One of agriculture’s biggest technology companies has officially become two — a move Corteva says will sharpen its focus on crop protection while giving its former seed and genetics business the freedom to pursue a new generation of yield-enhancing technologies.
The separation became official Oct. 1, creating two independently traded companies: Indianapolis-based Corteva, Inc., now focused exclusively on crop protection, and Iowa-based Vylor Inc., an advanced seed and genetics company that began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker VYLR.
For farmers, the corporate restructuring means the familiar Corteva name remains attached to products designed to protect crops from weeds, insects and disease, while the company’s former seed business — including its Pioneer genetics operation — moves forward under a new corporate identity.
Both companies are betting that greater specialization will accelerate innovation at a time when farmers face increasingly difficult challenges involving resistance, weather volatility, input costs, yield potential and the need to produce more from every acre.
“This is a new day for Corteva,” said Luke Kissam, Corteva’s CEO. “We couldn’t be more excited as we move forward with greater focus, agility and a renewed commitment to innovation and operational excellence.”
Kissam said Corteva is positioned to deliver what farmers need with a combination of its existing product portfolio and a deep pipeline of new crop-protection technologies.
That pipeline is substantial.
Corteva says it has an approximately $11 billion crop-protection pipeline, backed by research and development capabilities that include microbial discovery, integrated product development and predictive safety platforms. The company has nearly 9,000 employees serving growers in approximately 110 countries.
The company also points to significant progress in its crop-protection business over the past several years. From 2020 through 2025, Corteva says crop-protection revenue increased by more than $1 billion, while operating EBITDA margins increased by approximately 250 basis points on a segment basis.
Perhaps more important to growers, Corteva says roughly 65% of its crop-protection sales now come from differentiated technologies.
That shift is particularly significant as farmers contend with increasingly difficult weed, insect and disease-management challenges.
Corteva also has built what it describes as an industry-leading biologicals and natural-products platform, providing another avenue for developing crop-protection tools beyond conventional chemistry.
Vylor bets on the next generation of seed technology
Across the new corporate divide, Vylor is placing its emphasis squarely on genetics, biotechnology and seed technology.
Former Corteva CEO Chuck Magro is leading Vylor as CEO, with the company headquartered at Corteva’s former campus in Johnston, Iowa.
Vylor says it enters the marketplace with a $19 billion technology pipeline, including 12 major technology-platform launches planned across corn, soybeans and wheat during the next decade.
For corn growers, perhaps the most closely watched developments will be seven new technology platforms planned for launch beginning in 2028.
One of those technologies is designed to improve both yield and yield stability. Vylor says field trials across the Americas have shown an average yield increase of approximately three bushels per acre, with gains reaching as high as 10 bushels per acre in some trials.
The company is also developing what it describes as the industry’s first gene-edited, multi-disease-resistant corn platform. The goal is to build protection against multiple major diseases directly into the crop while reducing the complexity of crop management.
That could become increasingly valuable as farmers navigate changing disease pressures and seek technologies that provide more protection without adding additional trips or management decisions.
Vylor also has four new soybean technology platforms planned through 2035, including a next-generation platform for Latin America designed to provide a broad spectrum of insect control while maintaining strong yield performance.
Wheat growers are another major part of the company’s technology strategy.
Vylor plans to bring its proprietary Xpedite hybrid-wheat system to North America in late 2027. The company says multi-year research has demonstrated strong and consistent yields, along with improved yield stability under adverse conditions such as disease and drought.
The company also expects its Vylor One licensing operation to generate more than $500 million in gross licensing income in 2027, surpass $1 billion by 2035 and approach $2 billion by 2040.
Vylor is targeting net sales of approximately $11.2 billion to $11.9 billion by 2029.
For farmers, however, the most important question will not be corporate revenue.
It will be whether those technologies translate into more bushels, better crop protection and greater consistency in the field.
Indiana keeps a major piece of Corteva
While Vylor moves its headquarters to Iowa, Corteva remains headquartered in Indianapolis — an important distinction for Indiana agriculture and the state’s large agricultural economy.
Approximately 2,000 Corteva employees are based in Indiana, including roughly 1,500 at the company’s Zionsville Road headquarters.
Corteva plans to remain at that location.
The company’s Indiana roots date back through the agricultural operations of DuPont and, before that, Pioneer. Corteva became an independent publicly traded company in 2019 after the $62 billion DowDuPont merger.
The latest separation represents another major restructuring of that agricultural legacy, but this time with the two businesses designed around distinctly different missions.
Corteva can concentrate its research, capital and commercial strategy on crop protection, while Vylor can focus its resources on seed genetics, biotechnology and licensing.
For growers, that specialization could ultimately prove more important than the names on the corporate structure.
PFAS lawsuit adds uncertainty
The split also faces a significant legal challenge.
On the same day the separation became official, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita joined a bipartisan coalition of 16 states and territories in a lawsuit against EIDP Inc., Corteva and Vylor.
The states allege the transaction improperly moved valuable seed assets into Vylor while leaving PFAS-related liabilities with the former DuPont entity. They are asking an Indiana court to freeze assets involved in the transaction and prevent certain transfers while the litigation proceeds.
The coalition alleges that approximately $40 billion in asset value was transferred to Vylor while PFAS liabilities remained with Old DuPont.
Rokita has argued the restructuring could leave states and taxpayers with significant costs associated with PFAS cleanup and related claims.
Corteva has previously characterized the states’ PFAS claims as speculative and unproven and has maintained that Corteva itself never made or sold PFAS products.
A federal judge in South Carolina also rejected California’s emergency request to halt the Vylor separation before it was completed.
The litigation remains a developing issue, and its outcome could have financial implications for both companies.
For now, however, the corporate split is complete.
A new test begins in the field
The bigger test for both companies will happen far from Wall Street and corporate boardrooms — in farmers’ fields.
Corteva is betting that a more focused crop-protection company can move new chemistries, biologicals and other technologies from discovery to the farm faster.
Vylor is betting that its massive genetics and biotechnology pipeline can deliver the next generation of yield, disease resistance and crop resilience.
For farmers facing tighter margins and greater production risk, those promises matter.
The success of the split ultimately will be measured not by stock tickers or corporate structures, but by whether the technologies emerging from these two companies help farmers protect more yield, produce more bushels and manage risk more effectively.
That makes Oct. 1 more than a corporate milestone.
It marks the beginning of a new race to put agricultural innovation in the hands of farmers.
