Corteva and Hexagon Bio form multimillion-dollar joint venture to advance nature-inspired crop protection

Corteva and biotechnology company Hexagon Bio have agreed to form a multi-million-dollar joint venture aimed at accelerating the development of next-generation crop protection products derived from natural compounds.

The partnership is designed to benefit large row-crop producers facing rising pest resistance and regulatory pressure to reduce reliance on synthetic chemistries, while helping Corteva reinforce margins in its crop protection business through differentiated, nature-inspired products. For Hexagon Bio, the venture provides a commercial outlet for agricultural applications of its discovery platform without diverting capital from its core pharmaceutical programs.

Financial terms were not disclosed beyond the size of the investment, underscoring the early-stage nature of the collaboration. The absence of detailed economics suggests the venture is structured to provide optionality rather than near-term revenue, with both companies sharing discovery risk as new modes of action are identified and developed.

The joint venture brings together Corteva’s established nature-inspired crop protection franchises and bacterial natural-product discovery capabilities with Hexagon Bio’s platform, which combines microbial genetics, artificial intelligence, chemistry and synthetic biology. The companies said the collaboration would support pipeline expansion across agriculture, while allowing Hexagon Bio to continue focusing on drug discovery for human health.

The deal marks the first agriculture-sector partnership for Hexagon Bio and Corteva’s first collaboration directly linked to pharmaceutical-style discovery. It also reflects a broader trend among large agricultural technology companies toward sourcing innovation externally, particularly in biologically derived products that sit at the intersection of agtech and biotech.

Sam Eathington, Corteva’s chief technology and digital officer, said the partnership would expand the company’s discovery engine and help accelerate the development of effective and sustainable crop protection tools as demand grows for alternatives to conventional chemistries.

Hexagon Bio Chief Executive Maureen Hillenmeyer said the joint venture allows the company to advance two development tracks in parallel—agriculture and human health—by channeling discoveries that exceed the capacity of a single pipeline into a dedicated agricultural pathway.

Natural products have historically played a central role in both medicine and agriculture, forming the basis of widely used antibiotics, cancer therapies, fungicides and insecticides. Advances in genomics and computational biology have renewed interest in the field, enabling companies to identify compounds and mechanisms that were previously difficult to detect.

The joint venture was formed through Corteva Catalyst, the company’s investment and collaboration platform launched in March 2024. Since then, Corteva Catalyst has partnered with 11 companies globally, focusing on biologicals, gene editing and other technology platforms intended to support long-term growth in agricultural productivity.