Syngenta recently shared an inside look at several of the company’s large multinational business units. As a result, an underlying theme rang clear: the company’s emphasis on continued product innovation to help growers raise a healthy crop in the most efficient and sustainable manner possible.
“Innovation comes in a lot of different forms, and there’s innovation in everything that we do, but the challenges our farmers are facing won’t be solved with just our innovations and products alone,” says Jeff Cecil, head of North America crop protection marketing. “We must be brave, and we have to be bold and innovative. That’s what it will take to solve problems for our farmers.”
New Formulations
Syngenta leadership has unveiled two new crop protection innovations making the journey through the R&D and label approval pipelines.
Plinazolin is the brand name bestowed upon its newest insecticide active ingredient, isocycloseram, which offers a novel mode of action against pests such as thrips, mites, corn rootworm and beetles.
The molecule was discovered in 2010. Syngenta anticipates EPA registration for a full commercial launch in 2025.
Close to $300 million in R&D investment was poured into this product’s formulation, according to Syngenta. Across nearly 3,000 field trials over a 12-year period, the molecule demonstrated positive traits for in-field use such as low volatility and water solubility, residual and broad-spectrum control and zero phytotoxicity residue in plant tissue screening.
The chemistry also showed tank mix compatibility with 100+ fertilizers and the flexibility to be used as a seed applied treatment, as well as in soil and foliar applied sprays.
A combination miticide and fungicide seed treatment active, cyclobutrifluram, is also nearing EPA registration. The compound features a FRAC 7 SDHI mode of action and will provide broad spectrum protection against nematodes and major disease pressures across all major row crops.
That formulation is being marketed under the brand name Tymirium technology. In trials, it showed yield protection under heavy sudden death syndrome (SDS) and soybean cyst nematode (SCN) pressure. It also displayed early season disease suppression against several yield-robbing pathogens like Frogeye leaf spot and septoria brown spot.
Syngenta officials are hoping to receive EPA registration sometime in 2025, with a 2026 launch planned if label approval comes through on time.
Investing in Product and Supply
Syngenta is devoting substantial resources to its global supply chain management division. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms to forecast and target its crop protection products where retailers and growers will see the highest demand.
“We’re feeding in 20 years’ worth of historical sales and product data to predict where the demand will be, and we’re also able to look at which brands will be used (by farmers) and whether the demand will be in pre- or postemergence,” says Austin Parrish, head of North America commercial operations.
Parrish adds these investments are necessary due to the evolving nature of active ingredient innovation. Many of the newest molecules are becoming “much more complicated, and they take longer to produce and source,” he says.
To counter that reality, Syngenta is shifting as much of its manufacturing and production footprint to North America as it can.
Going forward, the company is producing 98% of its crop protection products in the U.S., and sourcing 100% of its packaging from U.S. companies. Upward of 90% of its artificial intelligence technologies and inert compounds are made domestically or in Western Europe.
Digital Ag Tied to Crop Protection Portfolio
Syngenta’s CropWise digital farm management platform added three new tools during the past 24 months: a high-resolution, high-frequency imagery portal powered by Planet Labs as well as new directed scouting and risk management capabilities.
By tying its digital agronomy platform to its crop protection portfolio and retail network, Meade McDonald, digital ag solutions marketing manager, says Syngenta is delivering a digital experience that helps farmers solve complex agronomic issues and hedge risk.
“Growers and retailers need digital tools now more than ever. We have to use data to help them overcome these challenges,” McDonald says.
Syngenta is building a new generative AI system into CropWise to help advisers and growers collaborate and make better in-crop management decisions.
CropWise AI will initially focus on seeds, but during the next year, it also will be rolled into Syngenta’s crop protection product recommendation process.
“We’re excited about using CropWise AI in a way that adds efficiency and keeps things simple for retail and our growers,” McDonald says.
