Syngenta Thrive

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As the agricultural community focuses on feeding the world, we must also focus on feeding the spirit of community, feeding the spirit of creativity and feeding the spirit of innovation.

Since our inception, the values-driven approach to everything we do at Syngenta is a hallmark of our dynamic culture and approach to agribusiness. The backbone of our business and operations is centered on people and the range of needs of our communities and partners.

Our values-driven approach extends to our belief that communities that embrace and celebrate diversity and inclusion to the broadest extent create a truly equitable agricultural community. As we consider our approach to people and partners like you, we believe the diverse exchange of ideas and perspectives feeds the spirit of community for which agriculture is known. When we embrace each other fully, we feed the spirit of creativity. When we leverage difference to generate solutions, we feed the spirit of innovation. The combined power of community, creativity and innovation enables us to fully bring human potential to life.

As the agricultural community widens its embrace of equity, diversity and inclusion, we would all do well to look for ways to broaden our perspectives. Lean into conversation and different points of view with a desire to learn. Engage difference as an opportunity to grow rather than as a barrier to collaboration. Agriculture has always been a community that contains a brilliant amount of diversity. We must embrace each other to overcome the most pressing challenges facing us today. Our mission of feeding the world is a charge that involves us all, and we thank you for your partnership in helping us execute this mission daily. We look forward to engaging the future of agriculture, together.

Brandon Gregory Bell, M.Ed.
Diversity and Inclusion Lead
Syngenta North America

Cover Image: Brandon Gregory Bell, M.ED. Photography by Bert Vanderveen. 

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Embodying the intersection of mathematics, big data and agriculture, the 2021 Syngenta Crop Challenge in Analytics competition focused on optimizing year-round corn hybrid breeding processes.

The finalists, listed in no particular order, are:

  • Optimal Schedules for Corn Planting and Storage — Reena Kapoor and Rodolfo García-Flores affiliated with CSIRO Data61 (Australia).
  • Scheduling Planting Time Through Developing an Optimization Model and Analysis of Time Series Growing Degree Units — Javad Ansarifar, Faezeh Akhavizadegan and Lizhi Wang from Iowa State University (U.S.).
  • Optimizing Crop Planting Schedule Considering Planting Window & Harvesting Capacity — Saiara Samira Sajid and Guiping Hu from Iowa State University (U.S.).
  • A Multiobjective, Soft Constraint Solution to the 2021 Syngenta Crop Challenge — Mingshi Cui, Kunting Qi and Byran Smucker from Miami University (U.S.).

For more information about the Syngenta Crop Challenge in Analytics, visit  ideaconnection.com/syngenta-crop-challenge.

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Severely lodged corn can put yield potential at risk. One way or another, however, it must be harvested safely and carefully. Andy Heggenstaller, head of agronomy for Syngenta Seeds, suggests keeping these four factors in mind when harvesting lodged corn.

  1. Go Slowly. If at all possible, avoid speeding through harvest. Rushing quickly through the fields is an inefficient way to harvest lodged corn. Slow your combine speed to reduce the risk of missed ears and be sure to go against the grain to diminish loss.
  2. Set Up for Success. When harvest conditions vary across fields and harvest dates, it’s important to reset the combine before going into a field. For example, you may need to reposition gathering chains on their sprockets so the lugs are directly across from each other to grip stalks more aggressively.
  3. Be Equipped. Make sure your combine is equipped with the proper reel to handle root or stalk lodging. The ideal attachment will lean out ahead of snouts to pick up the plants and effectively guide them into the combine. Many growers intend to rent such equipment when times get tough, but after events like the derecho in 2020, reels quickly become scarce in regions such as east Iowa. Invest in your own equipment now to avoid a headache later.
  4. Keep Quality in Mind. When harvesting corn that’s lying on the ground, quality issues are inevitable. Corn ears that have been in contact with the soil for too long fall victim to a range of toxins that farmers must address. Be on the lookout for additional mold and grain quality loss from ears being close to the ground. Harvesting early helps ensure the stalks are in the best condition possible to aid in getting crop into the head.
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No matter what plan you develop for harvesting lodged corn, don’t let yourself get frustrated with the time and effort required. Proper safety practices should always be put in place, as rushing through harvest can be dangerous and counterproductive. With a little preparation and critical thinking, however, you can salvage much of your yield.

