Pioneer Hi-Bred opened maize research centre in Germany

Date:06-20-2011

Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business announced the opening of its third maize research centre in Langenbach, district of Freising in Bavaria. The centre will employ five fulltime positions and additional seasonal staff, greatly speeding product development by expanding the silage testing network and adding additional biogas testing plots across Bavaria. Pioneer also operates a fourth research centre in Germany which is dedicated to oilseed rape product development.

'The establishment of this new research centre is one of many investments Pioneer is making across Europe to provide our customers with high performing maize products to help improve their productivity and profitability. The Langenbach research centre will be critical in extending our European maize market leadership position by strengthening our product line-up in the early maturity, silage and biogas markets,’ said Jeff Rowe, Regional director, Europe, Pioneer Hi-Bred.

The primary focus of breeding efforts at the centre will be the development of early silage and biogas maize hybrids suited to growing conditions across northern Europe. The centre extends the Pioneer testing network in southeast Germany for improved local characterization of new maize hybrids, and will be linked with Pioneer’s global network of more than 110 research centres.

'The Langenbach facility and our dedicated team of maize breeders will support efforts to increase the yield, disease resistance and stress tolerance of maize hybrids for the silage and biogas end uses in this region using cutting-edge technologies such as marker assisted breeding and double haploids,’ commented John Soper, vice president ’ Pioneer Crop Genetics Research & Development.

In addition to maize product development, Pioneer leads the industry with innovative new technologies that reduce the time it takes to bring new products to our farmer customers in Europe. This centre, like other research facilities, will utilize novel technologies for product characterization such as the NIRS (Near-InfraRed Spectrometry) technique on silage choppers for real time and online measurement of dry-matter and quality traits as well as GPS (Global Positioning System) enabled research trial plot seed planters.

Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, is the world’s leading developer and supplier of advanced plant genetics, providing high-quality seeds to farmers in more than 90 countries. Pioneer provides agronomic support and services to help increase farmer productivity and profitability and strives to develop sustainable agricultural systems for people everywhere. Science with Service Delivering Success.

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 90 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.