FMC CORP
For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Feb 27, 2024.
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FY2023 · Filed Feb 27, 2024
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Item 1. Business
General
FMC Corporation is a global agricultural sciences company dedicated to helping growers produce food, feed, fiber and fuel for an expanding world population while adapting to a changing environment. FMC’s innovative crop protection solutions enable growers, crop advisers and turf and pest management professionals to address their toughest challenges economically without compromising safety or the environment. FMC is committed to discovering new insecticide, herbicide and fungicide active ingredients, product formulations and pioneering technologies that are consistently better for the planet.
FMC Strategy
We are a tier-one leader and the fifth largest global innovator in the agrochemicals/crop protection market. Our strong competitive position is driven by our technology and innovation, as well as our geographic balance and crop diversity.
Our leading conventional and biological technologies that farmers rely on to protect their crops from disease and pests were produced at five active ingredient plants, 16 formulation and packaging sites and sold in approximately 110 countries. Helping farmers grow more food sustainably on less arable land requires a continual stream of new products and technologies. We are investing in one of the agricultural industry’s most productive crop protection pipeline, featuring over 20 new active areas in discovery and 18 new active ingredients in development. More than 25 of these molecules feature new modes of action. In addition, we are focused on strengthening our relationship to the grower as a trusted advisor in order to increase awareness of our products and educate growers on the value these products can provide.
In response to improved security of supply and increased carrying cost of inventory, distributors, retailers and growers rapidly reduced purchases across all four regions beginning in the latter half of the second quarter of 2023 and persisting through the remainder of the year. This inventory destocking has affected the industry broadly and we do not believe it is specific to our products as grower consumption remained steady during 2023. We have experienced a slower sell-through of our inventory due to inventory destocking, and, as a result, volumes were down significantly driving a decline in our revenues, results of operations and cash flows as compared to the prior year.
FMC revenues year over year declined approximately 23 percent during 2023, or 22 percent organically(1)excluding the impacts of foreign currency. While market conditions negatively impacted our results, sales of our newer and more differentiated products, including diamides, outperformed the overall portfolio demonstrating the resilience of these products. Approximately $590 million in 2023 sales came from products launched in the last five years, representing 14 percent of the total revenue. In 2023, we had new product launches in Brazil, including Premio®Star insecticide based on Rynaxypyr® active, and in the United States, including our new insecticide for tree nuts, Altacor® Evo. Products launched in 2023 accounted for approximately $146 million in sales. Our diamides, Rynaxypyr® and Cyazypyr® active ingredients, continued to be a significant part of our portfolio, representing approximately $1.8 billion in combined sales and approximately 39 percent of the total revenue in 2023.
(1)Organic revenue growth is a non-GAAP term which excludes the impact of foreign currency changes. Refer to the "Results of Operations" section of our Management's Discussion and Analysis in Item 7 for our organic revenue non-GAAP reconciliation.
Acquisitions and Divestitures
We continued to make investments through FMC Ventures, our venture capital arm targeting strategic investments in start-ups and early-stage companies that are developing and applying emerging technologies in the agricultural industry.
Financial Information About Our Business
(Financial Information in Millions)
The following table shows the principal products produced by our business, its raw materials and uses:
| Product | Raw Materials | Uses |
|---|---|---|
| Insecticides | Synthetic chemical intermediates | Protection of crops, including soybean, corn, fruits and vegetables, cotton, sugarcane, rice, and cereals, from insects and for non-agricultural applications including pest control for home, garden and other specialty markets |
| Herbicides | Synthetic chemical intermediates | Protection of crops, including cotton, sugarcane, rice, corn, soybeans, cereals, fruits and vegetables from weed growth and for non-agricultural applications including turf and roadsides |
| Fungicides | Synthetic chemical intermediates | Protection of crops, including cereals, fruits and vegetables from fungal disease |
| Plant Health | Biological intermediates | Protection of crops, including soybean, corn, fruits and vegetables, cotton, sugarcane, rice, and cereals, from insects and diseases and enhancement of yields |
The following charts detail our sales by major geographic region and major product category.
