Farmers will have two options for ‘world-class’ seed, Corteva exec said
By Andrea Gal
Managing Editor, Integrated Media
Farms.com
Next year, Canadian farmers will have more options when purchasing their seed.
Corteva Agriscience, formed from the 2017 DowDuPont merger, will offer two seed brands for the 2019 growing season.
Pioneer, the legacy brand from DuPont, will still be available through the new company and will be one of the two premium seed brands.
Corteva will also offer Brevant seed. This brand “is the new version of what previously was Dow Seeds, D-Series and Nexera Canola,” Bryce Eger, Corteva’s commercial unit leader for Canada, said to Farms.com on Wednesday.
Both brands will be supported by one research and development team, which will ultimately result in stronger offerings, he said. Corteva’s germplasm, for example, “now has more breadth” from the legacy Dow and DuPont businesses.
As the products are all coming out of the same pipeline, “you get the synergistic effect of having researchers and individual crop breeders have access to more tools, more resources and the ability to create better products,” Eger explained.
The key difference between the Pioneer and Brevant brands will be the sales channels.
Corteva wanted to ensure customers still had options, Eger said. “We know that farmers are going to make decisions based on who they are going to do business with and how they are going to do business.”
Farmers will still access Pioneer seed through Pioneer sales representatives. Brevant will be primarily available through the retail network, Eger said.
Both brands will be available across Canada and globally. Brevant, however, will not be sold in the American marketplace, Eger noted.
Bryce Eger/Better Farming photo