RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC, September 10, 2009 – This August, BASF Crop Protection partnered with Horizon Ag to donate funds to the Stop Hunger Now organization’s record-breaking University Million Meal Week.

BASF is the supplier of the CLEARFIELD® trait. Horizon Ag partners with BASF to make CLEARFIELD rice varieties available for planting in the United States. Their donation helped purchase quantities of rice that were used for approximately one-half of the meal packaging effort. Four North Carolina universities hosted University Million Meal Week events, where students and community volunteers packaged 1,031,776 meals for the less fortunate around the world.

“Horizon Ag is proud to support efforts to reduce hunger during these critical economic times, and we hope BASF‘s donation inspires others to do the same,“ said Randy Ouzts, General Manager of Horizon  “Ag. As more families today across the globe are affected by events beyond their control, we think this is the least we could do to assist them. Stop Hunger Now is a lifeline for millions of people in the time of their greatest need. Rice is a staple of life and accepted the world over as a key component for daily nutrition, and we are more than willing to support the effort to reduce hunger in areas where people are simply unable to feed themselves.”

Leadership at BASF echoed Ouzts’ sentiment. “At BASF, we are committed to our part in meeting the rising global need for food, fiber and fuel via our crop protection products – and our role in enabling growers to get more from every acre grown,” said Paul Rea, Director, U.S. Crop Business. “We too realize the growing need to support those in the most desperate of circumstances, those afflicted by hunger. As such, we are happy to play a role in ensuring meals are provided for global distribution.”

Stop Hunger Now’s highly nutritious meals include rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and vitamin-fortified flavoring mix with 21 essential vitamins and minerals. Each meal provides a reasonable serving for six and costs 25 cents to make. Stop Hunger Now provides all ingredients with contributions from sponsors and other contributors.

Horizon Ag is an agricultural interest based in Memphis, TN, that works with the rice industry to provide high-quality CLEARFIELD rice seed available for planting in the United States. For more information about Horizon Ag and CLEARFIELD rice varieties, go to www.horizonseed.com.

About the Crop Protection Division

With sales of € 3.4 billion in 2008, BASF’s Crop Protection division is a leader in crop protection and a strong partner to the farming industry providing well-established and innovative fungicides, insecticides and herbicides. Farmers use these products and services to improve crop yields and crop quality. Other uses include public health, structural/urban pest control, turf and ornamental plants, vegetation management and forestry. BASF aims to turn knowledge rapidly into market success. The vision of BASF’s Crop Protection division is to be the world’s leading innovator, optimizing agricultural production, improving nutrition and thus enhancing the quality of life for a growing world population. Further information can be found on the Web at www.agro.basf.com.

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BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 15,000 employees in North America and had sales of approximately $17.5 billion in 2008. For more information about BASF’s North American operations, or to sign up to receive news releases by e-mail, visit www.basf.com/usa.

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics and performance products to agricultural products, fine chemicals, as well as oil and gas. As a reliable partner, BASF helps its customers in virtually all industries to be more successful. With its high-value products and intelligent solutions, BASF plays an important role in finding answers to global challenges, such as climate protection, energy efficiency, nutrition and mobility. BASF has approximately 97,000 employees and posted sales of more than €62 billion in 2008. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.

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