DuPont and the United Soybean Board (USB) have announced the signing of a Letter of Intent to
form a research partnership that leverages investments originating from soybean farmers, known as checkoff dollars, with private industry resources. This partnership will facilitate the development and commercialization of new soybean varieties with improved traits such as seed composition, disease resistance, stress tolerance, and better yield potential.

Through this partnership, USB will fund soybean research projects at university and government laboratories that will use DuPont's Soybean Gene Discovery Program as a resource to identify genes for traits of commercial value. The checkoff funded research projects will ultimately produce
varieties with important agronomic and compositional traits.

Elmo Beyer, vice president for Global Research and Development, DuPont Agricultural Enterprise, noted that: "We are pleased to be able to help farmers improve their profit opportunities. The competitive grants program will ensure that potential products will be of value to both farmers and
DuPont. This partnership will complement our existing soybean trait research and development alliance with Pioneer Hi-Bred International and soy-based product introductions by our subsidiary, Protein Technologies International."

"Our goal is to have new, improved soybean varieties commercially available to U.S. soybean farmers," says United Soybean Board Production Committee Chairman Earl Hendrix, a soybean farmer from Raeford, N.C.  "We want to develop commercial varieties with specific characteristics that improve soybean farmers' profit opportunities."

A review committee composed of representatives from USB, DuPont, and the academic sector will review project proposals submitted by university or government researchers. Those selected will be able to access DuPont's large gene sequence database.

Through this program, the identification of biological functions of genes will be accelerated, leading to the development of new and commercially useful traits such as drought tolerance, soybean cyst nematode resistance, or higher yield.

"Any time you can reduce the stress factors in the soybean plant," says Hendrix, "you increase the opportunity for higher yield. That means farmers have improved their profit opportunities."

The United Soybean Board is made up of 59 farmer-directors who oversee the investments of the soybean checkoff on behalf of all U.S. soybean farmers. The agreement between USB and DuPont is an example of the USB Production Committee's goal to enhance coordination with private research and technology organizations.

Founded in 1802, DuPont is a global research and technology-based company committed to better things for better living. DuPont serves worldwide markets including food and nutrition; health care; agriculture; fashion and apparel; home and construction; electronics; and transportation. The company operates in about 70 countries and has 83,000 employees.

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