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Background and Basis of Presentation (Notes)
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Intended Business Separations [Abstract]  
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Text Block] BACKGROUND AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

Corteva, Inc. combines the strengths of EID’s Pioneer and Crop Protection businesses and Dow AgroSciences ("DAS") business to create a leading global provider of seed and crop protection solutions focused on the agriculture industry. The company intends to leverage its rich heritage of scientific achievement to advance its robust innovation pipeline and continue to shape the future of responsible agriculture. The company's broad portfolio of agriculture solutions fuels farmer productivity in approximately 140 countries. Corteva has two reportable segments: seed and crop protection. See Note 25 - Segment Information, for additional information on the company's reportable segments.

Throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K, except as otherwise noted by the context, the terms "Corteva" or "company" used herein mean Corteva, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries (including EID) and the term “EID” used herein means E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company and its consolidated subsidiaries or E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company excluding its consolidated subsidiaries, as the context may indicate. Additionally, on June 1, 2019, DowDuPont Inc. changed its registered name to DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (“DuPont”), for certain events prior to, or on, June 1, 2019, DuPont may be referred to as DowDuPont.

Principles of Consolidation and Basis of Presentation
On June 1, 2019, Corteva, Inc. became an independent, publicly traded company through the previously announced separation (the “Separation”) of the agriculture business of DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (formerly known as DowDuPont Inc.) (“DowDuPont” or “DuPont”). The separation was effectuated through a pro rata distribution (the “Corteva Distribution”) of all of the then-issued and outstanding shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share, of Corteva, Inc., which was then a wholly-owned subsidiary of DowDuPont, to holders of record of DowDuPont common stock as of the close of business on May 24, 2019.

Previously, DowDuPont was formed on December 9, 2015, to effect an all-stock merger of equals strategic combination between The Dow Chemical Company ("Historical Dow") and EID. On August 31, 2017 at 11:59 pm ET (the “Merger Effectiveness Time”) pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of December 11, 2015, as amended March 31, 2017 (the "Merger Agreement"), Historical Dow and EID each merged with wholly-owned subsidiaries of DowDuPont and became subsidiaries of DowDuPont (the “Merger”). Prior to the Merger, DowDuPont did not conduct any business activities other than those required for its formation and matters contemplated by the Merger Agreement.

Subsequent to the Merger, Historical Dow and EID engaged in a series of internal reorganization and realignment steps to realign their businesses into three subgroups: agriculture, materials science and specialty products through a series of tax-efficient transactions (collectively, the "Business Separations”). Effective as of 5:00 pm ET on April 1, 2019, DowDuPont completed the previously announced separation of its materials science business into a separate and independent public company by way of a distribution of Dow Inc. (“Dow”) through a pro rata dividend in-kind of all of the then-issued and outstanding shares of Dow’s common stock, par value $0.01 per share, to holders of DowDuPont's common stock (the “DowDuPont Common Stock”), as of the close of business on March 21, 2019 (the “Dow Distribution” and together with the Corteva Distribution, the “Distributions”).

Prior to the Dow Distribution, Historical Dow conveyed or transferred the assets and liabilities aligned with Historical Dow’s agriculture business to separate legal entities (“Dow Ag Entities”) and the assets and liabilities associated with its specialty products business to separate legal entities (the “Dow SP Entities”). On April 1, 2019, Dow Ag Entities and the Dow SP Entities were transferred and conveyed to DowDuPont.

In furtherance of the Business Separations, EID engaged in a series of internal reorganization and realignment steps (the “Internal Reorganization” and the "Business Realignment," respectively) to realign its businesses into three subgroups: agriculture, materials science and specialty products. As part of the Internal Reorganization:

the assets and liabilities aligned with EID’s materials science business, including EID’s ethylene and ethylene copolymers business, excluding its ethylene acrylic elastomers business, (“EID ECP”) were transferred or conveyed to separate legal entities (the “Materials Science Entities”) that were ultimately conveyed by DowDuPont to Dow;

the assets and liabilities aligned with the EID’s specialty products business were transferred or conveyed to separate legal entities (“EID Specialty Products Entities”);

on April 1, 2019, EID transferred and conveyed its Materials Science Entities to DowDuPont;

on May 1, 2019, EID distributed its Specialty Products Entities to DowDuPont;

on May 2, 2019, DowDuPont conveyed Dow Ag Entities to EID and in connection with the foregoing, EID issued additional shares of its Common Stock to DowDuPont; and

on May 31, 2019, DowDuPont contributed EID to Corteva, Inc.

On May 6, 2019, the Board of Directors of DowDuPont approved the distribution of all the then issued and outstanding shares of common stock of Corteva, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of DowDuPont, to DowDuPont stockholders. On June 1, 2019, DowDuPont completed the Separation. Each DowDuPont stockholder received one share of Corteva common stock for every three shares of DowDuPont common stock held at the close of business on May 24, 2019, the record date of distribution. Corteva, Inc.'s common stock began trading the "regular way" under the ticker symbol "CTVA" on June 3, 2019, the first business day after June 1, 2019. Upon becoming an independent company, the capital structure of Corteva consisted of 748,815,000 authorized shares of common stock (par value of $0.01 per share), which represents the number of common shares issued on June 3, 2019. Information related to the Corteva Distribution and its effect on the company's financial statements is discussed throughout these Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

As a result of the Business Realignment and the Internal Reorganization discussed above, Corteva owns, directly or indirectly, 100% of the outstanding common stock of EID, and EID owns 100% of DAS. EID is a subsidiary of Corteva, Inc. and continues to be a reporting company, subject to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

Certain reclassifications of prior year's data have been made to conform to current year's presentation.