The following table provides our long-lived assets by major geographical region:
| (in Millions) | December 31, | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | |
| Long-lived assets | ||
| North America | $1,063.4 | $1,060.7 |
| Latin America | 714.8 | 759.0 |
| Europe, Middle East, and Africa | 1,718.2 | 1,684.1 |
| Asia | 1,964.1 | 2,018.2 |
| Total | $5,460.5 | $5,522.0 |
Products and Markets
Our portfolio is comprised of three major pesticide categories: insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. The majority of our product lines consist of insecticides and herbicides, and we have a growing portfolio of fungicides mainly used in high value crop segments. Our insecticides are used to control a wide spectrum of pests, while our herbicide portfolio primarily targets a large variety of difficult-to-control weeds. In addition, we are also investing substantially in our Plant Health program which includes biologicals, crop nutrition, and seed treatment products. Biological technologies offer excellent sustainability profiles and serve as strong complements to our synthetic products. Our biologicals feature attributes that exceed the competition, such as high stability, long shelf life, low use rates and compatibility with other chemistries.
We have our own sales and marketing organizations and access the market through a combination of distributors, retailers and co-ops in all four regions. In addition, we sell directly to large growers in select countries such as Brazil. Through these and other alliances, along with our own targeted marketing efforts, access to novel technologies and our innovation initiatives, we expect to maintain and enhance our access in key agricultural and non-crop markets and develop new products that will help us continue to compete effectively.
Industry Overview
The three principal categories of agricultural and non-crop chemicals are: herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, representing approximately 42 percent, 29 percent and 26 percent of global agricultural crop protection market value, respectively.
The agrochemicals industry is more consolidated following several mergers of the leading crop protection companies, which now include FMC, ChemChina (owner of Syngenta Group, which includes the former Syngenta and Adama), Bayer AG (acquired Monsanto in 2018), BASF AG and Corteva Agriscience. These five innovation companies currently represent approximately 73 percent of the crop protection industry’s global sales. The next group of agrochemical producers include UPL Ltd., Sumitomo Chemical Company Ltd., and Nufarm Ltd. FMC employs various differentiated strategies and competes with unique technologies focusing on certain crops, markets and geographies, while also being supported by a low-cost manufacturing model.
Growth
We are among the leading agrochemical producers in the world. Several products from our portfolio are based on patent-protected active ingredients and position us to grow well above market patterns. Our complementary technologies combine improved formulation capabilities and a broader innovation pipeline, resulting in new and differentiated products. We continue to take advantage of enhanced market access positions and an expanded portfolio to deliver near-term growth.
We have a growth strategy driven by obtaining new and improved uses for existing product lines and acquiring, accessing, developing, marketing, distributing and/or selling complementary chemistries, biologicals, and related technologies in order to strengthen our product portfolio and our capabilities to effectively service our target markets and customers.
Our growth efforts focus on developing environmentally compatible and sustainable solutions that can effectively increase farmers’ yields and provide alternatives to products which may be prone to resistance. We are committed to providing unique, differentiated products to our customers by acquiring and further developing technologies as well as investing in innovation to extend product life cycles. Our external growth efforts include product acquisitions, in-licensing of chemistries and technologies and alliances that bolster our market access, complement our existing product portfolio or provide entry into adjacent spaces. We have entered into a range of development and distribution agreements with other companies that provide access to new technologies and products which we can subsequently commercialize.
In FMC Precision Agriculture, we are broadening our award-winning Arc™ farm intelligence platform, a proprietary mobile solution that helps farmers better understand and manage pest pressure through predictive modeling based on real-time and historical data, entomological models, hyper-local weather information and in-field sensors. Arc™ farm intelligence, which is now available in over 25 countries across 20 million acres, allows growers to address pest pressure more efficiently, manage infestations before they escalate and target applications in a more sustainable manner.
Our venture capital arm, FMC Ventures, continued to build its portfolio in 2023 with new collaborations and strategic investments in start-ups and early stage companies working on new or disruptive technologies. These engagements, which support or augment our internal capabilities, span several important technology segments, including robotics, drone technology, Ag-FinTech, pathogen detection, soil health, peptides and pheromones. FMC Ventures continues to scout for and invest in game changing innovations that will shape the future of crop protection.
