What’s next for Valent USA?
We’re focused on our long-term business success, through several initiatives, especially digital transformation for efficiency and effectiveness. Achieving more automation in our business will limit manual processes and make our information timelier and more accurate. We need greater connectivity up and down our business while also bringing value with our data. Our goal is to become more of a business partner rather than just a supplier.
What’s at stake in continuing to develop your product portfolio?
Right now, it can take 15 to 17 years from discovery to EPA approval plus an investment of $350 million or more. We’ve got to make sure when we launch products we’ve got rapid adoption quickly. We’re the only global company today offering traditional, biorational and botanical chemistries. It’s a value proposition we bring to customers. And we are seeing increased adoption of biological and biorational products — and not exclusively on the organic acre. Because of the re-entry and pre-harvest interval benefits, we understand the potential to combine biological and synthetic chemistries together.
What do you think may be overlooked about Valent?
We are committed to R&D and innovation. We’re 100% committed to chemistry. We aren’t diluting our R&D efforts with seeds and traits. We are committed to bringing new chemistries to market and to understanding future pest pressures. As part of our digital transformation, that commitment includes our parent company, Sumitomo Chemical using artificial intelligence to speed up the discovery process.
Tell us about the company’s unique perspective on sustainability.
Sumitomo has a concept called “Jiri Rita,” which carries forward the philosophy of benefitting society and business. It’s about the two coming together and we take that very seriously. Jiri Rita is at the heart of what we do with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and we have identified five specific sustainability goals and targets that are most relevant to our business. We realize our company and our industry have an opportunity to undergo a green transformation, and Sumitomo is very focused on regenerative ag.
What product introductions can we expect?
We have made significant investments in row crop and specialty crops, and product launches anticipated within the next 3 to 5 years will include fungicides, herbicides, biorational and botanical products. We’ve got a new PPO herbicide launching in 2026 as a preplant burndown and then again in collaboration with a trait partner for key row crops. Applications of Excalia fungicide will expand with a seed treatment formulation using the same indiflin active ingredient. It’s a great example of how we’re looking at applying the compounds we have, differently.
What challenges are you focused on?
Growers need better commodity prices, more access to water in the western U.S. and a streamlining and clarity on regulatory policy. And we don’t control any of those things at Valent. Therefore, it’s imperative that we remain agile, nimble and responsive.
How has input purchasing changed?
Internally, we are focused on meeting the challenges of a dynamic marketplace. We must plan to be prepared earlier in the season when retailers and distributors are making stocking decisions. Our customers are running at low inventory levels and growers are making just-in-time purchases. Forecasting and timeliness are key, especially considering current interest rates. We need to be smarter about inventory management. It’s not about reducing inventory, but more about timeliness, so we manufacture the products closer to the time of application. That’s why forecasting is so important.
