Corteva eyeing bigger presence in nation with more research hands

Corteva Agriscience, the agriculture division of US company DowDuPont, will add employees, research and field development resources to consolidate its position in the China market, the company's head said.

James Collins, chief executive officer of Corteva, said the company has a technology pipeline of new products and offerings that it will be bringing to the market in the next couple of years.

"Over the coming years, we will add people in the sales and marketing division so that we have a better sales force to call on more growers," Collins said.

"We test our products to make sure they're appropriate for the Chinese market. And so I can imagine us adding research and field development resources as well," he told China Daily.

China's Foreign Investment Law, adopted in March, is a positive step forward, Collins said, adding that the company has been encouraged by it. "We are working to understand the law and make sure we are able to follow all of the elements in it."

Corteva intends to become an independent, publicly traded company when the previously announced spinoff is completed by June this year. It has product and service offerings with a robust combined pipeline across seed germ plasm, biotech traits, crop protection, seed-applied technologies and digital agriculture.

In the China market, Corteva has created two joint ventures and established industry leading research and development capabilities.

Collins said the company's strategy in China is not much different from their global strategy. "Our focus is to use technology to help farmers and producers become more productive, which enables them to also be more profitable."

"We're able to be part of rural revitalization as growers learn how to not only produce more, but get paid more for the quality of what they are producing," he said.

The biggest change in China's agricultural sector, Collins said, is the use of digital technologies like drones. "The digitalization of tools is even safer for folks who are applying these products. I think this is actually an advantage that China has," he added.

China has been encouraging farmers to leverage cutting-edge technologies to promote sustainable agriculture.

Li Weiguo, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that the country would advance the scientific and technological innovation of agricultural machines, and provide efficient equipment and technical support for the upgrading of its agricultural mechanization.