Diamide Growth Strategy
Our product portfolio features two key diamide-class molecules – Rynaxypyr® (chlorantraniliprole) and Cyazypyr® (cyantraniliprole) actives – with combined annual revenues of approximately $1.8 billion in 2023. These two molecules are industry-leading in terms of performance, combining highly effective low dose rates with fast-acting, systemic, long residual control. These attributes quickly established Rynaxypyr® active as the world’s leading insect control technology and we expect it to continue a strong growth trajectory notwithstanding the expiration of composition of matter patents covering Rynaxypyr® active in certain countries which started in late 2022. Our Cyazypyr® active, a second-generation diamide, is growing quickly as we obtain more product registrations. We expect Cyazypyr® active to continue to grow strongly notwithstanding the expiration of its active ingredient composition of matter patents starting in early 2024. This expectation is based not only on our broad patent estate and the timing of key patent milestones, but also on other critical elements that we believe will allow FMC to continue to profitably grow the diamide franchise well beyond the expiration of key patents. Some of the critical elements supporting our view of diamide growth include development of new formulations, registration and data protection, commercial strategies, brand recognition, as well as manufacturing and supply chain complexity and FMC efficiencies.
Patents and Trade Secrets. The FMC diamide insect control patent estate is made up of many different patent families which cover: Composition of matter – both active ingredients and certain intermediates; Manufacturing processes – both active ingredients and certain intermediates; Formulations; Uses; and Applications. For Rynaxypyr®and Cyazypyr®actives related patents, as of December 31, 2023, we had 42 families with granted patents filed in up to 76 countries, with a total of 755 active granted patents as well as numerous pending patent applications. See "Patents, Trademarks and Licenses" within this Item 1 for more details. FMC’s process patents cover the manufacturing processes for both active ingredients – chlorantraniliprole and cyantraniliprole – as well as key intermediates that are used to make the final products. Chlorantraniliprole is a complex molecule to produce, requiring 16 separate steps; FMC owns granted patents covering many of these 16 process steps and several of the intermediate chemicals, and we protect other aspects of the manufacturing processes by trade secret. Cyantraniliprole is similarly complex and covered by a comparable range of intellectual property. Many of these intermediate process patents run well past the expiration of the active ingredient composition of matter patents, and in some cases stretch until the end of this decade. Third parties that intend to manufacture and sell generic chlorantraniliprole or cyantraniliprole and rely on FMC’s extensive product safety data will be required to demonstrate that their product has an equivalent regulatory safety profile as FMC's Rynaxypyr® and Cyazypyr® actives. To meet regulatory requirements for such difficult-to-manufacture molecules, we believe that third parties will likely have to produce these active ingredients using the same processes that are patented by FMC and if so, would be infringing before patent expiration and subject to our challenge for infringement. FMC also owns formulation patents which cover the use of chlorantraniliprole or cyantraniliprole in specific formulations found in commercially important end-use products.
Regulatory Requirements. In addition to the patent estate, various pesticide laws and regulations around the world offer added protection to the initial active ingredient registrant in the form of data protection that can extend after the composition or process patents have expired. These rules can effectively provide a product innovator and initial active ingredient registrant such as FMC with a further period of exclusive use of the key reference data even after the applicable active ingredient composition of matter patents have expired. Further, in certain countries, even after the period of exclusive use has expired, a generic entrant seeking to rely on the initial registrant’s reference data may have to pay compensation to the initial registrant. For FMC’s diamide products, such rights apply in key markets including United States and the European Union.
We also have actively advocated with regulatory agencies who are reviewing the applications of generic producers to ensure that regulators are aware of relevant regulatory considerations, such as the legal production status of the producing company, applicable FMC patents, and evidence of potential impurities or other data that are inconsistent with the FMC-registered product safety profile. In some countries, we have initiated administrative proceedings regarding compliance with applicable regulations.
