Production Blog

GREENSBORO, N.C. (DTN) -- Syngenta rolled out the red carpet for a group of agricultural journalists last week at its brand-new North American Crop Protection headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina. The company's biennial media summit allowed reporters to interact with and directly ask questions of the chemists and other scientists developing the latest additions to Syngenta's portfolio of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides.

The event also provided an opportunity for a behind-the-scenes look at other aspects of Syngenta's crop protection division, including investments in research and development, production and supply chain operations, brand stewardship and sustainability initiatives. Here's a quick look at two new products Syngenta hopes to offer in the U.S. market in 2025, along with a first-of-its-kind system for testing tank-mix compatibility.

NEW SEED TREATMENT

Pending EPA registration, Syngenta looks to introduce Victrato seed treatment for protection against a broad spectrum of nematode pests and several soil- and root-borne diseases. The product contains the active ingredient (AI)cyclobutrifluram, a succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI). This category of fungicides (FRAC Group 7) includes other products already on the market, including Saltro (Syngenta) and Ilevo (BASF). Syngenta has branded this new molecule as Tymirium technology.

"We're setting a new level of protection with Tymirium," said Dale Ireland, Syngenta seedcare technical product lead, who began working with the active ingredient in 2015. "When it fits into the succinate dehydrogenase enzyme and inhibits it, the fit within that site of action is much tighter than either Saltro and certainly far more tight than the Ilevo molecule. That binding efficiency is what really increases the efficacy of the Tymirium molecule."

The trend toward earlier planting dates for soybeans typically translates to wetter, cooler soil conditions, Ireland noted, which means that germination and establishment can be slower.

"This allows more feeding by nematodes as well as infection by plant pathogens," he said. "In those situations, you need even more protection."

Ireland shared field trial results that showed Tymirium had a statistically significant yield advantage over Saltro and Ilevo -- both in the protection against soybean cyst nematode (SCN), the No. 1 soybean pest, as well as against Fusarium virguliforme, the pathogen responsible for sudden death syndrome (SDS).

"Under moderate to heavy SDS and nematode pressure, Tymirium technology has protected more yield," he said. "SDS protection improvement was just less than 5 bushels (4.8 bpa), and we had 91% win rate across several years against our leading competitor, 23 trials across four years under moderate to heavy SDS."

An additional benefit realized with Tymirium was early season suppression of some foliar diseases, including frogeye leaf spot, target spot and Septoria brown spot.

"We're not suggesting that Tymirium is going to replace foliar fungicide use," Ireland said, "but when those foliar fungicides are applied in the R1 to R2 stage, the plants will be much cleaner, and you will allow a steeper trajectory, allowing more yield for the grower."

Should Victrato seed treatment receive registration, product would be available to create a customer experience in 2025, said Katie Jaeger, Syngenta's U.S. soy seedcare product lead.

"We expect to have a full launch in 2026," she added.

NEW INSECTICIDE

After nearly 15 years of development, Syngenta also looks to bring a new insecticide active ingredient to the U.S. market in 2025. Isocycloseram is the active ingredient behind the company's Plinazolin technology, which Syngenta scientists say offers a new mode of action and protects against a broad spectrum of agricultural pests, including mites, thrips, true bugs, beetles and certain Lepidopteran pest species.

"We have submitted for registration in numerous crops and crop groups," said Elijah Meck, insecticides technical product lead at Syngenta. "We see a lot of utility with this compound. It will be the first IRAC Group 30 mode of action in the foliar space. We intend to launch a number of foliar brands, a soil-applied brand, and then of course, there will be a seedcare brand or brands."

Meck noted that Syngenta invested more than 12 years of research and development effort into Plinazolin technology, conducting more than 2,900 trials with isocycloseram in more than 30 crops across more than 40 states.

"This is one of the most complex AIs that Syngenta has ever made," he added. "It takes 26 steps to make the technical active ingredient."

That active ingredient must then be incorporated into formulations that allow farmers to apply it efficiently and effectively. Kevin Langdon, also an insecticides technical product lead, explained that for the soil-applied formulation, for example, it was imperative that Plinazolin technology was compatible with starter fertilizers to allow for in-furrow application at planting in corn to help control corn rootworm.

"We've tested over 50 different starter fertilizers, so we're very confident that we're going to be able to play well in the tank with whatever fertilizer a grower might choose to use on their farm," he said.

Arriving at that formulation was no easy task, added Beth Williard, senior formulation development chemist for insecticides.

"It took about three years of product development and then another four years or so of optimization," she said. "We screened over 100 different chemistries to find chemistries that could go into this, that would be compatible with the fertilizers. And then once we got a hit there, we then screened over 70 different small variations of that chemistry to really optimize this formulation and deliver a great shelf-stable formulation that's compatible in a variety of different fertilizers and is also able to be manufactured right here in the U.S."

Syngenta submitted Plinazolin technology to EPA for registration in 2021, and the company is hopeful to receive approval ahead of the 2025 growing season.

CONFIDENCE IN COMPATIBILITY

Today, farmers often apply multiple products together in one pass of the spray rig. When doing so, they must ensure that those products are compatible; otherwise, they quickly may find their sprayer clogged, losing both precious time and valuable products.

To avoid compatibility issues, farmers are encouraged to conduct a "jar test" to see how various products interact before mixing them together in the sprayer. At Syngenta, the Application Technology Group is responsible for this testing so that the company is aware of the tank-mix compatibility of not only its products but also every possible combination that a farmer might consider.

Ram Ramalingam, group leader of application technology at Syngenta, said that until recently, tank-mix compatibility testing was a completely manual process, which had limitations.

"It is slow, it is tiring, it is cumbersome," he said. "If you have several different mix partners, then it gets somewhat tricky."

To overcome this, the team created the Application Technology Lab Automation System (ATLAS), a first-of-its-kind robot designed specifically to assess tank-mix compatibility.

"ATLAS was custom built to adhere to ASTM International standards for tank-mix compatibility testing," said Austin Weiss, staff product application specialist. "This robot literally takes that exact process and automates it from start to finish all the way down to the actual visual assessment that you would make."

Weiss explained that in addition to ATLAS, they developed a request infrastructure that allows Syngenta employees to request unique tank mixes, whether it be something that a customer specifically asked about or something that's currently happening in the market. If the team has those products on hand, ATLAS can provide an answer as quickly as the same day.

"We test both Syngenta products along with generics and competitors," Weiss said. "We test it all because we know that is what the customer is going to want to do. So, when developing a product, we want it to be compatible with everything."

Jason Jenkins can be reached at jason.jenkins@dtn.com

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