WILMINGTON, Del. and SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Corteva Agriscience, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, and ZeaKal, a plant science innovator focused on improving agricultural productivity, have announced a strategic R&D collaboration. Together, they will advance ZeaKal’s technology to help improve seed quality and increase crop yield by enhancing the photosynthetic capacity and efficiency of plants. 

ZeaKal and Corteva Agriscience will work together to develop and test ZeaKal’s proprietary PhotoSeed technology, which uses a novel mechanism for increasing a plant’s intrinsic photosynthetic capacity. PhotoSeed plants can harvest more sunlight and fix more carbon dioxide, which allows for significant improvement in seed and grain yield. PhotoSeed also improves seed composition quality by increasing both oil and protein content. For farmers, this means increasing productivity and profitability without additional inputs. For consumers, it means agriculture that can deliver better nutrition on a smaller environmental footprint.  

As part of the alliance, Corteva Agriscience will take a minority equity stake in ZeaKal. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.