How can growers get the most out of their crop protection inputs? It starts with investing in the right products—and that means avoiding restrictive bundle offerings. The Better Yield is the Better Deal™ platform offers more flexibility so you can choose complementary products that can better protect your return on investment.
Read on to discover three reasons why Better Yield is the Better Deal.
Growers choose crop protection inputs with one goal: to protect their investment. When generic inputs fail to reduce weed pressure, prevent disease or deter pests, growers are left with decreased yield potential and questions about what went wrong. Often, the blame is directed toward the generic product’s active ingredients, but they are not the sole indicators of an effective product. Other ingredients play a critical role in the form of branded crop protection inputs, and they set branded products apart from generic ones.
According to Jeremy Fowler, Ph.D., group leader of formulation development at Syngenta, two significant differentiators between Syngenta products and generics often are the complexity of formulations with carefully balanced inert ingredients and the investments in research to back them up.
Syngenta products contain a precise blend of active ingredients and additional components that may give Syngenta products an edge. “The number of formulation ingredients besides the active ingredients gives a more sophisticated formulation package that’s designed to not only give you robustness in the final product itself, but stability over a wide range of conditions,” Fowler says.
These components contain anything from stabilizers for solid particles, emulsifiers for oily droplets and pH buffering systems to more mundane ingredients like antifoam and antifreeze. The addition of the components and their specific ratios depends on the individual active ingredients in each product. The precise blends that result provide the reliability, efficacy and flexibility traits growers have come to expect from Syngenta products. The complex formulations also address many of the complaints growers have about generic products, from problems with spray application to flow rate and beyond.
“All of these ingredients have a particular role to play, depending on where they’re introduced,” says Fowler. “The tricky part, and where generics may not have the time investment or the scientific staff to ensure robustness, is to make sure that across all of those ingredients, they’re all compatible in the formulated product.” After all, he adds, growers can’t afford surprises.
All of these ingredients have a particular role to play, depending on where they’re introduced. The tricky part, and where generics may not have the time investment or the scientific staff to ensure robustness, is to make sure that across all of those ingredients, they’re all compatible in the formulated product.
Finding the perfect balance for these complex formulations takes an unmatched investment in time and scientific staffing. Generics typically go to market faster with less complex formulations. In contrast, the average timeline for a Syngenta product is extended to allow plenty of time for development, evaluation and optimization by a global team of scientists.
“We’ll spend a minimum of about two years making sure that we want to continue progressing each product,” says Fowler. “The longer timeline for development allows us to spend more time doing more experiments, refining stability criteria and checking a wide range of different conditions over an extended period of time.”
The additional time spent optimizing products takes the guesswork out of application and ensures product performance meets a high standard. The entire Syngenta network of agronomists and scientists is confident in the science behind the products. When growers choose a Syngenta product, they know exactly what to expect.
When it comes to generic products, not only is there often a lack of comparable supportive research, but growers also typically may be on their own when problems arise. Syngenta customers, on the other hand, have a global team of industry leaders to turn to.
“We can pull global expertise and respond directly to suppliers and distributors, all the way to the grower level to ensure that their experience is the best they can get,” says Fowler. In addition to the formulations and additional components themselves, this level of support is the key differentiator between Syngenta products and generics.
Growers who don’t have a firm grasp of the role of other product ingredients may be tempted to choose generic products or even try to mix their own. Fowler warns that playing the role of a chemist can have severe unforeseen consequences.
“If you’re killing weeds or a fungal infection in your field, the active ingredients are really powerful,” he says. “They have to be introduced at the right time under the right conditions. We have the expertise to ensure that it goes well. When you start doing the chemistry part on your own, you can deviate into crop injury and other impacts that we would hope everyone could avoid.”
Getting the interactions between chemicals wrong might mean damaging crops to the point that their value is diminished or gone for the season. Even partial crop injury can cause a reduction in yield and, therefore, in profit — leaving growers in a worse position overall.
