At a moment of change for Corteva, Leonardo Costa talks about the future of Seed Applied Technologies, the products coming through the pipeline and the team he believes will make the difference.
Corteva has undergone an important transition. Following the separation of its seed operating segment as Vylor on 1 October 2026, the company is moving ahead with a stronger focus on crop protection and nature inspired technologies. Changes of this scale inevitably attract attention, but inside the company the work with customers, the development of new solutions and the building of teams continue.
For Leonardo Costa, who leads Corteva’s EMEA Seed Applied Technologies (SAT) organization, periods of uncertainty bring not only challenges and complexity but also unique opportunities to lead, innovate, and drive meaningful change. Born and raised in São Carlos, Brazil, Leonardo has dedicated the past 13 years of his career to the seed treatment industry, building extensive experience across multiple regions and companies. Today, he leverages that global perspective to help shape the future of seed applied technologies in an increasingly dynamic market.
His career has given Costa a view of the seed treatment business from local, global and regional perspectives, experience that now feeds into his thinking about what comes next. I spoke with him about the priorities shaping SAT, the products coming through the pipeline, how the business wants to work with customers and why, when the conversation turns to the future, he keeps coming back to the people behind it.
Seed World Europe (SWE): Looking three to five years ahead, what are the main priorities for Corteva’s SAT business? What are customers asking for?
Leonardo Costa (LC): Our purpose, regardless of the time horizon, is to provide customers with the solutions and services that give them the confidence to decide. Seed companies, and the farmers they serve, are constantly making difficult choices under high regulatory and agronomic pressure, and we want Seed Applied Technologies to be the trusted expert partner that makes those decisions easier and more certain.
To deliver on this promise, we’re focused on three critical priorities. First, innovation. We want a pipeline of next generation chemistry and biologicals that protect the seed’s genetic potential from day one and keep performing as the toolbox available to farmers continues to shrink. Second, broader crop coverage, extending on seed protection into new crops through our own development and strategic partnerships. Third, sustainability and resistance management, with cleaner profiles and different modes of action built in from the start.
A key part of this is our commitment to service and application excellence, because how a treatment is applied can be just as important as the product itself. Customers are looking for solutions that perform consistently, meet evolving regulatory requirements, are easy and safe to use, and come with the support of a partner they can rely on. That is what we mean when we say this is where seeds grow stronger, crops grow stronger, partnerships grow stronger and businesses grow stronger.
SWE: Lumiposa and Ecovelex are at different stages in the market. What have you learnt from the two products, and where do you see their greatest potential?
LC: Both products taught us an important lesson: customers don’t simply buy an active ingredient. They buy confidence, and confidence is earned through partnership and hard work.
As a modern insecticide seed treatment, delivering reliable early season protection against multiple pests in oilseed rape and corn, Lumiposa has established itself as both a genuine alternative to neonicotinoids and a complementary partner in markets where they remain available. With the support of our field experts and seed sector partners, we’ve seen adoption accelerate as growers gain confidence in the product’s performance. The greatest potential for Lumiposa remains in markets seeking innovative solutions to manage moderate to high pest pressure while maintaining productivity and flexibility.
In the case of Ecovelex, our next generation bird repellent seed treatment for corn, we already have two seasons of commercial scale experience in Italy demonstrating the value it brings to growers. As European agriculture continues to evolve, sustainable innovations such as biological seed treatments and microplastic-free formulations will play an increasingly important role. One key lesson from Ecovelex is that breakthrough technologies require transparent communication, robust field evidence, realistic expectation-setting, and ongoing technical support.
This is precisely what the Seed Applied Technologies group at Corteva is committed to delivering. With Ecovelex, we are showing that we can lead the way in this emerging segment through knowledge sharing and authenticity, while continuing to build trust with our partners.
SWE: Launcher for sunflower and Demophon for cereals are among the products coming through the pipeline. What problems are you trying to solve with them, and what will make them different?
LC: Both products are intended to close existing gaps where the market currently lacks confidence. As part of our focus on resistance management, Launcher has been designed as a partner product to be used in combination with Lumisena to protect early season sunflower from downy mildew, bringing consistency and helping this high-value crop continue to thrive.
For cereals, and soon corn, Demophon targets early season challenges such as disease pressure and crop establishment. On top of that, it addresses resistance management concerns through complementary modes of action. This next generation tool is well suited to high-volume crops like cereals, delivering a high quality application experience and broad-spectrum protection with a combination of two active ingredients that can easily be combined with other solutions on the market.
With important active ingredients approaching withdrawal, Demophon is positioned to fill the gap where farmers and seed companies need support the most.
SWE: Seed Applied Technologies is introducing a redesigned brand and new messaging at Euroseeds. Why now, and what do you want customers to understand about SAT?
LC: The new chapter for Corteva has provided us with the perfect moment, and Euroseeds is the perfect stage to share our new brand. But the truth is simpler than that. This isn’t really a rebranding. It’s the formalisation of who we are. We are giving a clearer voice to what has been at the core of SAT from the beginning.
What our brand really does is reflect our strategy, our values and our ambitions more clearly than before. Our strategy is simple: look at the business through our customers’ eyes, build the internal capabilities needed to meet those demands, and keep improving season after season. That is exactly what “grow stronger” means. It’s not just a slogan. It’s how we work and where we want to take this business together with our customers.
What we’d like the seed sector to take away is that SAT is more than a supplier of seed treatments. We truly want to be the best business partner for our customers. This is what you can expect from us as a company, partner, supplier and service provider: expertise you can rely on, delivered with trust, always on your side.
SWE: What does that strategy mean in practice for the way SAT works with customers? How do you want the business to stand apart from competitors?
LC: Our strategy remains consistent, but the way we engage with the market is becoming more customer-centric and partnership-driven. For existing customers, this means moving beyond a traditional supplier relationship and working more closely together to develop complete seed treatment solutions. Whether it is combining chemistry, biologicals, coatings and application technologies, or providing technical support and stewardship, our goal is to help customers maximize the value of every seed.
For new partners, the message is equally clear: SAT is open to working with seed companies across the seed sector, backed by professional service and a robust portfolio available to everyone.
It also changes how we differentiate ourselves. Rather than competing simply on price per active, we compete on the total value added to the seed, supported by the technical services and application expertise that help our solutions perform at their best.
All of this is developed with sustainability and resistance management in mind, allowing us to tackle the key challenges of our partners and help build the future of the seed sector. In every interaction, we want to help customers decide with confidence and be their trusted partner throughout the decision-making process.
SWE: You have talked a lot about products and customers, but you are also building a new team. What are you most proud of there, and what should customers expect from this team in the coming years?
LC: Over the past few years, we’ve been building a team that truly lives our vision of being the most trusted expert partner and, honestly, it’s the thing I’m most proud of. Being that partner isn’t only about products; it’s about the people behind them.
We’ve deliberately brought together a mix of technical, commercial and, most critically, human expertise. These are people with deep knowledge of seed treatment, biologicals and the markets we serve, but they also genuinely care about the customers and farmers on the other side of every decision.
This combination has helped us grow the business to where it is today, and it is helping us create the future we want for SAT and for the seed sector. The growth we’ve seen across so many areas of the business, and the new leaders emerging from within SAT, tell us an important story. Our team is not simply a group of talented individuals. It is a dynamic team that understands our goals, understands how we want to achieve them and lives that vision every day.
What customers should expect in the coming years is exactly that spirit in action: a responsive, expert and genuinely partner minded team, bringing innovative and sustainable solutions to market and standing shoulder to shoulder with our partners as we grow stronger, together.
