Protecting Plants from Diseases

two men walking in crop field at sunrise

Plant diseases can be a significant challenge for growers globally, leading to lost crop productivity, grower revenues and impacts on our food systems. The United Nations Food & Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimates that plant diseases cost the global economy around $220 billion annually. Growers need a range of options that will allow them to protect their crops from disease from planting through harvest. 

Protecting plants from disease

farmer working in field

Our commitment

Corteva is committed to protecting the future of food globally by providing solutions for farmers that protect our crops and productivity from disease.

Being proactive

Seed solutions

Corteva offers a complete portfolio of solutions to control disease tailored to farmer’s crops, geographies and management practices, providing the flexibility and efficiency they need to boost crop quality and yields. Drawing from our leading germplasm to advance hybrids and varieties with disease resistance, we are providing seed products to boost productivity for our grower customers and supporting farmers with leading knowledge and know-how on understanding and managing diseases.

Looking ahead

In our seed pipeline, we’re building on our nearly 100-year history with advanced breeding techniques like gene editing to unlock additional power of native genetics to improve yield potential and enhance disease resistance. 

Multiple disease resistance corn

Corteva has announced an early-stage concept that uses proprietary technology to package multiple disease-resistant native traits into a single location in the gene to better address the most devastating North American corn diseases facing farmers today. In 2021, Northern leaf blight, Southern rust, gray leaf spot and anthracnose stalk rot combined to cost North America corn growers more than 318 million bushels in production. By using gene editing to combine and reposition disease resistant traits that already exist within the corn genome, Corteva is able to bolster disease tolerance and minimize production stress.

Read more about multiple disease resistant corn.

female scientist in white lab coat examining small green plant

Innovate with us

We believe that the global scientific community can do truly innovative work when we collaborate.  Learn about our Open Innovation approach and opportunities.

Learn more