All companies provide label information to mitigate these risks, but crop injury and subpar results can still happen. One challenge occurs when similar products adopt comparable language despite discrepancies in the formulation technology. There might be assumptions built into the language of generic products that overstate the performance and predictability of the formulations. For that reason, Fowler explains, growers need to seriously examine the reliability of the information provided by the manufacturer in addition to the products themselves.
It comes back to the research investment that Syngenta makes in each of its products. “We invest the time to make sure that the recommendation we’re providing has been validated over and over at numerous levels,” he says. “If another company is not investing that time, your odds start to go up that they’ve missed something.”
The most reliable sources of product information are companies with transparent trial data. Growers can learn more about product formulations by checking out trial data and Syngenta Grow More™ Experience sites.
“We have agronomy experts to talk with customers about exactly what we did and what conditions we did it in,” Fowler explains. “You can see a real plot where it’s applied; and to me, that’s irrefutable.”
It is vitally important for growers to realize that the additional components in branded products are not simply fillers. It’s easy to take certain ingredients, like antifreeze, for granted until a problem occurs and growers realize the importance of predictable freezing and thawing behavior too late. Other components like surfactants might be unrecognizable to many growers; but to Syngenta scientists, they represent the result of a complex selection process to maintain microstructure and stability.
Ultimately, for Fowler, the proof that the brand matters is present in the marketplace as well as in the lab. “Growers have relied on many of our products for years,” he says. “That just shows that attention to detail upfront gives you something with a lot of longevity at the end.”
Q. What are carbon credits and why are they important?
A. Jason Neff, Ph.D., soil and climate innovation principal scientist at Syngenta Group: Carbon credits were created as a way to mitigate climate change by encouraging activities that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it for tens to hundreds of years in other forms. Carbon credits can also be generated from practices that avoid the emission of greenhouse gases in the first place. The idea of a carbon credit is that it can be bought and sold to incentivize actions that can help slow climate change. Once a grower generates a carbon credit, then it can be purchased, usually by a company or individuals. These transactions typically take place in voluntary carbon markets made up of the buyers and sellers of carbon credits. In these types of markets, the carbon credits are often called ‘offsets’ because they are used to offset emissions from other sources. For example, when you buy an airplane ticket, you might have an option to ‘offset’ your emissions and it is possible that a farmer somewhere is getting some portion of the revenue for a soil carbon credit.
In agriculture, most carbon storage options are in soils where carbon dioxide is stored as soil organic matter. There are many other sources of greenhouse gases in agriculture, including the energy-intensive production of fertilizers and from the release of nitrous oxide from agricultural soils after fertilization or methane from rice fields or ruminant animals like cattle. Both nitrous oxide and methane are very potent greenhouse gases and reductions in emissions of these gases are also possible sources of carbon credits.
B. Liz Hunt, head, sustainable & responsible business at Syngenta: Carbon credits are important because they may provide a market mechanism for encouraging the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices such as cover crops or no-till. They may provide an additional revenue stream for growers who decide participation makes sense for their operation.
Additionally, carbon markets are demonstrating that agriculture can be a contributor to positively impacting climate change by reducing or avoiding emissions in production.
Q. What practices do growers need to engage in to earn carbon credits?
A. Neff: The most common practices that generate carbon credits include changes in tillage practices or the addition of cover crops. When a grower transitions from intensive tillage to low or reduced tillage, more carbon is typically held in the soil because the tillage process encourages the breakdown or decomposition of stored soil carbon. Cover crops can help store additional carbon in the soil by increasing the flow of carbon from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to soil organic matter. These crops also help protect fields from carbon loss from erosion. Beyond these practices, efforts to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers or methane emissions from rice or cattle may also qualify for carbon credits. The current carbon credit space is complicated and varies from country to country and even across some states in the U.S., which often means that growers need to rely on external advice to navigate the current carbon credit system.
