Sorghum
Chromatin will deploy Dow AgroSciences’ sorghum technology into new markets outside the U.S.
 
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, U.S. — Chromatin Inc., an agriculture technology company, has signed an exclusive license agreement for unique sorghum genetic stocks developed by Agrigenetics Inc., an affiliate of Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Co.

Under the license agreement, Chromatin is deploying Dow AgroSciences’ sorghum technology to launch new, market-leading products in multiple key sorghum markets outside of the U.S.

“Chromatin has assembled and developed the industry’s leading product pipeline for sorghum,” said Daphne Preuss, chief executive officer, Chromatin. “The materials licensed from Dow AgroSciences add critically important genetic diversity and allow Chromatin to bring higher yielding crops to our international customers.”

Sorghum is undergoing increasing global demand due to its ability to produce food, livestock feed and biofuel feedstocks on marginal land with limited water resources, Dow AgroSciences said. Sorghum has become an increasingly important contributor to global agriculture because of its broad geographic range, rapid growth and adaptation to drought. The new hybrid products will be sold through Chromatin’s international networks, including South America, Africa and Asia, where sorghum adoption is rapidly growing.

“At Dow AgroSciences, our innovative sorghum hybrids have wide adaptability around the world, and this agreement with Chromatin will help meet the demand for new products with higher yield and stability in sorghum-growing geographies,” said Rolando Meninato, vice-president, Seeds, Dow AgroSciences.

Dow is a global diversified chemicals company that is active in plastics, chemicals, agricultural sciences, and hydrocarbon and energy products.

The Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont announced plans to merge on Dec. 11, 2015. Dow and DuPont propose to merge their two companies and spin the merged entity off into three separate companies focusing on agriculture, materials science, and specialty products. The proposed merger is concurrently being reviewed by competition regulators in many other jurisdictions, including the E.U., U.S. and Canada.