Guangzhou, China, August 5, 2019 – Corteva Agriscience has been acknowledged by the 2019 Targeted Poverty Alleviation -- Annual Enterprise Contribution to Rural Revitalization award, announced today at the Southern Weekly 11th China Annual Conference of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The judging panel commented that with years of unremitting efforts, Corteva and its heritage companies have made remarkable achievements in improving farmers' agricultural skills, promoting safety & health awareness and advocating sustainable agricultural development, providing meaningful references to technology-enabled agriculture and rural revitalization. This CSR award is the first for Corteva in China since it successfully completed its separation in June this year.
The China Annual Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, hosted by Southern Weekly, has published highly credible and influential CSR lists for 11 consecutive years. Its selections are based on data and research from the government, third-party consulting organizations and data agencies, comprehensively considering the CSR performance and social impact of nearly 1,000 leading domestic and foreign enterprises in China.
The Targeted Poverty Alleviation -- Annual Enterprise Contribution to Rural Revitalization is a brand-new award that especially highlights the key role of rural revitalization and rural prosperity in China's social issues. Over the years, Corteva has made unremitting efforts and attempts to enable Chinese small and medium-sized farmers, fully answering the award criteria of "adjusting measures to local conditions, raising farmers' incomes, and promoting the modernization of agricultural and rural areas", finally earning this coveted title.
"Enabling 260 million farm households in China is not just CSR to us; it is our vision and core business," said Peter Huang, President of Greater China, Corteva Agriscience. “Hundreds of millions of small and medium-sized farmers are the foundation of China's agriculture. They are sporadically dispersed and have huge differences in their levels of technology, so effectively serving and enabling them could be the key to rural revitalization. Their needs are not only the foundation of our operations, but also the core driving force behind our efforts to promote technology dissemination, training in plantation management skills, and advocacy for environmental protection. And with this award in hand, we are inspired to devote more of our passion to valuable work on innovation, health & safety, sustainable development and education.”
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2016, China had a workforce of around 314 million, with a total output value of 10.65 trillion yuan and a per capita output value of 33,900 yuan. In the same year, China's per capita GDP was 53,700 yuan, and the per capita output value of agriculture was 63% of the per capita GDP.
Rural revitalization focuses on issues surrounding the agriculture, countryside and farmers of China in the new era, and the vast numbers of planters and farmers have remained in their core positions within the rural revitalization strategy, harnessing its significant potential. President Xi Jinping has stated that, "More new-type professional farmers who love agriculture, understand technology and are good at management should be cultivated locally," emphasizing the high standards and requirements of modern agriculture and the importance of empowering farmers.
Among the efforts made by Corteva to enable Chinese farmers and contribute to rural revitalization, notably there has been a series of high-visibility projects such as “the Rice of China”, “the Citrus of China” and “the Vegetable of China” initiatives, which have successfully benefited farmers in more than 10 provinces throughout the country. Taking China Good Rice as an example, the demonstration base launched by Corteva Agriscience and Chia Tai Group in Kunshan City has shown that compared with farmers’ own practices, the Corteva solution can help to increase income by nearly 10 percent per mu with limited expenditure increases. In addition, through a variety of activities, including training programs and good planter competitions, China Good Citrus has helped orange growers to improve their branding and business awareness.
With leading strength in the three core business areas of ‘seeds, crop protection and digital agriculture’, Corteva is devoted to its mission of enriching the lives of producers and consumers. During the Harvest Summit held last year, together with industry experts and collaborators, Corteva conducted nearly 500 field visits and technology exchanges, bringing advanced crop protection products and planting skills to 22,000 farmers, over 700 collaborators, and 80 crop protection stations.
At the end of last year, Corteva also brought its Farmer College program to hundreds of corn growers in Jiamusi, Heilongjiang Province. The program, which has been carried out for six consecutive years, has benefited more than 3,000 farmers in conjunction with nine universities, bringing agricultural technology and management knowledge that covers total and comprehensive knowledge of the farm operation cycle. In addition, this year also marked the 10th anniversary of Corteva’s Product Stewardship Day (PSD) in China, which covered nearly 100 counties and townships in 20 provinces and regions nationwide, further enhancing the awareness of environmental protection amongst agricultural practitioners.
About Corteva Agriscience
Corteva Agriscience provides farmers around the world with the most complete input portfolio in the industry to enable them to maximize yield and profitability — including some of the most recognized brands in agriculture: Pioneer®, Granular®, Brevant™ seeds, as well as award-winning Crop Protection products — while bringing new products to market through its robust pipeline of active chemistry and technologies. The company is committed to working with stakeholders throughout the food system as it fulfills its promise to enrich the lives of those who produce and those who consume, ensuring progress for generations to come. Corteva Agriscience became an independent public company on June 1, 2019 and was previously the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont. More information can be found at www.corteva.com.
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8/5/2019
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