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Grow More Experience Sites Demonstrate Localized Grower Solutions

If you have been farming long, you’ve probably been asked, or perhaps even told, about the slow, relaxing pace of farm life. And of course, you’re aware that’s a myth. There are new challenges every day. New products can help meet those challenges, but products need to be tested in local soils for you to really know how they perform. Across the country, Grow More™ Experience (GME) sites are bringing needed testing to your backyard.

Cully Brumwell, a grower attendee at a 2020 Yarmouth, Iowa, event, appreciates the different trials, different chemistries and different tillage programs the GME sites showcase. “The value that the GME sites provide is endless,” Brumwell says. “Every year they’re trying something new. You have to keep up with everything that’s changing, and this is one of the best ways to do so.”

Localized Experiences

With locations in 29 states, GME sites demonstrate how products perform in local environments. Corn and soybeans are tested in the Midwest and throughout the country. Potatoes are tested in the Pacific Northwest. In the South, cotton, peanuts, and vegetables are tested. Permanent crops, such as tree nuts and grapes, show up in GME sites in California. Wherever crops are grown, there’s a good chance of finding a GME site nearby.

“Many Syngenta employees grew up around farming ourselves, so we’re passionate about understanding the newest technologies on the market each year,” says Jami Loecker, Syngenta agronomy service manager. “When you know the soil, weather and pressures of the region, you can make better recommendations about what’s going to work for the growers in that area. Our team is personally invested in the sites we oversee. We want to make sure we’re able to provide our attendees with information they find useful on their, or their growers, farm.”

Man holding potatoes to demonstrate better yield
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Pest and disease pressures vary widely from site to site and crop to crop, so each site is equipped with experts with a deep understanding of how these issues have impacted the area from year to year. Before each season, Syngenta agronomists attend internal training days to discuss the latest agronomic techniques and technologies. The agronomists combine their historical knowledge with the year’s new products and can then share these insights during events.

Mike Moss, Ph.D., head of technical development at Syngenta, recognizes that GME sites must match the growing situations of each region and be staffed with the appropriate specialists.

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“We have agronomists with decades of combined experience in their particular territories,” Moss says. “They can make specific agronomic recommendations for each grower and are able to show them the actual tests and the data that contributed to the specific recommendations.”

At the edge of a field, the yield impact can be severe – up to 100% because they can completely kill plants – but then as you go further into the field, it’s typically less severe. It really depends on the year and the field size/shape.

Dean Grossnickle Technical Development Lead at Syngenta

Comparative Research

GME sites are rooted in local research and showcase much more than just Syngenta technologies. Farmers often want to learn about the efficacy of new products but don’t have the time or money to test those products themselves. The featured products at GME sites vary from place to place and year to year. Updated trials reflect grower and retailer feedback from the previous season. Participants are free to engage with site managers and provide input on practices and products that would be valuable to test in the future. Conversely, Syngenta experts learn from site attendees which comparisons attendees are most interested in seeing, including competitor products.

Efforts at the GME sites are made to showcase crop trials with product combinations that growers would use on the farm. The GME sites allow attendees to compare products and make informed decisions for their own fields. In a year where a lot of new products hit the market, this approach is especially helpful because it allows growers to see new products tested locally and saves them time so they can concentrate on their current crops.

Season-long Connections

Site attendees are encouraged to return for multiple events and see the trial results through to harvest. As the weed, insect and disease pressures change, the trials being featured change, too.