Growing the FMC Diamide Franchise. FMC is executing a strategy to supply end-use products containing Rynaxypyr® and Cyazypyr® actives to a broad range of companies prior to patent expiration, and in return establishing long-term purchase commitments from these companies. These arrangements may also include limited patent, data and/or trademark licenses. Such partner relationships allow us to grow our business by having others develop and sell diamide-based products to meet farmers' needs not within our current portfolio, offering those farmers a better alternative to competing insecticides with product safety or efficacy profiles which are less attractive than Rynaxypyr® or Cyazypyr® actives. These agreements can require the third-party to use the well-known and trusted Rynaxypyr® or Cyazypyr® brand names on the end-use products formulated with active ingredient supplied by FMC. As of December 31, 2023, we had global agreements with five major multinational companies and approximately 56 separate local-country agreements covering over 19 countries. We are continuing to explore opportunities with additional companies beyond those with whom we are already engaged. Furthermore, FMC is developing an extensive portfolio of new diamide-containing products to address grower needs around the world. The first of these Rynaxypyr® active containing products, under the trademarks Elevest®, Vantacor®, and Altacor® eVo, were launched in the US and other countries, including Canada and Australia, starting in late 2020 through 2023 and will be launched in additional countries in 2024 onward. In 2023, Premio® Star insect control formulation was launched in Brazil and launches in other Latin American countries starting in 2025. Cyazypyr® active containing brands, under the trademarks Verimark®, Benevia®, and Exirel® were launched in certain southern European countries starting in 2023. Our current diamide pipeline contains approximately 20 new products to be launched this decade and we continue to explore further innovations based on the diamide chemistry.
Complexity of manufacturing. Today FMC manufactures all the required intermediates in the multi-step processes, as well as the final Rynaxypyr®and Cyazypyr® actives, at our own active ingredient manufacturing plants or through key contract manufacturers who produce under long-term exclusive technology-license agreements. Given our manufacturing know-how, scale of our operations, and continual investment in manufacturing process improvement, we believe FMC’s manufacturing costs will be substantially lower than any other party seeking to produce these diamide products at scale and in compliance with all applicable laws.
Collectively, these four factors – deep patent estate, proprietary regulatory data and regulatory advocacy, strong commercial approach leveraging our brand recognition, and capabilities of managing large scale manufacturing complexity – provide the basis for our expectation that FMC will be the company of choice to supply chlorantraniliprole and cyantraniliprole products to third-party partners, and ultimately to farmers, well into the future.
Source and Availability of Raw Materials
We utilize numerous vendors to supply raw materials and intermediate chemicals to support operations. These materials are sourced on a global basis to strategically balance FMC’s vendor portfolio.
Patents, Trademarks and Licenses
As an agricultural sciences company, FMC believes in innovation and in protecting that innovation through intellectual property rights. We own and license a significant number of U.S. and foreign patents, trademarks, trade secrets and other intellectual property that are cumulatively important to our business. In addition, we seek to license our proprietary technologies through partnering arrangements that effectively allow us to capitalize from our intellectual property. The FMC intellectual property estate provides us with a significant competitive advantage which we seek to expand and renew on a continual basis. We manage our technology investment to discover and develop new active ingredients and biological products, as well as to continue to improve manufacturing processes and existing active ingredients through new formulations, mixtures or other concepts. FMC’s technology innovation processes capture those innovations and protect them through the most appropriate form of intellectual property rights. We also in-license certain active ingredients and other technologies under patents held by third parties, and have granted licenses to certain of our patents to third parties.
Our patents cover many aspects of our business, including our chemical and biological active ingredients, intermediate chemicals, manufacturing processes to produce such active ingredients or intermediates, formulations, and product uses, as well as many aspects of our research and development activities that support the FMC new product pipeline. Patents are granted by individual jurisdictions and the duration of our patents depends on their respective jurisdictions and payment of annuities.
As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned a total of approximately 200 active granted U.S. patents and 2,800 active granted foreign patents (includes Supplemental Patent Certificates); we also have approximately 2,300 patent applications pending globally.
In our current product portfolio, our diamide insect control products based on Rynaxypyr® (Chlorantraniliprole) and Cyazypyr® (Cyantraniliprole) active ingredients have a substantial patent estate which will remain in force well into the future. More details regarding our diamide granted patent estate are set forth in the tables below:
| Numbers of active Granted Patents by type*: Chlorantraniliprole and Cyantraniliprole, as of December 31, 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|
| United States | Foreign | |
| Active Ingredients | 2 | 169 |
| Intermediates and Methods of Manufacturing | 21 | 245 |
| Formulations/Mixtures/Applications | 7 | 311 |
| Total | 30 | 725 |
*Patent families were only placed under one type but may cover several types.
| Remaining Life of Granted Patents: Chlorantraniliprole and Cyantraniliprole, as of December 31, 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|
| United States · Foreign | ||
| Through December 31, 2028 | 15 | 524 |
| 2029 - 2033 | 11 | 132 |
| 2034 - 2039 | 2 | 17 |
| 2040 - 2043 | 2 | 52 |
| Total | 30 | 725 |
We also own many trademarks that are well recognized by customers or product end-users. Unlike patents, ownership rights in trademarks can be continued indefinitely so long as the trademarks are properly used and renewal fees are paid.
