Indy Part of Growth Plans For Corteva
The agriculture division of Michigan-based DowDuPont Inc. (NYSE: DWDP) is looking to Indiana to help continue its growth. The formation of Corteva Agriscience, which has a large presence in Indianapolis, was first announced nine months ago. Rajan Gajaria, executive vice president of business formation, says technology is going to play a major role in the future of agriculture and specifically, crop protection.
Corteva was created through a combination of Indianapolis-based Dow AgroSciences, DuPont Pioneer and DuPont Crop Protection. While the company is headquartered in Maryland, its crop protection global business center is located in Indy, employing some 1,500 people.
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Gajaria said a lot of the business activity in crop protection for Corteva happens out of Indianapolis. "(There is) a strong R&D presence here. Innovation is at the heart of what we do. Of the 1,500 people, about 500 are PhDs. We’ve got people from about 40 different countries based here. We are looking forward to continuing to growing our footprint in Indianapolis. As the company grows, so will our footprint here."
DowDuPont plans to spin out Corteva as its own, publicly-traded company in June.