Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. is a U.S.-based producer of seeds for

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

. They are a major producer of

genetically modified organisms A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The exact definition of a genetically modified organism and what constitutes genetic engineering varies, with ...

(GMOs), including genetically modified crops with insect and herbicide resistance. As of 2019, Pioneer is a wholly owned subsidiary of

Corteva Agriscience Corteva, Inc. (also known as Corteva Agriscience) is a major American agricultural chemical and seed company that was the agricultural unit of DowDuPont prior to being spun off as an independent public company. DowDuPont announced the Corteva nam ...

History

In 1926, farm journal editor and future U.S. Vice President

Henry A. Wallace Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was an American politician, journalist, farmer, and businessman who served as the 33rd vice president of the United States, the 11th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and the 10th U.S. ...

, along with a group of

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...

businessmen, founded the Hi-Bred Corn Company. Wallace had been experimenting with hybridization of corn and became convinced that hybrid seed

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

would become important.

Timeline

*1924 Henry Wallace begins selling 'Copper Cross', an early commercial hybrid seed corn. *1926 Hi-Bred Corn Company is founded in Des Moines, Iowa, with $7,000 in capital. *1931

Roswell Garst Roswell "Bob" Garst (June 13, 1898 – November 4, 1977) was an American farmer and seed company executive. He developed hybrid corn seed in 1930 that allowed greater crop yields than open-pollinated corn. He was perhaps most well known for host ...

agrees to produce/distribute seed. The following year Garst partners with Charles Thomas to form the Garst and Thomas Seed Corn Company. *1935 "Pioneer" was added to the name of the company to distinguish it from other hybrid corn companies. The full name is "Pioneer Hi-Bred Corn Company". *1936 Pioneer founds Hy-Line Poultry Farms (later Hy-Line International) to produce hybrid egg-laying chickens. Henry B. Wallace (son of Henry A. Wallace) serves as president of Hy-Line until 1975. *1949 Pioneer reaches annual sales of one million units. *1964 a research station is established in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

. *1970 The company name is changed to Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. *1973 Becomes a publicly traded company. *1973 Pioneer obtains a soybean product line through the purchase of Peterson Seed Company. *1975 Purchases Lankhartt and Lockett companies (cotton seed business). *1977 Pioneer acquires Microbial Products division to develop bacterial strains for inoculation into silage. *1978 Hy-Line International is spun off. *1981 Pioneer becomes the market-share leader in North America corn sales. *1982 Annual sales pass the US$10 million mark. *1983 The name of the soybean product line was changed from Peterson to Pioneer. *1991 Pioneer purchases 2 million shares and establishes a partnership with

Mycogen Seeds Mycogen Seeds, headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, provides seeds for agriculture. Mycogen produces, markets and sells hybrid seed corn. The company also markets and sells sorghum, sunflower, soybean, alfalfa, and canola. Th ...

to develop Bt insect resistance in corn, sorghum, soybean, canola, sunflower, and other seeds. Pioneer sold the shares in 1998. Pioneer becomes the number one brand of soybeans in North America. *1992 Pioneer paid $450,000 to Monsanto for rights to

genetically modified Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including ...

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu ...

seeds that are resistant to RoundUp

herbicide Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weedkillers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds.EPA. February 201Pesticides Industry. Sales and Usage 2006 and 2007: Market Estimates. Summary in press releasMain page f ...

. *1993 Pioneer paid $38 million to Monsanto for rights to Bt corn that is resistant to

European corn borer The European corn borer (''Ostrinia nubilalis''), also known as the European corn worm or European high-flyer, is a moth of the family Crambidae which includes other grass moths. It is a pest of grain, particularly maize (''Zea mays''). The ...

s. *1995 Pioneer stock is listed on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

as PHYB. *1996 Pioneer acquires 20% stake in Sunseeds Co. (a hybrid vegetable seed producer) in exchange for Pioneer's vegetable seed operation. *1997

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

acquires a 20% stake in Pioneer and the companies form a joint venture called Optimum Quality Grains LLC. *1999 DuPont purchases the remaining 80% of Pioneer for $7.7 billion. *2006 DuPont and

