On a 500-acre plot in Johnston, Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. conducts hundreds of experiments with corn and soybean plants each year. A $3 million expansion will increase the greenhouse space next to the test field by 12,000 square feet in 2007, and across 62nd Street, Pioneer headquarters have steadily expanded into a vast complex. This is the largest of about 100 locations the company owns in 10 countries worldwide.

This steady growth is a reflection of a greater demand for agricultural products, including renewable fuels, more healthful foods and livestock feed. As a company focused on scientific research, Pioneer is finding ways to meet these demands by increasing crop yield potential, reducing costs and risks and increasing the value of agriculture products.

“This is the most exciting time in agriculture and for this business that I’ve ever seen,” said Pioneer President Dean Oestreich. “The technology and the demand have come together in such a way that you’ve got to be excited about it.”

Pioneer’s growth is also reflected in its annual revenues, which was nearly $2.8 billion in 2005, an increase of almost $1 billion from 2000. It is one of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.’s most vital subsidiaries, especially because of its use of biotechnology to genetically alter a plant’s DNA to introduce a unique trait that can increase the plant’s overall value.

“We’re part of those sets of businesses that we imagine are going to grow over time,” Oestreich said. Especially because the company, he said, meets DuPont’s goal of trying to provide a sustainable lifestyle for people worldwide.

With a greater demand for food, feed, fuel and fiber, Pioneer is becoming involved in the value chain, the entire process from discovering a new hybrid seed to delivering it to farmers and creating a product that eventually reaches consumers.

On the farming side, Pioneer’s goal is to double crop production on the same amount of land by 2050. Over the last 40 years, total corn production has increased by 45 percent while the area planted grew by only 4.8 percent, according to a speech given by DuPont Vice President Bill Niebur at an international plant breeding symposium in August. Pioneer believes it can help double the bushels per acre its corn produces from about 200 to 400 within the next 30 to 40 years. As part of its efforts to increase crop yields, Pioneer is also interested in sustainability of crop production and is working to develop corn and soybean seeds that can withstand problems such as drought and certain diseases.

With this challenging goal comes the philosophy of investing in products for the future. Pioneer has consistently invested 10 percent of its revenues in research, realizing that it may take five to 15 years before it sees a profit on a particular project. The investment is based on demand as well as competition in the market.

To help develop this research into consumer products, Pioneer is establishing partnerships with companies such as General Mills Inc. and Kellogg Co., which are interested in Pioneer’s low-linolenic soybeans that produce oils with lower levels of trans fats, as well as oil giant BP plc, which is interested in developing more renewable fuel sources.

“We’re probably the only company in the world that goes from crop genetics all the way to the consumer in the value chains,” Oestreich said. “Others are working on some modified food products or some aspect, but we’re pretty broad-based in all areas.”

In the four high-demand areas, food continues to be one of Pioneer’s biggest priorities, because the world’s population is expected to continue to increase at a rapid rate, especially in developing countries. In addition to increasing food yields, the company also has begun to look for ways to grow more healthful foods.

In 2003, DuPont formed an alliance with Bunge North America, a vertically integrated food and feed ingredient company, and created the Solae Co., to bring more tasty, nutritious soy foods to the marketplace. Under this partnership, Pioneer is trying to increase production of low-linolenic soybeans. This type of soybean eliminates the need for hydrogenation, a process that creates trans fats when the soybean is converted into oil. Manufacturers that create packaged goods with a long shelf life are especially interested in using the company’s Treus low-linolenic soybean oil in their products.

Last year, Pioneer increased the amount of acres planted with this type of soybean from 35,000 to about 200,000 acres and next year it wants to increase the amount of acres planted to 500,000. One way it is accomplishing this goal is by having selected elevators offer farmers up to a 40-cent premium per bushel for the soybeans.

Moreover, Pioneer is looking at ways to add other healthful supplements to corn and soybeans, such as omega-3 fatty acids. The company also is trying to develop plants that can thrive in a broader range of geographic and maturity zones to increase crop acreage.

