DuPont Reports Strong 2010 Harvest Results for Farmers

WILMINGTON, Del., Nov. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- With 2010 harvest nearly complete across North America, DuPont announced strong seed product performance results for this season.  North American growers experienced another year of consistent and dependable yields with corn and soybean products from DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred. Yield data report and comparison details are available here.

"The 'Right Product, Right Acre' strategy is winning for North America growers and Pioneer," said Paul E. Schickler, president – Pioneer Hi-Bred.  "During the 2010 harvest, Pioneer® brand products delivered the solid performance growers expected, giving us confidence for a successful 2011 selling season."

Corn Performance

Overall, in 2010 corn yield comparisons, Pioneer® brand corn seed products edged out competitive products by 0.8 bushel per acre (bu/ac) from more than 123,000 on-farm trials across the United States and Canada.  While each product segment continued to have solid performance, Pioneer® brand hybrids with double-stacked traits showed impressive results by continuing their leadership, averaging 4.0 bu/ac better than competitive double-stacked trait products in more than 3,800 comparisons.

The 2010 season also demonstrated Optimum® AcreMax™ 1 (AM1) product performance and convenience.  Large area on-farm trials confirmed AM1 products had equivalent performance compared to their Herculex® XTRA counterparts across growing environments.  Growers are anticipating the value of the AM1 system.  This confidence has translated into initial demand that is pacing ahead of expectations, and Pioneer anticipates reaching its initial target launch of 1 million units for 2011 planting.  

Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted commercial registration of AM1 insect protection for Pioneer® corn hybrids, marking the EPA's first approval of an in-the-bag solution for insect refuge management. AM1 provides reduced corn rootworm refuge and a more convenient path to refuge compliance by allowing growers to plant the required corn borer refuge up to a half-mile away.

"Our products are meeting or beating competitor performance where it counts – on growers' operations.  This performance further builds confidence in our unique ability to deliver total farm productivity and profitability to growers," said Schickler.  "The strength of Pioneer germplasm combined with trait stability, localized testing and customer relationships enables us to put the right product on the right acre and ultimately support grower success."

Soybean Performance

The top 10 Pioneer soybean products by sales volume showed a 1.6 bu/ac yield advantage compared to all competitive varieties.  These results came from more than 3,200 comparisons throughout North America.  Much of the success for growers stems from Pioneer® brand Y Series soybeans, introduced in the 2009 growing season.  Pioneer is adding 29 new soybean varieties to its 2011 line-up.  It will give growers the products they need to succeed in a variety of environments based on specific soil conditions as well as insect and disease pressures.  In addition to enhanced yield potential, new Y Series varieties continue to demonstrate strong agronomic traits and protection against yield-robbing pests such as soybean cyst nematode, sudden death syndrome, Phytophthora root rot, white mold and iron chlorosis.  Most of these varieties also contain the Roundup Ready® trait for herbicide tolerance.  

These results demonstrate why the Pioneer business market share has risen to 35 percent in corn seed and 31 percent in soybean seed in the 2010 season.  This marks a three-point increase in corn and five-point increase in soybean, compared to 2009, in North America market share.  Also, 2010 marks the second consecutive year of gaining North America corn share and the third year in gaining share in soybeans.

Pioneer Hi-Bred (www.pioneer.com), a DuPont business headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, is the world's leading developer and supplier of advanced plant genetics, providing high-quality seeds to farmers in more than 90 countries.  Pioneer provides agronomic support and services to help increase farmer productivity and profitability and strives to develop sustainable agricultural systems for people everywhere.  Science with Service Delivering Success™.

DuPont (www.dupont.com) is a science-based products and services company.  Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere.  Operating in more than 90 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.

Forward-Looking Statements:  This news release contains forward-looking statements based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections.  All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the company's strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected expenditures and financial results are forward-looking statements.  Some of the forward-looking statements may be identified by words like "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "intends," "projects," "indicates," and similar expressions.  These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions.  Many factors, including those discussed more fully elsewhere in this release and in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by DuPont, particularly its latest annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q, as well as others, could cause results to differ materially from those stated.  These factors include, but are not limited to changes in the laws, regulations, policies and economic conditions, including inflation, interest and foreign currency exchange rates, of countries in which the company does business; competitive pressures; successful integration of structural changes, including restructuring plans, acquisitions, divestitures and alliances; cost of raw materials, research and development of new products, including regulatory approval and market acceptance; seasonality of sales of agricultural products; and severe weather events that cause business interruptions, including plant and power outages, or disruptions in supplier and customer operations. The company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements as a result of future developments or new information.

11/17/10

The DuPont Oval Logo, DuPont™, The miracles of science™, Pioneer®, Optimum® and AcreMaxTM are registered trademarks or trademarks of DuPont or its affiliates.

Herculex® Insect Protection technology by Dow AgroSciences and Pioneer Hi-Bred.  Herculex®  and the HX logo are registered trademarks of Dow AgroSciences LLC.

®Roundup Ready is a registered trademark used under license from Monsanto Company.

Source: 2010 Pioneer on-farm trial database extracted Nov. 9, 2010

SOURCE DuPont