We actively monitor and manage our patents and trademarks to maintain our rights in these assets and we strategically take aggressive action when we believe our intellectual property rights are being infringed. Since 2022, continuing through 2023 and into 2024, we initiated proceedings to enforce several of our patents and trademarks against generic producers and infringers, resulting in multiple favorable judgments and settlements in several countries, including in the United States, India, and China. Patent challenges in response to enforcement efforts is expected as an ordinary defense tactic in patent enforcement cases, and have been raised in several of our enforcement cases to date; we intend to defend vigorously any diamide patents that are challenged. While we believe that the invalidity or loss of any particular patent, trademark or license after appeal would be an unlikely possibility, our patent and trademark estate related to our diamide insect control products based on Rynaxypyr® and Cyazypyr® active ingredients in the aggregate are of material importance to our operations.
The composition of matter patent that covers chlorantraniliprole (also known as Rynaxypyr® active) expired in a number of countries in August 2022; this patent will continue to remain in force in other countries throughout the world, expiring on a country-by-country basis at various dates through 2027. The composition of matter patent that covers cyantraniliprole (also known as Cyazypyr® active) expired in a number of countries starting in January 2024; this patent will continue to remain in force in other countries throughout the world, expiring on a country-by-country basis at various dates through January 2029.
Since expiration of the composition of matter patent on chlorantraniliprole in late 2022, generic competitors have, in some countries, registered and launched generic versions of our Rynaxypyr®-based products. We continue to deploy a multi-pronged strategy to defend that business after active ingredient patent expiration, including enforcement of our patents in many countries which continue to cover chemical intermediates and manufacturing processes that are essential in the production of chlorantraniliprole. Patents involve complex factual and legal issues and thus each case is being litigated on the merits; we often seek preliminary injunctive relief to stop sales of products which we believe to be infringing – since equitable relief at the early stage of a litigation is subject to a higher standard of proof than decisions made after a trial on the merits, we may have difficulty prevailing in all cases at that preliminary stage, and in a number of cases in India and China, we have not obtained that requested relief, allowing products to be launched while the underlying cases on the merits continue. Even in situations in which we are not able to prevail on interim relief, we intend to continue litigating in such cases and seek permanent injunctive relief and recovery of damages after a full trial. Patent challenges in response to enforcement efforts are expected as an ordinary defense tactic in patent enforcement cases; we intend to defend vigorously any diamide patents that are challenged.
In early 2022, we received notice that certain third parties were seeking to invalidate our Chinese patents on a certain intermediate involved in producing chlorantraniliprole and a process to produce chlorantraniliprole. During the third quarter of 2022, the China Patent Review Board ("Review Board") issued rulings which held that the two challenged patents were not valid in China. We believe the Review Board’s decisions are seriously flawed both on procedural and substantive grounds and we have appealed the Review Board's decision to the Beijing IP Court. Under Chinese law, the patents remain valid but are not enforceable pending appeal. As of the date of this Form 10-K, we are awaiting a decision from the Beijing IP Court. Given the unique and specific Chinese patent law issues at issue in that situation, we do not believe that the Review Board’s decisions would materially adversely impact our enforcement of similar patents in other countries.
In several of our pending India patent enforcement cases, defendant infringers have sought to invalidate the asserted FMC patent(s), but as of the date of this Form 10-K no such infringer has prevailed in an invalidation claim.
Seasonality
The seasonal nature of the crop protection market and the geographic spread of our business can result in significant variations in quarterly earnings among geographic locations. Our products sold in the northern hemisphere (North America, Europe and parts of Asia) serve seasonal agricultural markets from March through September, generally resulting in significant earnings in the first and second quarters, and to a lesser extent in the fourth quarter. Markets in the southern hemisphere (Latin America and parts of the Asia Pacific region, including Australia) are served from July through February, generally resulting in earnings in the third, fourth and first quarters.
