Initiatives for the new ag era.AM: DuPont recently announced plans to streamline its nutrition and crop protection businesses to invest more heavily in its seed and biotech business. Please provide more information about this plan. EF: In short, we are going where the growth is. We are working hard to improve the cost productivity of our back offices' infrastructure and manufacturing so we can invest more heavily in growth. We see tremendous opportunities across the ag and nutrition value chain with the growing demand for food to feed the world's expanding population and now for biofuels to help meet the world's rapidly growing energy needs in an environmentally and economically sustainable way. AM: Why is DuPont making this move? EF: Demand for food, feed, fiber and fuel will only increase and we have the science to help farmers meet the challenge. Increasing our investment in plant genetics, biotechnology and other high-value growth opportunities in addition to the high level of spend we are already making in seed and in developing new and safer crop protection chemicals and healthy food ingredients, will help us accelerate the momentum that is building in our seed business and deliver products that help our customers meet the increasing demand. AM: What high-value growth opportunities are you investing in? EF: In addition to increasing our research spend in plant genetics and biotechnology, we are committed to investing in many other attractive growth opportunities, including: * Increase sales and marketing resources for the seed business. * Investments in safer crop protection products and delivering the research pipeline, including the planned 2008 introduction of Rynaxypyr, a next generation ultralow toxicity insecticide insecticide Any of a large group of substances used to kill insects. Such substances are mainly used to control pests that infest cultivated plants and crops or to eliminate disease-carrying insects in specific areas. . * Aggressively advance the Optimum GAT trait, a new choice in glyphosate glyphosate herbicide and desiccant for grains. Heavy doses to birds cause soft shells on their eggs. tolerance that gives farmers the option to use complementary ALS Als (äls), Ger. Alsen, island, 121 sq mi (313 sq km), Sønderjylland co., S Denmark, in the Lille Bælt, separated from the mainland by the narrow Alensund. herbicides offered by DuPont Crop Protection. * Growth for SoleCina meat/soy combination via The Solae Company joint venture with Bunge. * Launch Crystalon vertical form fill and seal liquid packaging technology. * Continue our investments in Brazil, Eastern Europe/Russia, India and China markets for all businesses. * Drive growth in our portfolio of leading biofuel bi·o·fuel n. Fuel such as methane produced from renewable resources, especially plant biomass and treated municipal and industrial wastes. bi technologies. AM: Please review the several biofuels initiatives that DuPont has announced. Why does DuPont have a competitive advantage to make them succeed? EF: No one else has the direct connection to both a major oil company and growers. We are building on those relationships and many others in the value chain to deliver game-changing biofuels. We are also unique in the breadth of our effort. This is important because no one technology is going to be enough to reduce our dependence on petroleum. Our efforts include marketing seeds for crops that produce more ethanol and biodiesel per bushel bushel: see English units of measurement. . We also have a large research pipeline of products to increase the quantity and efficiency for those crops to produce biofuels in the future. And we have the right crop protection chemicals to help growers maximize their yield for biofuels and food, whether they plant corn, soybeans, canola canola see brassicanapus. , sunflower, sugar beet sugar beet, variety of beet used commercially as a source of sugar. sugar beet Variety of beet (Beta vulgaris) that accounts for about two-fifths of global sugar production, making it second only to sugarcane as a source of the world's sugar. , sugar cane or other crops. DuPont also has a partnership with BP to develop, produce and market a next generation of biofuels. The first product of the collaboration is biobutanol, which is expected to overcome many of the limitations of biofuels available today. The beauty of this approach is that ethanol producers will be able to retrofit ret·ro·fit v. ret·ro·fit·ted or ret·ro·fit, ret·ro·fit·ting, ret·ro·fits v.tr. 1. To provide (a jet, automobile, computer, or factory, for example) with parts, devices, or equipment not in their units to make biobutanol or they can blend biobutanol with ethanol to improve performance. Our goal is to help grow the market for farmers and biofuel producers. We're not only looking at the conversion of grain to ethanol and biobutanol, but also the conversion of cellulosic into biofuels. Through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, we are developing a cost-effective technology package to produce cellulosic biofuels derived from corn stover Corn stover consists of the leaves and stalks of maize (Zea mays ssp. mays L.) plants left in a field after harvest. It makes up about half of the yield of a crop and is similar to straw, the residue left in field after harvest of any cereal grain. . We recently entered into a partnership with Broin to bring together the needed technologies to accelerate the delivery of biofuels from cellulose. Name: J. Erik Fyrwald Title: Group Vice President, DuPont Agriculture & Nutrition since June 2003 Career: Joined DuPont as a production engineer in 1981 where he has held a variety of sales and management positions. Most recently he was Vice President and General Manager of the Nutrition and Health businesses, which included The Solae Company, DuPont Quaticon, DuPont Liquid Packaging Systems and DuPont Food Industry Solutions. Education: University of Delaware [3] The student body at the University of Delaware is largely an undergraduate population. Delaware students have a great deal of access to work and internship opportunities. with a degree in chemical engineering and attended the Harvard Business School Harvard Business School, officially named the Harvard Business School: George F. Baker Foundation, and also known as HBS, is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. Advanced Management Program Responsibilities: Responsible for the global operations Global Operations is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Barking Dog Studios and published by both Crave Entertainment and Electronic Arts. It was released in March of 2002, following its public multiplayer beta version which contained only the Quebec map. of Pioneer Hi-Bred Pioneer Hi-Bred is one of the largest U.S. companies which produces hybrid seeds for agriculture. History In 1926, farm journal editor and future U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace, along with a group of Des Moines, Iowa businessmen, started the "Hi-Bred Corn Company". International DuPont Crop Protection and Nutrition and Health businesses--$6.5B |
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