Corteva Agriscience

Corteva Agriscience™ (Corteva Agriscience) is the agriculture division of DowDuPont. Corteva Agriscience was created following the merger between Dow Chemical and DuPont that was completed on 31 August 2017. The two companies merged their agriculture, materials science and specialty product portfolios. In 2019, Corteva Agriscience will separate from DowDuPont and become a publicly traded company that brings together DuPont Crop Protection, DuPont Pioneer and Dow AgroSciences. It supplies a diverse range of field crop varieties alongside crop protection products. In South and Southeast Asia, the company primarily works through its Pioneer brand, with maize, rice and millets considered its main crops. DuPont Pioneer India sold its cotton seed business in 2017.

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South and Southeast Asia

Summary of results:

Corteva Agriscience ranks fifth in the South and Southeast Asia Index. It is the only company in the index that exclusively sells field crop varieties. Its strong performance is based upon solid corporate commitments across the measurement areas, centered around specific activities and targets for smallholder farmers. The company has several research collaborations in the region, including with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), aimed at benefiting smallholder farmers. Its favorable positions in Intellectual Property in relation to smallholders are reflected in high scores in this measurement area. The company also scores relatively highly in both Seed Production and Marketing & Sales, a result of the scope of its activities and tailored approaches aimed at smallholder farmers. The company does not appear to have varied Capacity Building activities in the region, particularly outside of India, as reflected in its comparatively limited performance in this measurement area.

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Operations in Scope
  • Countries in Scope
  • Company Presence
  • Production Locations
  • Breeding Station/R&D
Index Crops in Portfolio
Sales Seed type Source
bgd khm ind idn lao npl pak PHL lka tha vnm Hybrid OPV GM Own
breeding
program		 Public
research
institute		 Licensed
from other
company
Field crops
Beans, dry
Maize
Millets
Rice, paddy
Sorghum
Sunflower
Wheat
Local Crops in Portfolio
  • Mustard
Leading Practices

    Corteva Agriscience has committed to improving the livelihoods of at least 3 million farmers and their rural communities by the end of 2020. Within this corporate target, the company specifies its Rice Farm Schools Program in India, a collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh Department of Agriculture that will provide half a million smallholder farmers with practical expertise and agronomic training. The project aims to have a multiplier effect, whereby farmers train other farmers using an eight-step program.

    The company’s Child Labor Prevention Program and Contract Core Values, initiated in 2011, reflect its commitment to addressing four main elements in its seed supply chain: forced labor (including child labor), health and safety, living conditions and minimum wages. Corteva Agriscience reports that it continues to take a community-based and multi-stakeholder approach to implementation, monitoring and auditing of the programs. The programs also include risk assessment, education, training, and potential incentives and disincentives at the local level.

    Corteva Agriscience participates in product testing consortia with ICRISAT (millets) and IRRI (rice) in South and Southeast Asia, in order to evaluate germplasm for biotic and abiotic stress traits and yield potential across several different testing environments. The company is also working with ICRISAT on a project to target rancidity pathways in millets, with the goal of reducing consequential postharvest storage losses.

Areas for Improvement

    The company reports that it offers extension services in four of the 11 index countries where it is present. It could improve its position by offering, or providing more detail on, a greater breadth and depth of activities in relation to the training of smallholder farmers.

Notable Findings

    Corteva Agriscience estimates that around 80% of its clientele in South and Southeast Asia are smallholder farmers.

    The company states that it supports farmer groups and cooperatives, such as the Philippine Maize Federation (PhilMaize), to enable the use of biotech products.

    The company breeds and tests for a number of pests and diseases within its crop portfolio including leaf blight, bacterial stalk rot and fusarium rot (maize); brown plant hopper and false smut (rice); and downy mildew and blast (millets).

    Corteva Agriscience collaborates with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in the Heat Tolerant Maize for Asia project in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

    The company sponsors internships and supports activities at the Cornell Plant Breeding School and Learning Institutes in India and the Philippines. The company also held one of its Breeding Symposia Series in India in 2017, as a means of reaching local plant breeders and students through discussions, business-relationship building and career opportunities.

    The company engages approximately 1,000 third parties to organize seed production activities in India, through which the company uses long term contracts to solidify its relationships with 58,000 seed producers, of which 80% are estimated to be smallholder farmers.

    The company offers insurance in the Philippines, whereby smallholder maize and rice farmers are given a repurchase discount in the event of natural calamities damaging their crops.

    Corteva Agriscience has partnered with AusAID since 2016 to build the capacity of smallholder farmers in Indonesia to adopt hybrid varieties.

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