“These trials aren’t just simulated situations during one period of the season, and that’s why they are so incredibly valuable,” says Marshall Dolch, a Syngenta district marketing lead. “We often talk with growers during the preseason about product selection, but there aren’t always opportunities to follow through and actually show the performance.” The GME sites provide an opportunity for Syngenta reps to discuss product performance with the same growers throughout the season.

Virtual Access

For years, site visitors stepped into the fields to see, touch and dig and gain deeper understandings of the tests they saw. Faced with the challenges the pandemic posed in the past year, the GME team found innovative new ways to let growers get close to the action and stay safe.

On-site events with smaller groups and enhanced safety measures still occurred, but as in-person visits necessarily decreased, many sites also added a virtual component. Hosts began filming the trial results and placing them on the Know More, Grow More blog. This valuable innovation during the pandemic will stay in place to serve growers or retailers who can’t attend sites they would like to visit.

“We saw an opportunity to bring the GME sites to our visitors no matter where they were,” says Ann Vail, Syngenta customer event and trade show lead.

“By taking the sites online,” Vail says, “we help our agronomists and growers continue their discussions outside of in-person events.”

GME sites bring a lot to the table. The sites provide opportunities to see new products and practices, to hear from researchers familiar with the local land and to build relationships with industry peers. Now some sites even provide the ability to see the latest trials from your computer screen. After all, Vail says, what drives GME sites is innovation at the local level.

For more information about the Grow More Experience sites, contact your Syngenta representative.

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Beef producers can achieve a potential 5% increase in feed efficiency while also helping to improve their environmental footprint by using Enogen® corn for feed.1 That’s the takeaway from a new life cycle assessment released by Syngenta Seeds and the University of Arkansas Resiliency Center.

Enogen helps cattle convert starch to sugars more efficiently, resulting in more readily available energy for livestock. In research studies at leading universities, Enogen has shown potential to increase feed efficiency by 5%,2 which can help cattle producers improve profit potential for their operations. The assessment shows that this nutritional boost helps improve efficiency in the farming, backgrounding and feedlot operations involved in livestock production. As a result, for every 1,000 head of finishing beef cattle, producers can potentially achieve the following environmental benefits:

  • Reduction of greenhouse gases equivalent to removing 35 passenger cars from the road for one year.3
  • Decreased land use for growing crops to feed the animals, equivalent to 50 American football fields.3
  • 6 million fewer gallons of water, enough to fill nine Olympic-size swimming pools.3
  • Enough energy saved to power 22 average homes for a year.3

To put the impact of these benefits into perspective, there are about 15 million head of beef cattle on feed at any given time in the U.S., and the industry processes approximately 35 million head of beef cattle each year.4

“The potential environmental benefits of feeding Enogen corn to finishing beef cattle could be very significant as the technology becomes more widely adopted,” says Duane Martin, head of Enogen marketing at Syngenta.

For more information on Enogen corn , go to enogenfeed.com.

1G. Thoma, M. Matlock, and M. Christy. 2020. Analysis of Life Cycle Impacts of Using Enogen Feed Corn in Feed Rations in Beef Cattle Production, University of Arkansas Resiliency Center.
2University of Nebraska-Lincoln Research Studies, 2013–2017; Kansas State University Research Studies, 2016–2018; Penn State University Research Study, 2020.
3Based on LCA conducted by the University of Arkansas Resiliency Center, 2020, for 1,000 head, backgrounding through feed yard, using these experimental data and resources: Transl. Anim. Sci. Volume 3, Issue 1, January 2019, 504–512, https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txy121 (Exp 2); Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Reports: Vol. 4: Issue 1, https://doi.org/10.4148/2378-5977.7543 (Exp 1); https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator; and https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/units-and-calculators/energy-conversion-calculators.php.
4“Cattle on Feed Report,” released Feb. 19, 2021, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, Agricultural Statistics Board, United States Department of Agriculture.

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The European Union’s (EU) Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F) might have admirable climate goals — but the price tag for farmers and the global population is high.

