Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW), and The Royal Barenbrug Group, announced today a global strategic relationship for the development and commercialization of advanced germplasm in forage seeds.

Under the agreement, Dow AgroSciences will be a minority shareholder in Barenbrug Holding B.V., part of The Royal Barenbrug Group and will provide Barenbrug access to select hybrid Brachiaria germplasm.

This relationship will allow the two companies to maximize strengths to realize a shared vision of growth in forage grasses.

Barenbrug will form a new entity in Brazil to build a state-of-the-art cleaning, coating, and packaging facility to process hybrid Brachiaria for Dow AgroSciences, as well as produce other tropical grasses and legumes.

“We are very pleased to be working with The Royal Barenbrug Group, the industry leader in forage grass and legume breeding and marketing,” said Antonio Galindez, President and CEO of Dow AgroSciences. “This collaboration will build upon our current seed portfolio by expanding into forage grass seed, a very important global crop.”

“We are excited to collaborate with Dow AgroSciences, a significant player in seeds and traits,” said Bastiaan Barenbrug, Chairman and CEO of The Royal Barenbrug Group. “Through this relationship with Dow AgroSciences, we get access to new technologies, germplasm, and the accelerated entrance into the tropical forage seed market with unique germplasm. Together with Dow AgroSciences we will be able to grow further as a company also in the tropical regions of the world.”

Financial details of this transaction were not disclosed.

About The Royal Barenbrug Group

The Royal Barenbrug Group is a family-owned business, whose core activities are plant breeding, grass seed production and international marketing of seed for turf and forage grasses and legumes. With 25 branches in 16 countries on 6 continents, Barenbrug has been the leading grass seed business in the world for over 100 years. They provide local solutions for the dairy, meat and livestock industries as well as the professional turf grass market in temperate and sub-tropical zones. For more information see www.barenbrug.com

About Dow AgroSciences

Dow AgroSciences, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, develops leading-edge crop protection and plant biotechnology solutions to meet the challenges of the growing world. Dow AgroSciences is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company and had annual global sales of $5.7 billion in 2011. Learn more at www.dowagro.com. Follow Dow AgroSciences on Facebook and YouTube or subscribe to our News Release RSS Feed.