DuPont, lab in Mexico partner for corn project

DuPont is partnering with a national laboratory in Mexico to search for ways to boost corn production for a growing world population and boost its growing agricultural profits.

DuPont's Iowa-based agricultural subsidiary, Pioneer Hi-Bred, announced the collaboration Monday with the National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity, a Mexican public institution. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Pioneer sells high-yield, genetically modified corn and soybean seeds and will look to use any discoveries in its commercial products. Most of the collaborative research will take place in Langebio's labs in Irapuato, Guanajuato, DuPont said.

Barbara Mazur, vice president of research strategy at DuPont, said that Langebio has knowledge in plant reproduction and development, with a specific focus on corn.

"I think that we always benefit from other people's thinking, their intelligence and the projects they've chosen to work on," Mazur said. "Partnering with the best is a core component of what we do."

DuPont's agriculture business, which also includes crop protection chemicals and other products, generated $6.5 billion in sales in the first half of 2011, or about a third of the company's total.

Public-private agricultural partnerships are not unusual for DuPont.

Last year, the company partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and public institutions in Africa, including the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, to develop corn seeds that improve nitrogen fertilizer uptake and result in more bountiful harvests without the purchase of additional fertilizer.