Home » DowDuPont spin-off creates Corteva Agriscience
DowDuPont spin-off creates Corteva Agriscience
Photo: Corteva Agriscience
By Jeff Gelski
WILMINGTON, DEL. – A new company called Corteva Agriscience is trading under the symbol CTVA on the New York Stock Exchange. While some in the food and agricultural industries may not recognize the name, Corteva Agriscience, an independent, pure-play agricultural company, is expected to have global annual net sales of over $14 billion.
A spin-off of DowDuPont, Corteva has a heritage portfolio of DuPont Pioneer, DuPont Crop Protection and Dow AgroSciences. The company is based in Wilmington with business centers in Iowa and Indiana.
Corteva Agriscience has a presence in more than 130 countries, has more than 100 production and manufacturing facilities, and has more than 160 research and development facilities.
"As we were forming the new company, we were really focused on the difference in the company that we are trying to create versus the three legacy companies that we are bringing together," said Rajan Gajaria, executive vice-president, business platforms for Corteva Agriscience.
Combined, the three companies — Dow AgroSciences, DuPont Pioneer and DuPont Crop Protection — had more than 350 years of history, Mr. Gajaria said.
"Despite our legacy, we were really trying to start up nearly a $15 billion company with a start-up mentality, and it started with the name," he said.
Corteva combines "cor," which, in Latin, means "at the heart of," with "teva," an ancient word for nature. So Corteva stands for the heart of nature.
The company will focus on enriching the lives of those who produce and those who consume. While the three legacy companies focused a great deal on producers/growers, the idea of those who consume was discussed heavily, Mr. Gajaria said. It marked a fundamental shift.
"Wanting to get the consumers comfortable and trusting what we do in our industry was important to us, and we wanted to have a name that reflected that," he said.
Corteva Agriscience will continue to use several brand names, including Pioneer and Omega-9 Oils. DuPont Pioneer worked to create soybeans that could be used in healthier oils, including high-oleic soybean oil. Dow AgroSciences worked to create healthier omega-9 fatty acid oils from canola and sunflower.
"The whole idea of healthy oils is going to be consistent with our focus on the consumer," Mr. Gajaria said.
Corteva Agriscience will lean heavily on innovation in crop protection, with a focus on disease management, pest management and weed management and seeds, by building on strong germplasm of key crops.
In the crop protection industry, one out of every four new active ingredients will come from Corteva Agriscience over the next five years, Mr. Gajaria said, and in seeds, one out of every three new traits will come from Corteva.
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