Dow AgroSciences LLC, a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW), and DuPont subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., announced today that they will make their new and increasingly popular family of insect resistant biotech traits more readily available to growers.

The co-developers of the Herculex® family of insect resistance for corn have agreed to eliminate a provision that would have delayed when Dow AgroSciences could license Herculex RW Rootworm Protection and Herculex XTRA Insect Protection to other seed companies. The companies agreed to allow the making of molecular stacks with the Herculex traits, as well as breeding stacks with their own or other traits. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“Herculex traits are fast becoming the in-plant insect protection of choice for corn farmers,” said Tom Wiltrout, Dow AgroSciences’ global business leader – corn. “Regional seed companies will now be able to evaluate and introduce these traits into their lineup in the 2007 season.”

Herculex XTRA combines the above-ground protection of Herculex I with the below-ground protection of Herculex RW. In addition, all Herculex products come with the LibertyLink® trait for tolerance to Liberty® herbicide. The Herculex family of traits offers broader and more effective control than other biotech insect resistant traits on the market. Unlike others, Herculex I provides in-plant protection against black cutworm and western bean cutworm – two significant corn pests – in addition to the European corn borer. Third party evaluations this summer found Herculex RW provided far better protection of corn roots than competitive products. 

“We are very excited about the competitive advantage of the Herculex family and are aggressively transitioning to Herculex for all our proprietary genetics,” said Bob Iwig, Pioneer vice president for marketing. “Using molecular stacks will allow us to keep up the pace as we move to stacks with multiple new traits in our pipeline.”

Dow AgroSciences and Pioneer formed the research collaboration in 1995 to develop insect resistant traits for themselves and for out-licensing. Herculex I was launched in 2003. Herculex RW and Herculex XTRA were launched in 2006.

While the two companies jointly developed the traits, they are marketing them separately. Dow AgroSciences is responsible for all out-licensing.

Dow AgroSciences LLC, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, is a top tier agricultural company providing innovative crop protection, seeds, and biotechnology solutions to serve the world's growing population. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, global sales for Dow AgroSciences are $3.4 billion. Dow AgroSciences and Mycogen Seeds are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Dow Chemical Company. Mycogen Seeds, the retail seed brand of Dow AgroSciences, markets grain corn, silage corn and nutritionally enhanced corn seed, as well as sunflower, canola, soybean, alfalfa and sorghum seed through an extensive network of dealers across the United States. Learn more at www.dowagro.com/ and www.mycogen.com.

Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., a subsidiary of DuPont, is the world's leading source of customized solutions for farmers, livestock producers and grain and oilseed processors. With headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, Pioneer provides access to advanced plant genetics, crop protection solutions and quality crop systems to customers in nearly 70 countries. DuPont is a science-based products and services company.  Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere.  Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.

®Herculex is a registered trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC.
®Liberty and LibertyLink are registered trademarks of Bayer AG.
Herculex Insect Protection technology by Dow AgroSciences and Pioneer Hi-Bred.