Li relinquished his position on the board to assume the role of vice chairman of the company's hog production business with a strategic focus on Chinese government relations in pursuit of the company's core strategy of "AgFeed, Government & Farmer".
Junhong Xiong stepped down from his position as the company's president and CEO and as a member of the board of directors to focus more time on his existing vital leadership role as chairman of the company's animal nutrition business that is in registration for an Initial Public Offering.
Stadler has more than 45 years of experience as a senior executive and investor in the animal production and processing industry.
"Mr. Stadler's assumption of a leadership role in the company demonstrates and reinforces the company's commitment to the operating excellence that is at the core of our M2P2 operations and assuring the adoption of these operating standards across all aspects of our business," Li said.
Edward Pazdro was appointed the permanent chief financial officer of the company. He had been appointed acting CFO in November of 2010.
AgFeed Industries is an international agribusiness with operations in the US and China. It operates two business lines – animal nutrients in premix, concentrates and complete feeds and hog production. AgFeed is one of China's largest commercial hog producers in terms of total annual hog production as well as one of the largest premix feed companies in terms of revenues.
In the US, AgFeed's hog production unit, M2P2, is a market leader in setting new standards for production efficiency and productivity. The transfer of these processes, procedures and techniques will allow its Chinese hog production units to set new standards for production in China. China is the world's largest hog producing country that produced more than 645 million hogs in 2009, compared to approximately 100 million hogs produced annually in the US.
China also has the world's largest consumer base for pork consumption. More than 62% of total meat consumed in China is pork. Hog production in China enjoys income tax-free status. The swine feed markets in which AgFeed operates represent a $20 billion segment of China's $58 billion per year animal feed market.