B. Hunt: Beyond the cultural production practices that growers can adopt to earn carbon credits, growers need to adopt strong record keeping and, in some cases, robust soil sampling protocols on their operation. Carbon credit generation depends on different levels of data, but for the most part, it will require several years of historical data along with annual in-field practice adoption documentation. Most credits will need to be verified, so keeping records in a credible farm management software that can easily be transferred into the carbon market’s required measuring, monitoring, reporting and verification (MMRV) platform is key.
Q. How do carbon credits programs impact sustainability?
A. Neff: In general, the practices that generate carbon credits also have many other benefits for growers and for the environmental profile of agriculture. For example, by storing more organic matter in soils, growers increase the natural levels of nitrogen and other nutrients, potentially making fields more resilient to climate impacts like drought and less reliant on chemical fertilizers. Reductions in tillage and the addition of cover crops can reduce erosion which has many positive benefits, including maintaining or improving soil fertility and reducing the potential impacts of farming on water quality in nearby waterways.
B. Hunt: Economics are an important component of farm sustainability as well. The additional revenue stream may help to offset some of the costs of new practice adoption or accelerate the addition of more practices. There is a long-term potential to also generate additional ecosystem credits like water quality or quantity and biodiversity as those protocols develop.
Q. Will growers already engaging in these practices still benefit from carbon credit programs?
A. Neff: One of the common concerns for growers considering carbon credit programs is whether they meet the sometimes-complicated rules about what qualifies for a carbon credit. One of the rules involves the concept of ‘additionality’ which means that a carbon credit must be generated from a new activity rather than something that has been going on for a long time. In agriculture, this means that some growers who implemented sustainable practices in the past may not qualify for carbon credits.
B. Hunt: Growers who have already adopted new practices may not be eligible to generate credits — although, I would still encourage them to seek advice from trusted advisors to see if there are other practices or technologies that might be right for them that could continue to be incorporated.
Early adopters of practices can also be great mentors and leaders in this space to share their experiences with other farmers, or to give feedback to companies asking for these practices to be adopted — there are a lot of people out there who don’t know the realities of practice adoption and sharing your knowledge is valuable as well.
Sustainability is all about continuous improvement; I think the voluntary carbon markets are no different. The programs and protocols will continue to improve and hopefully make room for more farmers to participate and generate value for their operation while delivering positive impacts for the environment and society.
Q. What does the future of carbon credits programs look like?
A. Neff: The carbon markets have had many ups and downs in recent years. At present, the price of carbon is relatively low on these markets, but it could rise again in the future. As with many major changes in agriculture and markets, we will likely have to be patient to see what the future holds.
Outside the formal carbon markets, we are seeing opportunities to work directly with food and beverage companies to reduce the overall carbon intensity of agricultural production. These efforts align with the goals of some food companies to reduce emissions as part of their corporate climate commitments. This is important because the rules for these types of changes may be friendlier to growers who are already engaged in a range of sustainable and regenerative practices.
B. Hunt: Sustainability is all about continuous improvement; I think the voluntary carbon markets are no different. The programs and protocols will continue to improve and hopefully make room for more farmers to participate and generate value for their operation while delivering positive impacts for the environment and society.
Growers are at the forefront of sustainability. When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, farmers have the potential to play a critical role.
So how do carbon credits work? Carbon credits encourage activities that reduce emissions or store carbon in the soil. Once they’re generated, companies can buy and sell the credits, incentivizing climate-smart practices by providing an additional potential revenue stream to qualified growers. Read on to explore the agricultural practices that are making a difference and learn how carbon credits can work for you.
A survey found that 40% of growers struggle to control Palmer amaranth and waterhemp with current preemergence corn herbicides.1 These weeds aren’t just occasional problems. Year after year, they hurt corn yields, making it harder for growers to profit and do their jobs well.
Chris Munsterman, a Syngenta agronomy service representative based in York, Nebraska, sheds light on this long-standing issue. “Small grain weeds first showed resistance to acetolactate synthase (ALS) herbicides roughly 25 years ago,” he says. “Over time, our biggest concerns shifted toward the Amaranthus species, notably waterhemp and Palmer pigweed.”