The need for animal feed has increased as well, as more people in developing countries can afford meat and more people worldwide eat in restaurants. Pioneer is developing a soybean meal with enhanced amino acid content that more efficiently feeds livestock.

Developing renewable fuels has been an extremely important area for Pioneer, with 12 percent of the U.S. corn crop used in ethanol production in 2004. The company is focused on research in three areas: biofuels, biobutanol and cellulosics.

With biofuels, it is looking at ways to create more ethanol per bushel of corn. One way is through corn hybrids that deliver higher levels of fermentable starch, which not only can increase yield potential but also processors’ ethanol gain by 2 to 4 percent.

In June, Pioneer formed a partnership with BP to develop biobutanol, an alternative fuel that has low vapor pressure and tolerance to water contamination, which this company expects to introduce in Britain in 2007. Pioneer expects the fuel, which can be made from sugar cane, sugar beets, corn, wheat or cassava, to be a popular alternative because it increases fuel efficiency and can be blended with gasoline at a higher concentration without needing to replace existing gasoline supply and distribution channels, unlike ethanol.

In collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, Pioneer is working on an integrated biorefinery research program, with one of the goals being to discover ways to convert the entire corn plant, including the stalk, into ethanol. Researching ways to create a cellulosic mass from breaking down corn as well as fast-growing “energy crops” such as switchgrass and byproducts such as straw could greatly increase the value of an acre of corn as well as speed up production and efficiency in creating ethanol.

Fiber also could be an important product in the future. DuPont is discovering new materials, such as bio-based Sorona fiber.

DuPont and Pioneer are not just focused on the economic potential of the biorenewable products, but also the environmental impact. One of their current projects is looking at ways to reduce nitrate use in crops.

To achieve these results, Pioneer uses biotechnology to add certain genes to a plant’s DNA that can allow it to resist certain diseases, protect itself from worms or tolerate herbicides, among other things.

Although genetically altered products have been around since 1996, they only recently have become more accepted. According to data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in June, the percentage of corn with biotech traits planted increased from 52 percent in 2005 to 61 percent in 2006, and the percentage of biotech soybeans planted grew from 87 percent to 89 percent. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications reported that in 2005, 21 countries adopted biotech crops, representing more than 22 million acres worldwide.

“Genetic improvements are usually a good business investment,” Oestreich said. “Most customers recognize its values and are willing to invest in making their farming operations more efficient.”

Being involved in the entire value chain also involves looking at new technology that gets the product from the research stage to the consumer faster. Pioneer recently developed a proprietary process for testing new traits in corn plants that is not only faster but also provides more data. Part of this process includes growing FAST corn, miniature corn plants that can reach maturity in 50 to 60 days. They are used to test plants with a particular added trait to ensure that it is functioning properly. Pioneer also uses a machine that photographs the plants daily and records critical data points about them.

The rapid changes in science, especially in agriculture-related fields, are also affecting whom Pioneer is hiring. Pioneer expects steady growth in jobs worldwide and concentrates on hiring Ph.D. graduates with specific knowledge in an area of biotechnology.    “We used to think about hiring Ph.D. agronomists,” Oestreich said. “We still do, but today we are also going to MIT looking for a mathematician or going to China to find specific biotechnology capability as well. Science is changing; the names of sciences changing. It was much more broad-based in the past. We used to talk about genetics. Today that list of unique professional skills continues to grow with new technology.”

In the future Oestreich expects Pioneer to continue to “lead the industry across the globe,” as well as to create more products for specific uses, such as a specific grain for a monogastric animal and a specific grain for ethanol.

“We are very well connected downstream to understand what is needed and have insight into what we work on,” Oestreich said. “What you work on defines the future. If you’re successful in it, your business will [be successful] as well. … It’s really about choosing a target and being successful with science capability.”