Better Growing Through Science

FMC’s Innovation in Delaware Impacts Farmers Around the World

BY MATT AMIS | PHOTOS BY NICK WALLACE PHOTOGRAPHY

DR. KATHLEEN SHELTON always loved science.

Her father was a scientist. She majored in biology at Notre Dame a few years after the college began accepting women. “I was always fascinated by the understanding that beneath the surface of what we see, there is something powerful happening, and I wanted to understand it,” she says.

Today, as vice president and chief technology officer for FMC Corporation, Dr. Shelton has quietly orchestrated some of the state and world’s sharpest agricultural innovations.

She leads an organization of over 800 scientists located around the world, with laboratories in India, Brazil, France, Denmark and the U.S. The largest site, the Stine Research Center in Newark, employs over 400 people working in chemistry, biology, regulatory sciences, engineering, and analytical science.

Since its emergence in agriculture in Delaware, FMC has made major waves. In 2018 and 2020, the company earned “Best R&D Pipeline” recognition at the Crop Science Forum and Awards for the breadth of new molecules FMC is developing to address farmers’ challenges around the world. In 2019, it earned an American Chemistry Council award for its Sustainability Assessment Tool, which helps ensure the company develops and commercializes sustainable solutions for growers.

In 2019, the corporation and the Delaware Prosperity Partnership announced a $50 million, three-year investment in capital improvement projects for the facility—enhancing its commitment to Delaware. The improvements include reconfiguring a state-of-the-art greenhouse and research facility at the company’s Global Research and Development headquarters off Elkton Road.

The improvements will also facilitate FMC’s plan to invest nearly $2 billion in research and development through 2023.

FMC’s status as a major Delaware employer wasn’t always guaranteed. And Shelton played a significant role in keeping FMC in the First State— during one of the most high-profile corporate deals in history.

A Philadelphia native, Dr. Shelton earned a PhD in microbiology and immunology before beginning her career as a bench scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. Ultimately, the excitement of scientific discovery gave way to the potential thrills of applying her technical skills to solve problems beyond the bench.

She pursued a job with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Philadelphia office, where the microscope was replaced with a cubicle filled with toxicological reports and risk assessments.

Later, Dr. Shelton joined DuPont and eventually rose to the position of director of DuPont’s Crop Protection Research and Development division, overseeing its Stine-Haskell Research Center in Newark where the focus was on discovering or maintaining pestcontrol products like fungicides and herbicides.

But in 2017, the 217-year-old Delaware institution announced a merger with Dow Chemical, its longtime rival. It was the eighteenth largest merger of all time, and the resulting DowDuPont (later split into three separate companies) became the biggest chemical conglomerate in the world.

The merger was a complex transaction that transformed the global chemical industry—but there was one major hurdle. The European Commission, the governing body responsible for granting regulatory clearance of the deal, ruled the merger could be detrimental to innovation. Combining companies, officials said, created an unfair advantage for the new conglomerate—particularly in the crop protection R&D area that Dr. Shelton led. European Commission officials carved out a handful of DuPont assets that could not merge with the Dow assets.

Then, FMC Corporation stepped in. In November 2017, the Philadelphia-headquartered company acquired DuPont’s Crop Protection business and the majority of its 400-employee Stine Research Center in Newark in exchange for FMC’s Health and Nutrition division and $1.2 billion in cash.

As reported by Farm Futures, “With the move, FMC Corporation will become the fifth largest crop protection chemical company in the world by revenue, estimated at $3.8 billion. And it represents a significant change in the company’s corporate research and development culture, creating another player at work in discovering new products.”

Former president of the Delaware State Chamber, Rich Heffron told the News Journal in 2017 that FMC’s purchase of Stine was “very important” for Delaware.

What was in it for FMC? The long-running chemical company—which began in 1883 when founder John Bean created an innovative insecticide spray pump for California’s orchards—ceased its discovery operations in 2005, and had a strong need for the exact type of technology and assets that Shelton’s organization could provide.

Today, Dr. Shelton is proud to lead a cutting-edge agricultural sciences organization, where the local imprint includes the laboratories in Newark, 24 greenhouses, and an adjoining 250-acre farm in Maryland. About four million plants a year are grown there and then FMC compounds are tested on them. “We’re talking about crops such as wheat, grapes, tomatoes, soybean, cotton, and corn. Additionally, we’re growing over 15 different types of weeds because you have to grow all the weeds in order to test herbicides,” Shelton says.

Dr. Shelton has always had a passion for sharing her excitement about what science can achieve with students of every age. As a former high school teacher and college professor, Dr. Shelton prioritizes inspiring and motivating students to see themselves as scientists. Under her watch, FMC is involved with Healthy Food for Healthy Kids to help build school gardens across Delaware. Recently, Stine scientists spoke to kids about the icky bugs and plants they work with during the Franklin Institute’s Halloween “Fright Night” events. The company is a regular, central contributor to local high school and middle school-level STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) enrichment programs around the area. And a group of FMC scientists teaches Delaware State University students, inspiring a new generation of leaders into their ever-evolving world.

“FMC is proud of its presence in Delaware. We take our commitment to the state very seriously in terms of what we can contribute,” Shelton says, citing a successful relationship with the Delaware Prosperity Partnership. “Delaware is a great place to live and a great place to work. The state’s government officials and staff support a culture that helps drive business success.”

“We are discovering and developing some really valuable agricultural innovation in Delaware. The work starts in Delaware, but its impact is felt around the world.”