72 / SEEDWORLD.COM DECEMBER 2018 protection and seeds that they need,” said Jeff Rowe, Syngenta president of global seeds and North America and China. This private ownership gives Syngenta advantages, Rowe said, like the unin- terrupted investment in research and development that exceeds more than $1.3 billion per year in seeds, crop protection and digital agriculture. Syngenta has also begun and will continue significant investments in North America, encompassing brands, staff and facilities. Rowe said they’ve already added seed advisors within their Golden Harvest brand and are in the process of rebuilding their NK retail brand. “We’re adding significant staff to sup- port retail — almost a three-fold increase — both in agronomy to help position and sell products properly on the right acre, and in account management to help retailers achieve their goals,” Rowe said. This fall, Syngenta announced they would open a Global and North America Seeds office in the Chicago area, result- ing in approximately 50 seeds business managers and employees relocating from other U.S. locations starting in early 2019. Rowe said the new Chicago facility will support the company’s long-term growth strategy and offers multiple advantages. “It positions us geographically closer to our U.S. customers in the important corn and soy growing region; gives us access to an incredible talent pool for world-leading digital and tech innova- tion, and readily connects us to other key seeds markets globally through an excel- lent transportation hub,” Rowe said. Since the ChemChina deal was final- ized, Syngenta has added to their North America Seeds leadership team includ- ing David Hollinrake, named president of Syngenta Seeds, LLC and North America region director, and G.W. Fuhr, named head of U.S. Branded Sales and Biofuels. DowDuPont: Now Corteva Dow and DuPont successfully merged their operations in the fall of 2017 and now have set their sights on the separation of their Agriculture Division, Corteva Agriscience, by June 2019. In October, DowDuPont announced they had filed the necessary documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the separation. When the merger was finalized in September 2017, DowDuPont officials said the new Agriculture Company would build on the strengths of DuPont Pioneer, DuPont Crop Protection and Dow AgroSciences. Corteva’s product portfolio will include 11 types of seeds and inoculants with some bearing the familiar Pioneer and Mycogen brands plus multi- ple crop protection options. The new division will be headquar- tered in Wilmington, Del., with global business centers in Johnston, Iowa, and Indianapolis, Ind. “With the most balanced portfolio of products in the industry, nearly a century of agronomic expertise, and an unparal- leled innovation engine, we are creating a new agriculture company that will work together with the entire food ecosystem to produce a secure supply of healthy food, sustainably and efficiently,” said James C. Collins, Jr., Corteva Agriscience’s chief executive officer-elect. SW