Some of the proposed changes include strict guidelines for fertilizer and pesticide use along with increased organic production goals. They look good on paper, but the impact of F2F approval is an imposition on EU farmers who would have to use more land and spend more money —; both of which will produce lower yields. Lower yields mean more people go hungry.

And if passed, it might not be long before more growers than just those in the EU are losing income.

“Farm to Fork isn’t something that’s just going to affect European farmers,” says Mary Kay Thatcher, senior manager of Federal Government and Industry Relations at Syngenta. “It could easily limit the ability for the U.S. farmer to export products to those countries. There’s no question that the EU will further limit the use of pesticides on imported crops, and U.S. farmers need to understand what’s going on.”

A Brief Overview: Farm to Fork

F2F falls under the European Green Deal, an initiative that strives to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

“A shift to a sustainable food system can bring environmental, health and social benefits, offer economic gains and ensure that the recovery from the [COVID-19] crisis puts us onto a sustainable path,” says Stella Kyriakides, EU directorate-general for health and food safety in the Farm to Fork Strategy prepared for the European Commission.

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We applaud the EU’s goal of improving environmental sustainability in agriculture, but policies must also address food security and livelihood of farmers.

Mary Kay Thatcher Senior Manager, Federal Government and Industry Relations at Syngenta

But Ted McKinney, agricultural consultant and former undersecretary of agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, sees problems with the F2F Strategy. “The EU’s intentions are good with this program, for example, their objectives are laudable but their tactics don’t work,” he says. “They didn’t ask farmers — they didn’t even ask the commissioner of agriculture at the EU — making the plan.”

Ultimately, the EU wants to change the global standard for how food is raised — and the F2F plan is positioned as the first step.

A few highlights on new restrictions proposed in the F2F Strategy include reducing the overall use of pesticides by 50%, limiting nutrient losses by 50% by requiring farmers to use 20% less fertilizer by 2030, requiring more carbon-efficient livestock production, removing 50% of antimicrobials in farmed animals and aquaculture production by 2030, and transitioning at least 25% of EU’s agricultural land to organic farming practices.

“We applaud the EU’s goal of improving environmental sustainability in agriculture, but policies must also address food security and livelihood of farmers,” Thatcher says. “There are many trade-offs to be managed — such as significantly increased land use of organic farming — and targeting the use of inputs in isolation will not do anything to mitigate climate change. We would rather work with all stakeholders to establish a functioning measurement and incentive system for increasing carbon in soil, limiting greenhouse gas emissions and increasing biodiversity.

“Healthy nature and productive agriculture are not contradictions. At Syngenta, we believe there is a place for many different agricultural practices, and their impact needs to be properly and thoroughly assessed,” she continues.

This proposed strategy would only regulate EU farmers to start but that might not be the case for long.

“The EU is a major agricultural producer and participant in international agricultural trade. This policy shift is likely to affect international markets for agricultural commodities.” the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service reports in “Economic and Food Security Impacts of Agricultural Input Reduction Under the European Union Green Deal’s Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies.”

U.S. farmers have seen EU decisions impact them at the farm gate before through nontariff changes, Thatcher says. “Prices are likely to fall if this goes through because it’ll push our exports down and the EU is our 5th biggest trade partner.”

To put it into numbers, a recent study by ERS shows that if the F2F Strategy is adopted globally, gross farm incomes will decrease by 34%. Per capita food costs in the U.S. will increase by $512. Globally, they’ll increase by $450 per capita. Furthermore, ERS forecasts 185 million more people would go hungry.

A Harder Way to Farm

The F2F Strategy restricts farmer options and impedes farmers’ right to choose how they farm. It’ll start in the EU only but could quickly begin to impact global production.

“If they’re further limiting the use of pesticides, and they’re checking for residues, it’s likely going to change production practices here,” Thatcher explains. This would require a different focus in what currently is an efficient system.