Competition
We encounter substantial competition in our business. We market our products through our own sales organization and through alliance partners, independent distributors and sales representatives. The number of our principal competitors varies from market to market. In general, we compete by providing advanced technology, high product quality, reliability, quality customer and technical service, and by operating in a cost-efficient manner.
Our business competes primarily in the global crop protection market for insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. Industry products include crop protection chemicals and biologicals, for certain major competitors, genetically engineered (crop biotechnology) products. Competition from generic agrochemical producers is significant as a number of key product patents have expired in the last two decades. In general, we compete as an innovator by focusing on product development, including novel formulations, proprietary mixes, and advanced delivery systems and by acquiring or licensing (mostly) proprietary chemistries or technologies that complement our product and geographic focus. We also differentiate ourselves by our global cost-competitiveness through our manufacturing strategies, establishing effective product stewardship programs and developing strategic alliances that strengthen market access in key countries and regions.
Research and Development Expense
The R&D efforts in our business focus on discovering and developing environmentally sound solutions — both new active ingredients and new product formulations — that meet the needs of farmers to maximize yields and control pests. We are continuously investing into our FMC Stine Research Center in Newark, Delaware, to upgrade the site infrastructure and equipment.
Environmental Laws and Regulations
A discussion of environmental related factors can be found in Item 7 "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and in Note 11 "Environmental Obligations" in the notes to our consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K.
Human Capital
At FMC, employees are guided by our purpose: Innovation for agriculture; Solutions for the planet. We provide farmers innovative solutions that increase the productivity and resilience of their land. From our industry-leading discovery pipeline to novel biologicals and precision technologies, we are passionate about the power of science to solve agriculture's biggest challenges. Our employees’ belief in this purpose and commitment to our core values are key to the company’s success.
Employees
We employ approximately 6,600 people, which is split across our major geographical regions with 24 percent in North America, 12 percent in Latin America, 24 percent in Europe, Middle East & Africa, and 40 percent in Asia as of December 31, 2023.
Approximately 3 percent of our U.S.-based and 31 percent of our foreign-based employees, respectively, are represented by collective bargaining agreements. We have successfully concluded our recent contract negotiations without any material work stoppages. We cannot predict, however, the outcome of future contract negotiations. In 2024, 6 foreign collective-bargaining agreements will be expiring. These contracts affect approximately 21 percent of our foreign-based employees. There are no U.S. collective-bargaining agreements expiring in 2024.
Talent Development and Retention
At FMC, it is important that we focus our programs and initiatives on sustaining strong leaders who are committed to engaging and developing employees, so they can lead competitively, innovate change, improve business performance, and successfully maintain a competitive advantage. FMC provides leadership development through structured leadership programs worldwide. FMC’s program components include in-class and self-paced learning, development planning and stretch assignments, project-based action learning and rotational learning, mentoring and coaching, and leadership and functional assessments. Our programs are designed to provide engaging, collaborative, and creative learning environments. Employees leverage their experiences in these programs to develop leadership abilities to their highest levels, enabling them to deliver innovative solutions, strong results and continued growth.
FMC continually strives to meet the needs of our employees, shareholders, and customers through competitive rewards, policies, and practices that support the company as an employer of choice in every market where we compete for talent. FMC compensates employees through total reward programs that are aligned with performance and competencies. Performance-based direct pay programs include competitive base pay, annual bonus opportunities, sales incentive plans, and long-term incentives. These compensation elements along with benefits, work-life flexibility, recognition awards, talent and career development, enable FMC to offer a comprehensive total reward package designed for employees throughout their career.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
An important element of our company’s growth strategy is our commitment to Diversity Equity & Inclusion ("DEI"). As we continue to evolve as a company, one of our guiding principles is to ensure everyone can be themselves authentically, feel supported, have a sense of belonging, and be treated fairly in opportunities to succeed.
The impact of our global DEI program extends beyond the four walls of FMC, as evidenced in our strategic investments in external partnerships and community outreach. We support STEM education in minority and underrepresented communities and sponsor scholarships for college students in STEM-based career majors at Historically Black Colleges & Universities ("HBCUs") in the United States and scholarships for women in agriculture career tracks at colleges/universities in other countries (e.g., Australia, India, etc.). We also support internship and apprenticeship programs, as well as early career development initiatives at the high school and lower levels, to expose students early to career opportunities in the field of agriculture.
