Innovations for Corn, Soybeans Draws Crowd
Nearly 2,000 growers visit plot tours offered by Dow AgroSciences at Farm Progress Show


INDIANAPOLIS - September 11, 2007 - Corn and soybean growers from the Midwest visit the Farm Progress Show each year to see new technologies in agriculture. The opportunity to learn about new innovations from Dow AgroSciences captured the attention of growers last week at the 2007 show in Decatur, Ill.

Featuring the new Dow AgroSciences Herbicide Tolerance technology, HERCULEX® Insect Protection in-plant traits, the new Technology for Traits™ portfolio of herbicides and Mycogen® brand corn hybrids, field tours of corn plots drew nearly 2,000 growers and others in the ag industry. Company officials estimate that altogether about 20,000 show attendees visited the Dow AgroSciences tent.

The company announced on the opening day of the show that they were developing a family of traits that exhibits tolerance to certain broadleaf and grass herbicides, including phenoxy auxins like 2,4-D, as well as "fop," a key grass herbicide family.

Feedback from attendees who learned of the new traits during the field tours was overwhelmingly positive. These traits are anticipated to launch in corn by 2012 and soybeans by 2013 or 2014.

At www.DowAgroDHT.com, growers who did not attend the Farm Progress Show can view a virtual tour of the plots in Decatur and watch the press conference where the new herbicide tolerance trait was announced in detail to the ag media. They also can listen to podcasts describing the new technologies the company featured during the three-day run of the show.

Growers learned how the company plans to stack the new herbicide tolerance trait with the HERCULEX® Insect Protection  family of traits to provide growers the broadest-spectrum, in-plant insect protection and best herbicide tolerance package available.

"It was extremely gratifying to hear the response of growers who viewed our company's innovations during the show," said Stan Howell, vice president North America for Dow AgroSciences. "Growers have been very pleased with the performance of our HERCULEX lineup of traits and they are excited to see a new herbicide tolerance trait being developed by our company that will one day be available stacked with HERCULEX."

Other features on the tour included:

  • A black cutworm trial that displayed the protection that HERCULEX (www.HERCULEX.net) provides versus competitive traits and seed treatments.
  • A presentation on the company's new Technology for Traits™ portfolio of herbicides for herbicide-tolerant crops, including new SURESTART™ (www.SureStart.com), SONIC™ (www.SonicHerbicide.com) and DURANGO® DMA®  (www.DurangoDMA.com) herbicides.
  • Plots of MYCOGEN® (www.Mycogen.com) brand industry-leading SILAGE-SPECIFIC™ hybrids, grain corn and SUPERCEDE™ HE High Energy corn lineups.
  • They also learned about the company's sunflower lineup and how oils produced from Mycogen brand sunflower hybrids are used by the food industry because of their healthier profile.

"Our plots at the Farm Progress Show display our company's commitment to investing in the development of new technologies," Howell added. "We remain one of the few companies that continues to bring new products to growers in the ag chem, seeds and traits sectors, and we look forward in the near future to sharing news on more technologies with growers."

Dow AgroSciences LLC, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, is a top-tier agricultural company providing innovative crop protection, pest and vegetation management, seed, and agricultural biotechnology solutions to serve the world's growing population. Global sales for Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, are $3.4 billion. Learn more at www.dowagro.com.