Growers continually seek strategies to manage weed resistance. Storen® corn herbicide is specifically designed with these challenges in mind. Storen targets problematic weeds like Palmer amaranth and waterhemp, offering growers a solution to combat the resistance problems they’ve battled for years. Its combination of four residual active ingredients keeps rows clean up to three weeks longer than other leading herbicides.2
“The extended control from Storen gives growers a better chance to reapply their overlapping residual herbicides,” Munsterman says. “With many farms expanding and consolidating, there are growers and retailers who manage fields up to 40 miles from their home base. Getting back to those fields in time for a reapplication isn’t always easy. Storen could be the helping hand they need. As farming evolves, having that extra time can make all the difference.”
The introduction of Storen to the corn herbicide market signified a strategic step against persistent resistant weeds. Its specialized formulation, with ingredients bicyclopyrone, mesotrione, S-metolachlor and pyroxasulfone plus the crop safener benoxacor, makes Storen a top contender in weed management. Beyond handling barnyardgrass and foxtail species, its proven effectiveness against challenging amaranthus species like waterhemp and Palmer pigweed reinforces its value in today’s agronomic practices.
Storen was named Agri Marketing’s 2024 Product of the Year. This award recognizes outstanding technology introduced to North American agriculture to help crop and livestock producers become more efficient and profitable.
1 Storen length-of-control advantage based on 2022 Syngenta and university-replicated trials comparing Storen to Resicore® and TriVolt®.
2 Syngenta market research, 2022. n=302.
When it comes to crop protection, making the best choices is tough — especially when every cent counts. Bundle programs that add crop protection products to seed purchases are tempting, but these deals limit input options throughout the season and prevent growers from choosing the best solutions for their unique challenges. With slim profit margins in mind, it is more important than ever to prioritize the right inputs over initial savings.
Successful growers consider crop protection to be an investment, rather than a negotiable expense. Disease, stress and pest pressure decrease yield potential from the moment planting begins. Combining the highest quality solutions for challenges on individual operations with sound agronomic practices is the best way to protect yield potential.
The Better Yield is the Better Deal™ platform from Syngenta offers a wide variety of industry-leading products designed to help growers maximize their yields and return-on-investment potential. The platform provides growers with the flexibility to choose the best products for their fields.
Maximizing yields from every acre is the best way to achieve the greatest return on investment. Adopting the Better Yield is the Better Deal mindset and prioritizing investing in quality inputs helps growers set up their crops for immediate success and their operations for long-term gains.
In many cases, selecting the best products based on individual farm fit and unique challenges means choosing a complementary product pair. For soybeans, Syngenta recommends Tendovo® herbicide followed by Miravis® Neo fungicide for maximum yield protection. This combination outyielded the competition by 12.2 bushels per acre1 in a replicated Nebraska trial. This equates to a nearly $16,000* increase in profit potential for every 100 acres.
Growers can’t save their way to a higher return on investment. Focusing on making the best investments results in better, more consistent outcomes. When planning for the growing season, farmers should remember that Better Yield is the Better Deal.
1 Syngenta Trial 2021 ― H080SMAD-2021US ― NE (1). Use rates: Tendovo 1.75 qt/A followed by Sequence® 3 pt/A + Flexstar® 1 pt/A and Fusilade® DX 6 fl. oz/A. Miravis Neo 13.7 fl. oz/A and Endigo® ZCX 3.5 fl. oz/A.
*Revenue calculations based on soybean commodity price of $13/bu. Potential revenue in dollars for every 100 acres applied = yield advantage per product combination x $13 soybean commodity price x 100 acres. Calculations are not a guarantee of similar results.
Seed treatments are an increasingly depended-upon technology and valuable tool for modern agriculture. Many growers wouldn’t dream of planting crops today without the protection they’ve come to expect from seed treatments; in fact, it provides for more restful nights. Like most crops, soybeans benefit from the protective and growth-enhancing agents coated onto the seed prior to planting.
