Evogene and DuPont team to improve corn yields

Israeli crop productivity big data biotech company Evogene Ltd. (Nasdaq: EVGN; TASE:EVGN) has signed a major multiyear collaboration deal with US agritech giant DuPont unit DuPont Pioneer. The agreement encompasses R&D for microbiome-based seed treatments in corn. The goal of the collaboration is to provide farmers with innovative bio-stimulant seed treatment products that protect and maximize corn yield by leveraging each other’s relevant market-leading technologies.

Under the terms of the agreement, DuPont will provide access to its extensive seed treatment application technology and product development expertise. Evogene, based in Rehovot, will apply its predictive computational biology platform to decipher plant/microbiome interactions along with its microbial formulation and fermentation technologies. The combination of these key capabilities increases the opportunity to fully activate the potential of the emerging field of microbiome-based seed treatment products.

DuPont Pioneer VP R&D Neal Gutterson said, "This is an important step forward in our efforts to discover, develop and provide advanced seed-applied technologies. Our relationship with Evogene is consistent with our history of collaboration to advance science-based customer solutions and our open innovation strategy."

Evogene president and CEO Ofer Haviv said, "We believe microbiome-based biologicals will be an important and valuable tool for farmers in driving agricultural productivity. Evogene’s biological predictive technology platform drives research and development of such novel ag-biological solutions and generates significant positive outcomes. We are extremely pleased and proud to collaborate with agriculture leader DuPont Pioneer - a collaboration which will improve our potential for success and reduce our time to market."

Ag-biologicals represent a growing approach for driving agriculture productivity and are increasingly adopted by farmers to complement the existing solutions of improved seed traits and crop protection chemistry. The bio-stimulant market is an evolving segment with immense potential and estimated by MarketsandMarkets in 2016 at over $1.6 billion with a projected annual growth rate of 10%.

The multiyear collaboration has an extension option if certain milestones are met. Pioneer will obtain worldwide marketing rights for any products, with milestone payments and royalties to be paid to Evogene. Specific financial terms and additional details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 26, 2017