LONDON - Eastern Europe's agriculture industry has strong growth potential, which will help meet the world's rising food needs, a DuPont Co. (DD) executive told Dow Jones Thursday. "It's absolutely an exciting area of the world for agriculture," said Jim Borel, DuPont's group vice president of crop protection and seed on the region. "Our seed and crop protection business is growing nicely." 

     Dupont's crop protection business in eastern Europe has risen 15%-35% over the last couple of years. "Often times the general agriculture market in eastern European region is rising faster than other parts of the world," said Borel. Farmers in eastern Europe are "very hungry for new technology and ready to adopt it," added Borel. 

      FARMERS IN ROMANIA AND UKRAINE WERE OUT FRONT 
When DuPont recently rolled out the new insecticide Rynaxypyr, farmers in Romania and Ukraine were some of the first to start using it. Just last month DuPont's seed business Pioneer Hi-Bred, opened a new EUR1.5 million to EUR2 million research facility in Hungary. 

     In recent years investors have been attracted to eastern Europe, seeking cheap farm ground, especially after last season's rise to record high grain prices. 

       Pioneer has been involved in eastern Europe for more than 30 years, but Borel said agriculture interest in the area really picked-up in the 1990s. There hasn't really been a surge in investment, but rather a continuation, said Borel. 

       Most eyes have been on the Commonwealth of Independent States, where many fields were left fallow following the fall of the Soviet Union. 

           In Russia and Ukraine as much as 13 million hectares could be returned to production, according to estimates by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization. 

         Already in the 2008-09 season, aided by favorable growing weather, grain production in Russia and Ukraine is up 22% on the year at a combined 134 million tons, according to the International Grains Council. And as fields become more conditioned and increased technology is used, yields are expected to rise. 

         UKRAINE CORN YIELDS ARE ABOUT 40% OF THOSE IN THE U.S. 
Ukraine corn yields are about 40% of those in the U.S., and by increasing them to even half of U.S. yields, about another 1.5 million tons could be harvested, according to Borel. National U.S. corn yields in 2007 were 151.1 bushels per acre. "Production potential is there," he said. 

      Before the world produced food surpluses, now stocks are low and food demand is growing, he added. "The opportunity is real and the need is there," said Borel. Current challenges include some lingering Soviet era government and business systems and the need to protect intellectual property. "But we see progress in those areas," said Borel. 

Source: Lisa Kallal, Dow Jones Newswires