Seed treatments depend on multiple molecules combined to provide protection from many different disease, insect and nematode pests as well as additional growth-promoting ingredients to help seeds germinate quickly and develop robust root systems. This results in healthier, more vigorous and uniform seedlings that are better equipped to withstand whatever the growing season dishes out.
“Seed treatments are often categorized into three main buckets,” says Dale Ireland, Ph.D., technical product lead for Seedcare at Syngenta. “Fungicides are the most common and often the most depended on, and then there are insecticides and lastly nematicides; this last category has been the fastest-growing category across U.S. row-crops, recently.”
Fungicide seed treatments help fight disease in soybean plants. “Soybeans are susceptible to a range of pathogens and diseases that can impact yield and quality such as Pythium, Phytophthora and Fusarium,” Ireland says. “Applications of seed treatments are crucial, as they allow earlier planted soybeans to establish a strong foundation for growth and development. They also can help reduce the chances of a poor initial plant stand and deliver an earlier plant establishment period, no matter the environmental conditions.”
Today more than ever, growers need the protection seed treatments offer. “Soybean treatments are an important factor to consider, given the disease and insect pressures that farmers experience in their row crops, especially soybeans,” says Whitney Venable, Seedcare specialist manager at Syngenta. “Farmers are planting their soybean crops earlier and at reduced seeding rates compared to only five to 10 years ago. Growers are experiencing tougher conditions than we’ve seen in previous years such as cool and wet soils, which can lead to an increase in disease development.” Seed treatments are seen as an important tool to assist farmers out of this corner; earlier planting into harsher conditions at the same time as they’re reducing seeding rates.
Premium seed treatments, like CruiserMaxx APX, are maximizing yield potential by three to five bushels per acre (bu/A) more than competitive seed treatments in moderate to high Pythium situations.
A big part of a retailer or seed dealer job is to ensure seed treatments are properly applied. “Buying from an authorized Syngenta Seedcare dealer will help ensure growers are getting the right chemical and the right rate on the seed,” says Venable. “This allows growers to plant lower populations confidently to get their desired final plant stand.”
An initial investment in a quality seed treatment can enable soybean farmers to reap the benefits of higher yields and better profit potential, thus making seed treatments cost-effective solutions for many farmers’ pest control challenges. Also, premium seed treatments help protect the grower’s investment in their seed, which is one of their largest costs.
“A premium seed treatment costs some money upfront, but the increased yield potential and ROI farmers will see make the initial cost worth it. Note that not all seed treatments provide the superior level of protection across environments provided by CruiserMaxx® APX,” Ireland says.
Venable agrees that farmers should factor in the potential return on investment when considering seed treatments. “Not all seed treatments are the same,” he says. “Premium seed treatments, like CruiserMaxx APX, are maximizing yield potential by three to five bushels per acre (bu/A) more than competitive seed treatments in moderate to high Pythium situations.1” Additionally, Saltro® seed treatment has shown to have a 4 bu/A yield advantage over ILEVO® in soybeans under pressure from SDS.2
Ireland recommends that farmers not only incorporate a premium seed treatment, but that they also adopt the latest genetics every few years to increase yield potential. By doing so, they are better equipped to reduce the risk of early-season setbacks and enhance plant health, which, together, help ensure a more consistent, reliable harvest year after year.
1CruiserMaxx APX yield advantage range based on 2018 Syngenta internal and external trials (TNA054A3-2018US): n+7: OH, IL, MI, KY, IA, NE, MN.
2Saltro yield advantage based on U.S. trials with SDS pressure; 2015-2020. Trial locations: AR, IA, IL, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, TN, WI. Trials with significantly different disease incidence/severity rating between Check and SDS treatment.
Historically, the ag industry is a primary driver of technological innovation. From the earliest days of irrigation in ancient Mesopotamia to today’s drones and near-infrared imagery, the need to feed people puts agriculture firmly in the driver’s seat of technological advancement.