Strong employee engagement is pivotal to fostering an inclusive culture at FMC. This is enabled by our Regional Inclusion Councils which include workstreams that represent our Employee Resource Groups. These employee-led teams provide and host impactful learning and awareness initiatives that help provide stronger allyship & advocacy for employees through informal connections, engagement, and support across various dimensions of diversity. For the fourth year in a row, FMC earned top score in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index, receiving a 100 percent score in the nation’s foremost benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality.
FMC tracks gender and racial representation as part of its recruitment, performance, and development processes to ensure equitable processes and to build a more representative leadership pipeline. Management is expected to actively support diversity initiatives for their respective geographies and business, as applicable, in order to build a more inclusive environment.
Safety
Safety is a core value of FMC. We strive for an injury-free workplace, where every person returns home the same way they arrived. We encourage a culture of open reporting, to learn from our mistakes and work towards continuous improvement in behaviors and processes. As a result of our firm commitment to safety, our Total Recordable Incident Rate of 0.0547 continues to be among the lowest in the industry globally and in the top decile of peer companies in North America, placing our company among the safest organizations in the chemical industry. This level of performance underscores our collective commitment to work safely every day. We empower our people to always put safety first at work and at home.
Sustainability
We are committed to delivering products that improve agricultural productivity protecting the environment for future generations. To reflect this commitment, we established sustainability goals to challenge ourselves and ensure that we are helping to create a better world. We recognize that sustainability goes beyond reducing emissions, it also encompasses human rights, the importance of nature, including biodiversity and how we utilize scarce resources such as water. FMC is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals #2 (Zero Hunger), #8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), #13 (Climate Action) and #15 (Life on Land). FMC has established 2025 and 2035 sustainability goals. Our 2025 goals include: 100 percent research and development spend on sustainable products, a total recordable incident rate of less than 0.1, and a score of 100 on the Community Engagement Index. Our 2035 goals include: 100 percent implementation of sustainable water practices, 100 percent waste to beneficial reuse, and net-zero greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions across the value chain (Scopes 1, 2 and 3). FMC is committed to the Science Based Target initiative ("SBTi"), Net-Zero Standard, in line with keeping the global temperature at 1.5°C above pre-industrial time and is in alignment with the Paris Agreement. FMC received validation on its near-term and net-zero targets in March of 2023. We are committed to a 42% reduction in Scopes 1 and 2, and 25% reduction in Scope 3 by 2030, with a net-zero target across the value chain by 2035. FMC continues to make progress towards achieving our 2025 and 2035 environmental goals and our progress is reported annually in our sustainability report.
FMC developed and utilizes its Sustainability Assessment Tool to determine the sustainability of new active ingredients and formulated products in the research and development pipeline. This assessment, along with other product stewardship processes and tools, promotes the introduction and use of environmentally sustainable agricultural solutions.
At FMC, we embed stewardship at each stage of the product life cycle, and stewardship priorities are built into the core of research and development, portfolio and marketing strategies. We continue to strive for open and transparent communications about our product stewardship successes and challenges. FMC is continuing to phase out Highly Hazardous Pesticides (“HHPs”) from our product portfolio. In 2023, HHPs accounted for approximately 0.1 percent of our total sales. This reduction of HHPs in our portfolio can be attributed to our internal processes which include continuous evaluation, close monitoring and subsequent phase out along with strong stewardship actions.
SEC Filings
SEC filings are available free of charge on our website, www.fmc.com. Our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports are posted as soon as practicable after we furnish such materials to the SEC.
REGULATION FD DISCLOSURES
The Company’s investor relations website, located at https://investors.fmc.com, should be considered as a recognized channel of distribution, and the Company may periodically post important information to the web site for investors, including information that the Company may wish to disclose publicly for purposes of complying with the federal securities laws and our disclosure obligations under the SEC's Regulation FD. We encourage investors and others interested in the Company to monitor our investor relations website for material disclosures. Our website address is included in this Form 10-K as a textual reference only and the information on the website is not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K.
The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.