Goodbye, DuPont Pioneer and Dow AgroSciences; Hello, Corteva

By Emily Unglesbee , DTN Staff Reporter

ROCKVILLE, Md. (DTN) -- Add two new words to your agricultural lexicon -- Corteva Agriscience.

The name will grace the new agriculture company spun off from the 2017 merger of Dow and DuPont. It will house the seed, pesticide and digital service holdings of DuPont Crop Protection, DuPont Pioneer and Dow AgroSciences.

You have until the expected spin-off date of June 2019 to memorize the new name, which combines the Latin word for heart ("cor") and the Hebrew word for nature ("teva"). Historians might note that this Roman-Jewish mash-up is a curious choice for a marriage of companies, given the intense mutual animosity between the ancient Romans and the ancient Jews.

But the new company's leadership is blithely optimistic.

"This is the start of an exciting journey," James Collins, chief operating officer of the new agricultural company, said in a news release. "With the most balanced portfolio of products in the industry, nearly a century of agronomic expertise and an unparalleled innovation engine, Corteva Agriscience will become a leading agriculture company, focused on working together with the entire food system to produce a secure supply of healthy food."

Corteva Agriscience will be a giant in the agrichemical and seed industry, worth more than $14 billion in combined revenues last year. Its sizeable portfolio contains herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and seed in 11 different crops, including corn, soybeans, cotton and wheat. That includes Enlist corn, cotton and soybeans engineered to tolerate 2,4-D and glyphosate, as well as high oleic Plenish soybeans. The Pioneer brand will also survive on certain products, under the new company name.

Corteva will also house the farm management software company Granular, which DuPont acquired in August 2017.

The company's corporate headquarters will be in Wilmington, Delaware, with "global business centers" in Indianapolis, the former headquarters of Dow AgroSciences, and Johnston, Iowa, where DuPont Pioneer was based.

Two other companies will emerge from the DowDuPont merger. One is a materials science company based in Midland, Michigan, which will keep the Dow name and its red diamond logo. The final spinoff, a specialty products company, will keep the DuPont name and be based in Wilmington, Delaware.