Corteva Agriscience has opened a new Center for Seed Applied Technologies (CSAT) in southwest France, with the goal of helping Europe’s farmers get their crops off to the best start and achieve a successful harvest.
The Center in Aussonne is the first for Corteva in Europe and its third worldwide. The CSAT will focus on service development, with strong scientific investment that will be part of new seed treatment solutions to help farmers meet the challenges of a changing agricultural sector. Seed treatments can protect young plants from pests and disease and help tender seedlings get off to a vigorous start that improves productivity.
CSATs act as a laboratory, testing center and seed treatment plant, with rigorous processes in place for the discovery, formulation and real-world testing of seed applied technologies. This process enables seed treatments to protect and perform to solve on-farm challenges, delivering value for growers.
As a result, more farmers can benefit from innovations in seed treatment ensuring application dose accuracy, improved field performance and increased productivity for farmers, as well as enhancing sustainability in line with Corteva Agriscience’s sustainability commitment.
The CSAT will also work with business collaborators to provide services and tests to help improve the quality of seed treatments.
Igor Teslenko, Corteva Agriscience president, europe, said: “The opening of the first CSAT in Europe is good news for innovation and will help provide farmers with the tools they need for more sustainable food production.
“Because Seed Applied Technologies involve treating the seed rather than applying crop protection solutions in the field, they can help lower the environmental footprint of agriculture.
“We believe in a collaborative approach, that’s why we’re also enabling our collaborators by providing access to our formulation and testing services. This way, farmers are supported in getting the best possible products from the market.
“Corteva Agriscience invested almost €6m in this project as part of efforts to strengthen our seed offering. We are a company focused on those who produce and those who consume, and this Center will help farmers boost productivity while meeting consumer demand for a more sustainable agriculture.”
Corteva Agriscience also offers a suite of Seed Applied Technology (SAT) solutions, which involve treating the seed, including Lumiposa and Lumivia for insecticide seed treatment, Lumisena and Lumiflex for fungicide seed treatment control, and Lumidapt, a seed applied growth nutrition for crops.