McKinney believes the basis of much of the proposed plan is flawed. The idea that organic farming and reducing the use of pesticides that have been proven safe will make the climate and producers better off is not accurate, he says.

“If you’re not allowed to use pesticides or you’re forced to go organic, you still have to find some way to get rid of weeds and pests,” McKinney explains. “It’s not going to work with no-till, for example, and you’ll have to pull out the moldboard plow and do a lot of tillage, and you’ll see more erosion and certainly more greenhouse gas emissions.”

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Diversity and inclusion programs may focus on opening doors to women and people of color, but they also ultimately drive tangible benefits and opportunities for the entire agricultural industry.

“As agriculture becomes more diverse, more companies are realizing diversity is good for the bottom line,” says Ebony Webber, chief operating officer of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS). “They see opportunities to expand into new markets and stay competitive.”

MANRRS, which has 2,050 members in 65 chapters across 38 states, promotes academic and professional advancement by empowering minorities in agricultural and related scientific careers. The organization helps members through networking and leadership-training programs. It also provides role models and networking opportunities for student members as early as the seventh grade. A growing number of companies are offering internships and full-time positions to MANRRS members.

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As agriculture becomes more diverse, more companies are realizing diversity is good for the bottom line.

Ebony Webber Chief Operating Officer
Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS)

“Once our members have the chance for hands-on experiences and realize the opportunities in agriculture, they become more engaged,” says Antomia Farrell, Ed.D., assistant dean and director for diversity, College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Kentucky. She is also serving as the 2020–2021 national MANRRS president and as the University of Kentucky’s MANRRS adviser.

Women are already playing a sizeable role in agriculture. Female-operated farms accounted for 38% of U.S. agriculture sales and 43% of U.S. farmland, according to the 2017 Census of Agriculture.

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Joy O’Shaughnessy, chief operating officer, agribusiness, at HighQuest Partners, works with Women in Agribusiness. This group encourages its members to learn about the many career opportunities in agriculture, such as law, finance, insurance, research and more. A part of O’Shaughnessy’s role is working with ag retailers looking to transform their workplaces by hiring and retaining more female employees.

In addition to supporting groups like MANRRS and Women in Agribusiness, agricultural companies can develop their own initiatives. For example, Syngenta recently launched a four-year equity, diversity and inclusion plan. The plan focuses on building diversity and inclusion into senior-level and management teams as well as into employee recruitment, advancement and retention, says Brandon Bell, diversity and inclusion lead at Syngenta, North America.

Webber believes that working together is the key to building greater diversity and inclusion in agriculture. “I hope that as an industry we can become more proactive,” she says. “It’s going to take everyone. But this is a marathon, not a sprint.”

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Unpredictable disease pressure is a concern each season, but when equipped with the right tools, soybean growers can fight back.

To help growers make informed input decisions, Syngenta is introducing the Miravis® brand performance hub to showcase how Syngenta fungicides stack up against competitive brands and untreated acres.

Using this online tool, growers will be able to explore local fungicide trials by crop and state and see how Miravis brand fungicides performed in environments similar to their own.

With this new resource, Southern soybean growers in particular will see the proof in the performance of one of the top Syngenta fungicides — Miravis Top.

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We want to empower growers to make data-driven decisions when it comes to their disease control.

Tyler Harp Fungicide Technical Product Lead at Syngenta

“We want to empower growers to make data-driven decisions when it comes to their disease control,” says Tyler Harp, fungicide technical product lead at Syngenta. “That’s why we created this performance hub. Now, Southern soybean growers can see how Miravis Top fungicide performed in their region with the environmental and disease pressures they face.”

Proven Performance

Specifically engineered with these growers in mind, Miravis Top fungicide is built to provide superior disease control, resistance management and longevity that growers can count on.

Miravis Top contains two powerhouse active ingredients, ADEPIDYN® technology and difenoconazole, to shut down difficult diseases including strobilurin-resistant and susceptible frogeye leaf spot, Septoria brown spot and target spot. Even in the toughest conditions, Miravis Top is proven to help increase profit potential.

