INDIANAPOLIS & MELBOURNE, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW), and the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) of the State of Victoria, announced today that the organizations have agreed to expand current collaborations by entering into a new research project to develop new varieties of canola with enhanced performance designed to benefit farmers in Australia and around the world.
Under the agreement, Dow AgroSciences will work with the DPI through its commercial arm - Agriculture Victoria Services Pty Ltd. - to apply its EXZACTTM Precision Technology platform to improve the performance of canola varieties. This represents the sixth research and development project in the collaboration agreement between Dow AgroSciences and DPI since the inception of the relationship between the two organizations in 2009. This new research project will be based at DPI’s research facilities at Horsham and at the new AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience that officially opened today at Bundoora.
“Dow AgroSciences is very excited to expand our collaboration with the Department of Primary Industries as this new project represents a significant step toward the development of commercial products that will enable both organizations to create new solutions for improving agricultural productivity,” said Antonio Galindez, President and CEO of Dow AgroSciences. “We have been extremely impressed with the creative and collaborative research relationship that we have developed with the Department over the past few years. By expanding that collaboration to focus on commercial product development using EXZACTTM we are continuing to demonstrate our mutual commitment to the creation of novel solutions for the critical challenges agriculture will face in the future.”
The new project builds upon the current research and development collaboration between DPI and Dow AgroSciences that has resulted in the design and development of a platform for precision genome editing technologies using EXZACTTM, which Dow AgroSciences has developed under an exclusive license and collaboration agreement in plants with Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. The EXZACTTM Precision Technology platform enables the creation of new varieties of canola and oil seed rape. An additional application of the EXZACTTM platform is the capability to develop novel gene combinations in commercial varieties that will rapidly allow the production of crops with improved performance.
Victorian Minister for Agriculture and Food Security Peter Walsh said the Victoria Government saw great benefit and potential in collaborating with leading research organisations like Dow AgroSciences.
“DPI’s partnership with Dow AgroSciences has already generated more than 40 jobs in agricultural biosciences here at AgriBio and at Horsham, in regional Victoria. The work these researchers do will deliver even greater benefits to Victoria in the coming years. The Victorian Government has placed a very strong focus on targeted research and development within DPI, to help Victoria’s food and fibre producers meet world demand for food. We have a goal to double Victoria’s food and fibre production by 2030 but we cannot help growers step up production unless we co-invest with industry in research, development and extension in our areas of greatest opportunity, and these include grains and oil seeds,” Walsh said.
Financial details of this transaction were not disclosed.
About DPI & AVS
The Department of Primary Industries is
responsible for agriculture, fisheries, earth resources and energy in
Victoria. Under the agreement, Dow AgroSciences works with the
Department of Primary Industries of the State of Victoria (DPI) through
its commercial arm, Agriculture Victoria Services Pty Ltd.
About AgriBio
AgriBio, Centre For AgriBioscience is a joint
initiative of the Government of Victoria, through the Department of
Primary Industries (DPI), and La Trobe University (LTU). A $A288 million
public private partnership (PPP), AgriBio was delivered under the
Victorian Government’s Partnerships Victoria policy. AgriBio, located at
La Trobe’s Melbourne campus in Bundoora, is one of Australia's premier
biosciences facilities, with a key emphasis on supporting and protecting
Victoria's A$11.6 billion agricultural sector.
About Dow AgroSciences
Dow AgroSciences, based in
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, develops leading-edge crop protection and
plant biotechnology solutions to meet the challenges of the growing
world. Dow AgroSciences is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical
Company and had annual global sales of $6.4 billion in 2012. Learn more
at www.dowagro.com.
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™EXZACT” is a trademark of The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) or an affiliated company of Dow.