DAS Common Control Business Combination
The transfer or conveyance of DAS to Corteva was treated as a transfer of entities under common control. As such, the company recorded the assets, liabilities, and equity of DAS on its balance sheet at their historical basis. Transfers of businesses between entities under common control requires the financial statements to be presented as if the transaction had occurred at the point at which common control first existed (the Merger Effectiveness Time). As a result, the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto include the results of DAS as of the Merger Effectiveness Time. See Note 4 - Common Control Business Combination, for additional information.

As a result, for periods prior to the Corteva Distribution and after the Merger, the combined results of operations and assets and liabilities of EID and DAS were derived from the Consolidated Financial Statements and accounting records of EID as well as the carve-out financial statements of DAS. The DAS carve-out financial statements reflect the historical results of operations, financial position, and cash flows of Historical Dow's Agricultural Sciences Business and include allocations of certain expenses for services from Historical Dow, including, but not limited to, general corporate expenses related to finance, legal, information technology, human resources, ethics and compliance, shared services, employee benefits and incentives, insurance, and stock-based compensation. These expenses were allocated on the basis of direct usage when identifiable, with the remainder allocated under the basis of headcount or other measures. Subsequent to the Corteva Distribution, the financial statements are presented on a consolidated basis.

The company's Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2019 consists of the consolidated balances subsequent to the Corteva Distribution. The balances reflect the assets and liabilities that were historically included in the EID statements, as well as assets and liabilities transferred to the company as part of the common control combination of DAS. The company's Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2018 consist of the combined balances of Historical EID and DAS. The Balance Sheets will be referred to as the "Consolidated Balance Sheets" throughout this document.

The company's Consolidated Statements of Operations (the "Consolidated Statements of Operations") for all periods prior to April 30, 2019 consist of the combined results of operations for Historical EID and DAS. The Consolidated Statements of Operations for all periods after May 1, 2019 represent the consolidated balances of the company.

Divestiture of EID ECP
The transfer of EID ECP meets the criteria for discontinued operations and as such, results of operations are presented as discontinued operations and have been excluded from continuing operations for all periods presented. The comprehensive (loss) income, stockholder's equity and cash flows related to EID ECP have not been segregated and are included in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive (Loss) Income, Consolidated Statements of Equity and Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, respectively, for all periods presented. Amounts related to EID ECP are consistently included or excluded from the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements based on the respective financial statement line item. See Note 5 - Divestitures and Other Transactions, for additional information.

Divestiture of EID Specialty Products Entities
The transfer of the EID Specialty Products Entities meets the criteria for discontinued operations and as such, results of operations are presented as discontinued operations and have been excluded from continuing operations for all periods presented. The comprehensive (loss) income, stockholder's equity and cash flows related to the EID Specialty Products Entities have not been segregated and are included in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive (Loss) Income, Consolidated Statements of Equity and Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, respectively, for all periods presented. Amounts related to the EID Special Products Entities are consistently included or excluded from the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements based on the respective financial statement line item. See Note 5 - Divestitures and Other Transactions, for additional information.

Divested EID Ag Business
As a condition of the regulatory approval for the Merger, including by the European Commission, EID was required to divest (the “Divested Ag Business”) certain assets related to its crop protection business and research and development ("R&D") organization, specifically EID’s Cereal Broadleaf Herbicides and Chewing Insecticides portfolios, including Rynaxypyr®, Cyazypyr® and Indoxacarb as well as the crop protection R&D pipeline and organization, excluding seed treatment, nematicides, and late-stage R&D programs. On March 31, 2017, EID and FMC Corporation (“FMC”) entered into a definitive agreement (the "FMC Transaction Agreement"). On November 1, 2017, FMC acquired the Divested Ag Business and EID acquired certain assets relating to FMC’s Health and Nutrition segment, excluding its Omega-3 products (the "H&N Business") (collectively, the "FMC Transactions"). The H&N Business was transferred to DowDuPont as part of the EID Specialty Products Entities.

The sale of the Divested Ag Business met the criteria for discontinued operations and as such, results of operations are presented as discontinued operations and have been excluded from continuing operations for all periods presented. See Note 5 - Divestitures and Other Transactions, for additional information.

Predecessor / Successor Reporting
For purposes of DowDuPont's financial statement presentation, Historical Dow was determined to be the accounting acquirer in the Merger and Historical DuPont's assets and liabilities are reflected at fair value as of the close of the Merger in the financial statements of DowDuPont. In connection with the Merger and the related accounting determination, Historical DuPont elected to apply push-down accounting and reflect in its financial statements, the fair value of its assets and liabilities. For purposes of Corteva’s financial statement presentation, periods following the close of the Merger are labeled “Successor” and reflect DowDuPont’s basis in the fair values of the assets and liabilities of Corteva/EID. All periods prior to the closing of the Merger reflect the historical accounting basis in EID 's assets and liabilities and are labeled “Predecessor.” The Consolidated Financial Statements and Footnotes include a black line division between the columns titled "Predecessor" and "Successor" to signify that the amounts shown for the periods prior to and following the Merger are not comparable. In addition, the company elected to make certain changes in presentation to harmonize its accounting and reporting with that of DowDuPont in the Successor periods. See Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion of these changes.