Corteva highlights breakthrough innovation, unveils new financial framework

November 19, at its 2024 Investor Day, Corteva outlined its strategy to continue to deliver value to shareholders by helping the world address three global challenges: food security, driven by a growing global population coupled with finite arable land; climate change and the resulting intensification of extreme weather and pressures from insects, weeds and diseases; and the energy transition away from fossil fuels, leading to increased demand for biofuels. Corteva believes innovation is the answer to addressing each. 

The company also unveiled a new financial framework through 2027: $1 billion in incremental net sales from growth platforms, ~$1 billion in cost deflation and productivity benefits and roughly $4.5 billion in shareholder returns. Core to this framework will be the company’s six growth platforms, also announced today:

1. Seed and trait out-licensing, to strengthen the company’s target to be royalty-neutral by the end of 2028;

2. Biologicals, targeting $1 billion in annual revenues by the end of the decade, harnessing the power of nature to sustainably, effectively increase yields;

3. New Crop Protection technologies, to keep pace with the growing pressures of insects, weeds and diseases;

4. Gene editing, to leverage the power of the most advanced capacity in the industry, including leading germplasm, to transform the way the world farms;

5. Biofuels, to help meet rising fuel demand from the long-haul transportation sector with lower-carbon alternatives;

6. Hybrid wheat, enabled by a one-of-its-kind, proprietary system with potential to deliver yield advantages of 10%  -- and up to 20% in water-stressed environments.¹

These platforms are underpinned by the company’s commitment to groundbreaking innovation coupled with cost and operational discipline: Corteva reinvests ~8% of its sales into research and development – the equivalent of roughly $4 million per day – to anticipate and solve farmers’ most intractable challenges. 

″Corteva is a critical technology provider in an absolutely indispensable industry, and poised to deliver meaningful growth and value,″ said Corteva CEO Chuck Magro. ″Building on nearly a century of agronomic expertise, groundbreaking technology that helps farmers solve some of their toughest challenges and the ability to deliver seed and crop protection solutions for every acre, this company is set to further its strong track record of creating value for farmers, shareholders and society at large. It's an exciting time to be at, and with, Corteva.″

¹ Internal yield trial testing; 2 years of testing with 6-10 locations/year in each of the market classes. Hard Red Winter testing in NE, KS, CO, OK.