 2006, it was awarded as one of the Top 50 Seeding Enterprise by the China National Seed Association.
In 2009, the company became the world's first company that won approval for producing commercialized transgenic phytase corn. In 2010, it was awarded as the national leading enterprise in agricultural industrialization, undertaking a major state project on the technology of cultivating new varieties of transgenic organism. It also played part in the two key 12th Five-Year Plan projects on corn breeding launched by the Ministry of Science and Technology.