Often, the most successful farmers are those who are early adopters of cutting-edge technology. Forward-thinking growers recognize the value of technology to not only stay in business but thrive as they do it.
Meade McDonald has been with Syngenta for 19 years and currently serves as the company’s digital ag solutions marketing manager for the U.S. His team is responsible for helping growers and retailers implement digital tools on the farm.
When engaging with retailers and growers regarding the Cropwise portfolio, McDonald and his team focus on answering three fundamental questions:
To establish trust and credibility, McDonald says the digital ag team must be well-versed in the issues growers deal with on the farm. Supplying fancy algorithms simply isn’t enough. The digital team needs to understand how drought affects a Texas cotton crop; when the weather is conducive for treating potato late blight in Idaho; or what economic conditions contribute to growing and marketing soybeans successfully in McLean County, Illinois, or Tippecanoe County, Indiana.
“We’re doing a good job when we can engage in conversations with growers about the challenges they face in the markets or agronomically and be relevant in those conversations,” McDonald says.
When engaging with retailers and growers regarding the Cropwise portfolio, McDonald and his team focus on answering three fundamental questions: What specific agronomic or risk-based challenge are you faced with on your farm? Does Syngenta have a solution for that in its crop protection portfolio? How can we better solve that problem with a digitally enabled tool or service?
The first question many growers ask is which data is important for their operation. What numbers need to be collected and analyzed? What data matters to the software? The short answer is all of it. Many digital solutions on the market today offer detailed insights into just about any data growers can dig up and upload to their phone or desktop computer.
But the answer — “all of it” — can feel more than a little daunting. That, McDonald says, is precisely why he and his team start every conversation with a question about what the most pressing needs or challenges on that grower’s operation are.
“Not every farm faces the same challenges,” he says. “It could be weed resistance. It could be managing foliar diseases in corn. It could be the risk of inclement weather or the risk of declining corn or soybean prices. Our Cropwise tools are built to solve grower problems, but we must know what problems are most pressing for them.”
The goal of digital ag solutions is simplifying all the data a grower can collect into actionable information. Tools like those in the Cropwise digital portfolio from Syngenta equip growers and retailers with data that informs whole-farm decision-making. Satellite imagery can provide high-level scouting over even the largest operations. Growers can scout fields using a smartphone to record observations of plant stress, growth stage and insects on the ground and know exactly which fields to treat or check on later. Efforts to improve environmental sustainability on the farm can be recorded and recalled. Financial programs provide the ability to map fields, track inventory of fertilizer or crop protection products, and measure profitability acre by acre.
“Those tools are helping growers tackle agronomic and risk-based challenges,” McDonald says. “It’s about linking our crop protection portfolio with our Cropwise portfolio to better solve the challenges growers are facing.”
Of course, today’s solutions may not be relevant tomorrow, particularly in the realm of digital solutions. Just imagine digging a decade-old iPhone out of the junk drawer and trying to activate it. Odds are, it would be so obsolete that you couldn’t use it. But while some things may maintain their relevance for a good long while, digital software is constantly changing and evolving with new features and capabilities.
“We constantly have to update our digital tools to make them faster and more intuitive,” McDonald says. “The incredible rate of change in the digital space is both a challenge and an opportunity.”
If history is any indication, more and more growers will continue to adopt these technologies. Finding good labor will likely continue to be one of the biggest challenges facing the industry, and digital tools such as the Cropwise platform can improve growers’ efficiency, effectiveness and decision-making.
“Looking forward, we see the average farm getting bigger,” McDonald says. “We see the largest farms in the country adopting digital tools and technology the fastest, as they have the most to gain from digital adoption on the farm.”
So, whether you’re growing sugarbeets in Minnesota, peanuts in Georgia, citrus in California or corn and soybeans in the Midwest, take heed: American agriculture is on the digital train, and you’re welcome to climb aboard. Contact your local retailer to see the difference digital ag solutions can make for your operation.