Syngenta Syngenta AG is a provider of agricultural science and technology, in particular seeds and pesticides with its management headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. It is owned by ChemChina, a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Syngenta was found ...

announce GreenLeaf Genetics LLC, a joint venture to market seed genetics and biotech traits. *2010 DuPont and Syngenta end their joint venture, GreenLeaf Genetics LLC, with Syngenta retaining complete ownership. *2012 Pioneer announces update to business name to be DuPont Pioneer. *2012 Lawsuit regarding pesticides and dust by 200 residents of Waimea, Kauai against Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a DuPont company.Waimea residents sue Pioneer
. Thegardenisland.com. Retrieved on 2013-09-05. *2012 DuPont Pioneer completes acquisition of Panaar Seeds *2013 DuPont agrees to pay Monsanto Co. at least $1.75 billion in a new licensing deal and both companies have agreed to dissolve their bitter legal battles over rights to technology for genetically modified seeds. *2014 S&W Seed Company announces closing of acquisition of DuPont Pioneer alfalfa research and production assets. *2017 Merges with

Dow Agrosciences Dow AgroSciences LLC was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company specializing in not only agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, but also seeds and biotechnology solutions. The company was based in Indianapolis, Indiana, in ...

to form the Agriculture Division of

DowDuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

. *2019 The agriculture division is named Corteva and spun off from DowDuPont.

Today

The headquarters of DuPont Pioneer are located in Johnston, Iowa, with additional offices around the world. Pioneer produces, markets and sells hybrid seed corn in nearly 70 countries worldwide. The company also markets and sells hybrids or improved varieties of

sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many other ...

sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), ...

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as ...

canola Close-up of canola blooms Canola flower Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae. Historically, ...

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

and

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

, as well as

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also use ...

and grain additives. Worldwide, Pioneer sells products through a variety of organizations, including wholly owned subsidiaries (Curry Seed, NuTech Seed, Hoegemeyer Hybrids, Doeblers Seed, Seed Consultants Inc, Terral Seeds, AgVenture Inc) joint ventures, sales representatives, and independent dealers (Burrus Hybrids, Beck's Superior Hybrids). Pioneer makes and sells

hybrid seed In agriculture and gardening, hybrid seed is produced by cross-pollinated plants. Hybrid seed production is predominant in modern agriculture and home gardening. It is one of the main contributors to the dramatic rise in agricultural output during ...

and genetically modified seed, some of which goes on to become

genetically modified food Genetically modified foods (GM foods), also known as genetically engineered foods (GE foods), or bioengineered foods are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. Gene ...

. Genes engineered into their products include the LibertyLink gene, which provides resistance to Bayer's Ignite/Liberty herbicides; the Herculex I Insect Protection gene which provides protection against various insects; the Herculex RW insect protection trait, which provides protection against other insects; the YieldGard Corn Borer gene, which provides resistance to another set of insects; and the Roundup Ready Corn 2 trait, which provides crop resistance against glyphosate herbicides. In 2010 Dupont Pioneer received approval to start marketing Plenish soybeans, which contains "the highest oleic acid content of any commercial soybean product, at more than 75%". Plenish is genetically engineered to "block the formation of enzymes that continue the cascade downstream from oleic acid (that produces saturated fats), resulting in an accumulation of the desirable monounsaturated acid." A lawsuit was filed in 2011 by residents of Waimea, Kauai, against Pioneer. The 58-page lawsuit alleged that Pioneer's practices in the farming of genetically modified seed crops on fields next to Waimea unlawfully allowed pesticides and pesticide-laden

fugitive dust Fugitive dust is an environmental air quality term for very small particles suspended in the air, primarily mineral dust that is sourced from the soil of Earth's pedosphere. A significant volume of fugitive dust that is visible from a distance ...

to blow into residents’ homes on almost a daily basis for more than 10 years. In May 2015, a jury awarded over $500,000 to 15 Waimea residents for property damage and loss of use due to dust from test fields.

References

External links

Pioneer
{{authority control Multinational companies Agriculture companies of the United States Companies based in Iowa Economy of Des Moines, Iowa Seed companies Biotechnology companies of the United States DuPont subsidiaries Johnston, Iowa 1999 mergers and acquisitions

History

Timeline

Today

See also

References

External links