GREENFIELD, Ind. – Elanco, the animal health division of Eli Lilly and Company, and Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, plan to create a strategic research and development agreement that will focus on developing integrated solutions they say will enable livestock producers to increase meat and milk production to meet the demands of the growing global population.

Demand for meat, milk, and eggs will increase by more than 60 percent in the next few decades, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The agreement between these Indiana-based companies leverages the strengths of Elanco’s animal health business with the proprietary germplasm and feed technologies of Dow AgroSciences to develop innovative solutions that can increase the efficiency, quality, and productivity of livestock for ranchers and producers worldwide, the companies said in a statement.

“Dow AgroSciences is proud to work closely with another Indiana agricultural company to develop future product solutions for beef and dairy producers,” said Tim Hassinger, president and CEO, Dow AgroSciences. “Collaborating with Elanco is exciting because it unites the strength of their animal health expertise with our feed and forage expertise. Together, we will be looking for ways to develop total solutions that involve improving both the carrying capacity of the land and the health and productivity of production animals to help our customers meet the needs of the growing world.”

“Delivering enough of the high quality meat, milk and eggs we’ll need to feed our growing population is one of the greatest challenges of our time,” added Jeff Simmons, president of Elanco. “And we’ll have to produce more with less because we are already over using our resources, equivalent to 1.5 Earths each year. Ultimately, these issues will be solved with innovative solutions, which is at the foundation of this agreement. We are very excited about the opportunities this effort will bring.”