For farmers, the call to feed the world is not new, but the target is ever evolving. With a growing global population projected to exceed 9.7 billion by 2050, the stakes keep getting higher. But as those in the agriculture industry know, the foundational resources for growing a healthy food supply are not infinitely available.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say that our global food supply is vulnerable,” explains Matt Wallenstein, Ph.D., chief soil scientist at Syngenta Group. “As the demand for food increases, we have to figure out how to meet that demand by increasing productivity while minimizing environmental impacts. And that means that we need to put more focus on soil health.”
In August, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published findings from the latest attempt to measure biodiversity in soils. Led by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), they estimated that soil is likely home to 59% of life, including everything from microbes to mammals, making it the singular most biodiverse habitat on Earth.1
With about one-third of global land being used for agriculture2, growers have a significant opportunity to improve and stabilize the quality of the world’s soil to preserve its rich biodiversity and its crucial role for human nutrition.
“Most of the food we produce on Earth relies on soils, and over time, a lot of soils have been degraded across the planet,” Wallenstein says. “It’s critical to the future of agriculture to minimize any further damage through erosion and lost organic matter and help identify practices that improve soil over time. At Syngenta, there’s a high-level conviction that soil science is critical to the future.”
We’re at a turning point in history. In the past, there was often a tradeoff between productivity, profitability and sustainability. But thanks to new scientific insights and technology that’s not the case anymore.
Globally, Syngenta is committed to partnering with growers to identify ways they can restore and protect soil on agricultural land. With methods often referred to as regenerative agriculture, Syngenta is focused on educating and equipping growers with technologies that nurture and restore soil health; protect the climate, water resources and biodiversity; and enhance farm productivity and profitability.
There are five core principles growers can implement to help maintain soil and the biodiversity it harbors:
Using precise applications of biological and chemical inputs is also effective management as the five soil health principles are adopted by growers.
While none of these practices are new, advancing technology is making them more attainable and attractive to growers.
“Regenerative agriculture is part of the toolbox that growers have access to and we are adding more science-based and logistics-based information as it becomes available,” says Abbey Wick, Ph.D., Soil Health Academy lead for the Syngenta Group. “A lot of these practices are grounded in solid agronomics. They are approaches that growers used generations ago or practices growers have always thought about doing. They are resurfacing as a new way to solve problems on the farm. And now there’s a lot more support that goes with these practices, which I think is making them more practical for growers to adopt.”
Advancements in scientific understanding have given rise to new information about soil and the life it sustains above and below ground. With the development of innovative technologies, growers now can be highly productive and improve their soil health.
“We’re at a turning point in history,” Wallenstein says. “In the past, there was often a tradeoff between productivity, profitability and sustainability. But thanks to new scientific insights and technology that’s not the case anymore.”
Tilling is one of the oldest agricultural practices to help manage weeds and fertility. However, new technologies like highly effective herbicides and precision agriculture tools allow growers to achieve the same outcomes with reduced or no tilling, which minimizes soil disturbance. And with less disturbance comes greater moisture retention, erosion prevention and carbon sequestration.
However, for many growers, the thought of altering their successful growing practices on the same land they have managed for decades can be overwhelming. But any practice, big or small, that focuses on maintaining healthy soil is a step in the right direction.
“We aren’t expecting farmers to use all of the practices within soil health or regenerative systems,” Wick says. “But adding practices that fit the farm logistics, like reducing fall tillage to leave the soils protected with residue going into the winter months, is a step in the right direction. And over time, those incremental changes add up to transformative progress.”
Similarly, growers in some areas plant cover crops to keep roots in the ground over winter. But if these crops are unsaleable, this practice can be costly. Again, advances in science can have a positive impact on growers. Just this summer, Syngenta Seeds announced it will be selling camelina ― an ultra-low carbon oilseed crop that can be used as feedstock for renewable fuels and an ingredient for sustainable animal feed ― to provide a cash alternative to fallow fields.
