Dow Ag Chemicals Sales Up 31 Percent; New Products Aim at Growing Market

March 11, 2012
By: Dave Rogers

The world will require 100 percent more food in the next half century and The Dow Chemical Company aims to help farmers meet that need.

About 70 percent of the increased productivity must come from efficiency-improving technology.

Those were among the assertions of Antonio Galindez, president and CEO of Dow AgroSciences, at a recent Goldman Sachs Agricultural Biotech Forum.

Sales of Dow's new ag chemicals are up nearly a third and are on track to exceed the $800 million dollar target by 2013, Mr. Galindez reported.

"We now are engaged in the highest quality discovery pipeline in the history of the company," said Mr. Galindez, noting that the firm has launched four major solutions in the last three years and expects to launch four new solutions this year alone.

Mr. Galindez cited significant technology-driven growth, led by biotech innovations and novel ag chem products including:

SmartStax®, PowerCore(tm), Enlist(tm) Weed Control System, and Sulfoxaflor insecticide;

The Dow ag chem pipeline is filled with high-value solutions and proprietary formulations for the next 10 years, according to Mr. Galindez, who also cited:

Strengthened channel access and technology penetration, enabled by multiple bolt-on seed acquisitions;

Building critical mass in biotech capabilities; R&D productivity accelerating innovation; and

Goal of $1 billion corn seed and trait business and >10 percent share in the Americas.

Consumers soon will have enhanced healthy diet options with the first product to achieve the FDA "saturated fat free" foods through Omega-9 Sunflower Oil that is on track for a 2014-2015 launch, he said.

Other new products include Instinct (R), Nitrogen Stabilizer that provides healthier corn and higher yield potentials, and Refuge Advanced (R), to promote more yield on more corn acres.

Another innovation from Dow AgroChemicals is the Sentricon (R) Termite Colony Elimination System, originally launched in 1995 and modified in 2010 providing bait in all stations continuously. More than 400,000 structures are utilizing the new Always Active (tm) technology, the firm said, citing "worry free" termite protection.

A Brazil Sustainable Livestock Initiative is underway, aiming to recover 15 million hectares of degraded pasture land for planting higher-value crops. Besides reducing greenhouse gases by 40 percent, the initiative would double productivity, according to the firm. ###