“We’ve conducted trials throughout South, and Miravis Top is consistently beating the competition in yield and crop quality and at a lower cost per day of control1,” says Harp. “Plus, we’ve seen Miravis Top deliver an 8 bu/A average increase over untreated2.”

Protect Profit Potential

Due to projected higher market prices, more soybean acres are being planted this season than previous years, which is why Harp encourages growers to help protect their investment with a fungicide like Miravis Top.

“Especially since prices are high, you’ll want to take the steps necessary to maximize yield potential and help reduce the risk of loss,” says Harp. “A fungicide application may lead to more bushels, and more bushels helps give you the most return on investment potential.”

As the window for fungicide applications narrows, growers in turn are approaching their last chance to protect their soybeans with Miravis Top, which is where the performance hub comes in, says Harp.

“If you’re still on the fence about a fungicide, visit our performance hub and see the data for yourself,” says Harp. “When you look at the trials in your region, you’ll see the value Miravis Top could add to your operation.”

To find trials from your region, visit the Miravis brands performance hub at BoostYourBushels.com, or contact your local Syngenta sales representative for more information on Miravis Top.

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1Cost per residual is based on product cost per acre and average days of residual control, which may vary by geography and other factors.

2199 COI and on farm grower/strip trials. Application rate and timing: Miravis Top 13.7 fl. oz/A applied at R3. AR, KY, LA, MS and TN contain some replicated trials. AR (39), IL (55), IN (11), KS (6), KY (1), LA (27), MO (26), MS (22), TN (12); 2020.

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Like so many of his colleagues, Grant Morris, a producer in Pasco, Washington, relies daily on mobile communications to talk, text, email and manage equipment, crops and employees. The gains he makes by using his smartphone and tablet add to his annual bottom line.

“Without mobile communications, it would take longer and cost more to perform the tasks I do on the farm. There would be more face-to-face interactions, which create inefficiencies,” says Morris, who owns and manages Schneider Farms. He farms a total of 2,000 acres and produces grass seed, potatoes, sweet corn and peas for processing.

Morris uses apps for any number of tasks today: to view satellite imagery that helps detect crop problems, look up invoices, monitor equipment operations, check fuel levels, buy inputs, transfer data, manage application rates, peruse agronomic recommendations, review sampling and scouting information, and much more.

“The apps help eliminate a ton of paperwork and trips to the office to grab files,” he says.

Morris equips each of his employees with a smartphone or tablet and trains them on those devices. The operation relies heavily on a notes app and Dropbox to maintain to-do lists, communicate and transfer data.

“I can see on the notes app when they’ve completed their work, so I don’t have to call and check up on them,” Morris says.

Kansas Farmer Adds Acres, Cuts Windshield Time

Producer Matt Moreland of South Haven, Kansas, says mobile communications have helped him reduce driving time between the different sections of Moreland Farms. With 10,000 acres of corn, cotton, soybeans and winter wheat spread over 40 miles, that’s significant.

“So much of our business is based on spreading the cost of our equipment over many acres, and the more acres we can spread those costs over, the more profitable we can be,” says Moreland, who farms with his wife and three sons. “By using mobile apps and other tools, we can manage a greater number of acres.”

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The most significant value created by mobile communications is a return on time invested.

Tommy Jackson Executive Account Lead, Crop Protection at Syngenta

He uses a multitude of apps to help his operation run smoothly, and he’s a big fan of the Syngenta AgriEdge® whole-farm management program. The program’s record-keeping platform enables him to simply and quickly access all of his farm information via mobile communications.

“I have all of my fields mapped, so at any given time, I can use my phone to see the exact acres on a field and what’s been applied to them, check planting dates, and much more,” Moreland says.

He also uses apps to monitor rainfall and irrigation, an efficiency that saves money and can reduce water usage.

