Canola as a cover crop?
Joel Jackson, P.Eng., CFA, Fertilizers, Chemicals & Ag Equipment Analyst, BMO Capital Markets recently held a fireside chat with David Johnson, EVP & CFO and Sam Eathington, EVP, Chief Technology & Digital Office from Corteva, about their current financials and expectations for some of their products in the coming years. The conversation took place on May 14 at the BMO 20th Farm to Market | Chemicals Conference in New York.
While much of the focus of the discussion was around financial performance, Jackson asked several questions specifically about new plant protection and seed technology. He noted that biologics have shown good numbers for Corteva in 2025 so far, but it was still early.
Eathington noted that he was working with his sales team recently and that grower sentiment is positive, new products are doing well, corn acres good, and that he does not foresee a shift in the mix.
Jackson asked Eathington if he believed the USDA corn estimates, and he responded that it felt “Pretty close. Still some acres to go in the ground, but it feels close.” He said planting was moving more towards corn, which was good for Corteva.
When the conversation turned to products in the pipeline. Jackson noted that over the past several years, genetic gains have led to about a one percent gain in corn yield each year, but he asked Eathington if that could continue, and what the limits to yield gain were. Eathington said that the yield limits came because of increased plant density per acre. That agriculture science had bred corn to tolerate higher plant density, reducing corn row spacing in the US from 40 inches between rows to about 30 inches today.
He said with some of the new technologies, “I will be retired before we hit the limits of increasing yield.”
Eathington noted that the regulatory world is dynamic, but he believed the next wave of improvements in plant breeding was gene editing. He said he believed Europe will reach a gene editing agreement this year, which means gene editing could be used in Europe in the coming years. “That is a huge shift, it will change the game. “It will let Corteva accelerate yield gains year over year.
Corteva explained their new hybrid wheat technology, saying that they used a different genetic mechanism than competitors to make it stable. It has been tested for 3 or 4 years, and he said people could see it in field trials in Iowa and Kansas trials.
He said this opens optionality of what you do with land. Different foods use commodities different ways.
Jackson highlighted the “Food for the summer, fuel for the winter” project that Corteva was running in the southern US (Tennessee and Kentucky), where they have planted 35,000 acres of winter canola planted in September/October as a cover crop, which yields 50 to 60 bushels per acre. It is a great cash crop for farmers that can be harvested in May, and then farmers can still plant soybeans.
In November 2022, Corteva announced that it has acquired Stoller one of the largest independent biologicals companies in the industry. The acquisition of Stoller reinforced Corteva’s commitment to providing farmers with biologicals tools that complement evolving farming practices and help them meet changing market expectations.
The Biologicals market is expected to grow high-single digits annually through 2035 representing approximately 25% of the overall crop protection market by 2035.
Earlier that same year it had acquired Symborg, experts in microbiological technologies that produced biostimulant Utrisha N. Corteva brought these complementary biologicals together.