“Cover crops aren’t harvested, so farmers are spending money on a crop that’s going to benefit their soil but not their bottom line in the short-term, which is great. That can be a hard investment to make,” explains Wallenstein. “It’s exciting when there are opportunities to grow a winter crop that provides some income. The recent announcement from Syngenta on the collaboration with Sustainable Oils, Inc. to sell camelina will be a nice alternative in some locations.”
With today’s advancements in science and technology, regenerative agricultural practices are very tangible. For growers, it’s an opportunity to identify one or two ways they can do something different that makes sense for their operation and enables them to take positive steps for soil health and the environment.
“For growers, the first thing to consider is how much acreage are they comfortable with trying something new on,” Wick says. “Then they can evaluate what problems exist in a field that are the lowest hanging fruit for implementing a new practice with the potential to manage the system more effectively. For example, it could be just planting a cover crop to use moisture in parts of a field that are otherwise too wet to access. Even if only 10% of the field is impacted, the grower can see firsthand the benefits of planting that cover crop.”
At the end of the day, soil health is a holistic view of how well the soil is performing for its intended purpose. Soil is a rich habitat that is physically, chemically and biologically complex. But by optimizing soil conditions using regenerative agriculture practices and biological products, growers can better achieve their intended outcomes.
“Soil health is an exciting focus for agriculture because we have amazing new technologies and solutions for problems that, in the past, were intractable,” says Wallenstein. “And we’re just at the start with more to come.”
¹ M.A. Anthony, F.S. Bender, M. van der Heijden (2023). Enumerating soil biodiversity.
PNAS, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2304663120.
² FAO. 2023. Land use statistics and indicators 2000–2021. Global, regional and
country trends. FAOSTAT Analytical Briefs Series No. 71. Rome.
https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cc6907en
Since 1990, November has been designated National Native American Heritage Month. The U.S. Congress chose this month to honor Indigenous culture, as this is generally the end of the traditional harvest season.
According to Tyler Young, equity, diversity & inclusion (EDI) generalist at Syngenta, the legacy of Indigenous Peoples and their contributions to agriculture continue to resonate today.
“As a society, it’s important to recognize the contributions that Indigenous Peoples have made to agriculture over thousands of years,” Young says. “That’s especially true when we consider the recent impact of climate change and increased weather volatility. Indigenous Peoples were the originators of regenerative agriculture and provide valuable lessons that are still relevant today for how we can steward the land.”
Young notes that, for example, conservation tillage and intercropping were practices introduced long ago by Indigenous farmers. Specifically, reduced tillage is a practice that goes back thousands of years. The “Three Sisters” is another practice handed down by Indigenous Peoples.
“In agriculture, the ‘Three Sisters’ are crops planted together in a shared space — typically corn, beans and squash,” Young says. “These were vital crops in Indigenous communities. When grown together, they complement one another. Beans, for example, supply nitrogen needed by corn. Corn provides a climbing trellis for beans. Squash provides shade to help conserve moisture.”
As a society, it’s important to recognize the contributions that Indigenous Peoples have made to agriculture over thousands of years. That’s especially true when we consider the recent impact of climate change and increased weather volatility. Indigenous Peoples were the originators of regenerative agriculture and provide valuable lessons that are still relevant today for how we can steward the land.
Ravi Ramachandran, Ph.D., is territory R&D head for crop protection development at Syngenta Canada Inc. and leads ED&I efforts for Syngenta there.
In Canada, June is National Indigenous History Month. Ramachandran says an important milestone in Canada was the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which serves as a foundation for the Canadian government’s commitment to Indigenous Peoples.
In acknowledging the importance of the heritage and historical contributions of Indigenous People to agriculture, a greater responsibility rests with the corporations in the agriculture industry to address misconceptions, ensure access to educational and professional opportunities, and provide visibility for the accomplishments and challenges of the underrepresented groups.
“All too often, members of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities struggle to establish their professional careers due to systemic bias, stereotyping and remnants of historical actions at all levels of society,” Ramachandran says. “As individuals, we need to speak up and advocate for an inclusive society. Companies like Syngenta are making a difference by committing to equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.”