“We’ve installed monitors on the center pivots, so I can use my phone to check water pressure and the speed at which each is moving,” Moreland says. “If necessary, I can change the directions they’re moving and adjust water amounts with my fingertips. I will get a text, email or call if anything goes wrong — the app gives us that immediate notification and saves us trips to the fields.”

Morris and Moreland are just two of the many ag professionals who have adopted mobile technology to work more efficiently.

“The most significant value created by mobile communications is a return on time invested,” says Tommy Jackson, an executive account lead for Syngenta Crop Protection. “Our growers have the ability to make decisions quickly because the information they need is right at their fingertips.”

To help keep its customers on the cutting edge of mobile technology, Syngenta is hard at work delivering digital tools that drive efficiency and accelerate profit potential.

“Slightly more than 50% of the traffic on our websites comes from mobile devices,” says Tom Lesser, a digital marketing lead at Syngenta. “Whenever we build or change anything on our websites, we take a mobile-first approach to design.”

Growers Benefit From On-the-Go Pest Alerts

Pest Patrol, a Syngenta tool developed to provide free and timely agronomic information for ag professionals throughout the South, is another way growers and crop consultants can get information quickly on their mobile devices.

They can sign up on the Pest Patrol website to receive text messages from university personnel and Syngenta agronomic service representatives (ASRs) from any of the 11 participating states. When specialists post crop updates, subscribers receive text messages with a Pest Patrol website link that takes them to a short recorded commentary on a timely topic.

The program sees significant annual growth. “It helps land-grant university extension specialists gain a wider audience for the information they generate and gives growers and crop consultants the in-season information they need to be more efficient,” Syngenta Marketing Communications Lead Pam Caraway says.

Dominic Reisig, Ph.D., North Carolina State University extension entomologist, is a regular contributor to Pest Patrol. “It’s one of the methods I use to get timely updates to farmers and crop consultants during the growing season,” he says. “Our extension participants tell us that this is the program they receive the most positive feedback from.”

Mississippi-based Syngenta ASR Tripp Walker started posting alerts last year when growers needed in-season updates on the status of herbicides under regulatory review.

“I use it in situations where I need to provide more information than a text message can,” says Walker, who encourages growers to sign up now for this year’s growing season. “The alerts are focused and precise and have been well-received both internally and externally.”

To view archived agronomic posts, find more information on the 2021 Pest Patrol program and sign up for alerts, go to syngentaus.com/pestpatrol.

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Syngenta researchers fine-tune formulations to meet these challenges. This might mean adding a nonionic surfactant to change the surface tension of a liquid so the droplets don’t bounce off the plant and hit the soil.

For instance, coverage is essential when the goal is weed control. “If you’re spraying small, upright, grass-like weeds, our formulations will stick to the target,” says Mark Ledson, Ph.D., group leader of the lead application technology group in formulation development at Syngenta.

Syngenta works closely with equipment manufacturers to optimize spray nozzles’ effectiveness. “While there haven’t been a lot of new active ingredients coming along, there’s a lot of research going on with nozzles,” Ledson says.

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Our goal is to ensure that Syngenta chemistry is applied in the most effective way to maximize efficacy, which leads to higher yield potential and profit potential for growers.

Mark Ledson, Ph.D. Group Leader, Lead Application Technology Group, Formulation Development at Syngenta

Among the successes over the last 25-plus years of working with equipment manufacturers, Syngenta helped develop the Hypro GuardianAIR with a 10-degree angle for increased spray coverage. The success of the GuardianAIR spurred the creation of the 3D nozzle, whose 40-degree angle outperforms flat-fan nozzles for pre-emergence weed control.

“Our goal is to ensure that Syngenta chemistry is applied in the most effective way to maximize efficacy, which leads to higher yield potential and profit potential for growers,” Ledson says.

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Cover image: Equipment manufacturers and Syngenta work together to optimize the effectiveness of nozzles. Photography courtesy of Pentair.