Wheat Imaging Technology to Revolutionize the Grain Industry

Highlights

• Breakthrough in seed grading technology that will benefit both growers and the value chain.
• "Smart technology" will enable grain handlers to assess quality and sort grain products more efficiently and with far greater accuracy.
• DuPont Canada is sole licensee to the technology and plans to develop it for all key crops in major global markets.
  

Mississauga, Ontario, June 20, 2002 --- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and DuPont Canada Inc. (TSE: DUP.A), a leading diversified science company, announced today the launch of Acurum™ (www.acurum.com) a new business venture based on innovative automated grain analysis technology that offers sophisticated, objective and rapid analysis of grain. This knowledge-intensive technology was developed over a seven-year period by scientists at AAFC's Lethbridge Research Centre and has been licensed to DuPont Canada for commercialization worldwide.

The technology acts like an extremely high-powered eye, with "thinking" capacity modelled on the human brain. It can instantly analyze samples of over 3,000 seeds at a time, measuring physical characteristics such as texture, length and width, as well as color characteristics. This information is then processed into judgements, using artificial intelligence and neural network modelling.

"I am very excited by this new technology because Acurum™ supports a number of Agricultural Policy Framework objectives to make Canada the world leader in food safety, innovation and environmentally-responsible production," said Glenn Coulter, Assistant Director of the Lethbridge Research Centre. "The cutting-edge technology will help improve Canada's international wheat and barley marketing system, bolstering our competitive position in world trade."

"DuPont Canada's vision is to be an ally with the Canadian agricultural community in building sound and sustainable agriculture," stated Dave Colcleugh, Chairman, President and CEO, DuPont Canada Inc.

"Our commercialization of Acurum™ demonstrates again DuPont Canada's commitment to scientific innovation in the Canadian and global agricultural marketplace," added Ron Zelonka, Vice-President, Technology and Innovation, DuPont Canada Inc.

Sharon Zadorozny, Business Director, Agricultural Products for Dupont Canada said: "Our company is planning a broad market penetration for Acurum™. It will be available to all members of the grain supply chain, including farmers, elevator and terminal operators, the Canadian Grain Commission, flour mills, and malting companies, as well as foreign grain customers."

The Acurum™ technology is a perfect fit with DuPont Canada's other innovative food technologies, such as its BAX® Microbe Detection System, RiboPrinter® Microbial Characterization System, as well as its leading range of crop protection products and other agricultural solutions.

The roots of Acurum™ are in a lab at Lethbridge where work began to create a system to process seed objectively and rapidly for scientific purposes. Within the first three years, a number of approaches were tried and the system's commercial potential was recognized. At that time, a strong push started to fine tune the neural network/artificial intelligence technology. Shortly thereafter, the need for an industrial partner was identified as the project moved to the front burner. Confident of the technology, AAFC researchers pitched the product to potential partners and DuPont Canada came onboard.

The Lethbridge Research Centre has filed patents on the technology in the U.S. and other countries. Dr. Coulter is confident DuPont Canada will get the technology quickly and widely distributed into the hands of industry, where it can bring the most benefit. Canadians as investors will also benefit from royalties flowing back into further research.

The DuPont oval® is a registered trademark of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. DuPont Canada Inc. is a licensee. AcurumTM is a trademark of DuPont Canada Inc. BAX® and RiboPrinter® are registered trademarks of Qualicon Inc. For more information about DuPont Canada, please visit the company's website at www.dupont.ca