Product Pipeline Offers Enhanced Genetics and Traits

Farmer wish lists are long when it comes to crop innovation. The largest seed and trait providers are working to deliver tools to tackle agronomic challenges and drive productivity.

Read on to learn more about their product pipelines and anticipated arrivals. The information comes directly from the companies with slight edits. Keep in mind that other seed companies also license technologies from these trait providers.

BASF

BASF is committed to helping farmers maximize yield on every acre through new products and varieties in soy and canola.

Fifteen new Xitavo soybean seed products will be available for the 2026 planting season, providing farmers with a proven new source of germplasm. These offerings increase the existing soybean seed portfolio to 50 products, covering relative maturities of 0.0 to 4.8. The Xitavo soybean seed class of 2026 offers a 1.8-bushel-per-acre advantage over the already high-yielding class of 2025, according to Xitavo soybean seed trials from 2023-2024. Xitavo is a trademark of MS Technologies.

-- Serious About Cyst. Soybean cyst nematode (SCN) is one of the leading causes of soybean yield loss in the U.S., and BASF has spent the past two decades developing Nemasphere nematode resistance trait, the most groundbreaking innovation in SCN management in the past 60 years. Harnessing a completely novel mode of action, it will be the first and only biotechnology trait for SCN, producing a protein that prevents nematode feeding damage by interfering with nutrient uptake in the pest. This trait has been shown to deliver an average 8% yield boost. Nemasphere is anticipated to be available in 2028, pending regulatory approval.

-- Discover Canola Gold. BASF unveiled InVigor Gold in June 2025, a breakthrough innovation in canola seed. Designed to unlock the full genetic potential of canola-quality Brassica juncea in new areas of Canada and the U.S., InVigor Gold is expected to feature hybrids with LibertyLink herbicide tolerance, inherent pod shatter resistance and strong blackleg disease resistance. InVigor Gold also features outstanding heat tolerance, allowing farmers to utilize land that may have been fallow or idle, providing a new income source for farmers and the agriculture channel.

Across 23 trials from 2022 through 2024 in the brown soil zone in Canada and the Northern Great Plains, on average, InVigor Gold outyielded the traditional canola by 8%. InVigor Gold is anticipated to be available in the U.S. in 2027, pending regulatory approval, and in Canada later this decade or early in the next, pending regulatory approval.

BAYER

Over the next decade, Bayer plans to launch 10 products that will have a major impact on the production of food, fuel and fiber in the U.S. and globally.

The pipeline includes a new postemergent herbicide mode of action; a biotech version of reduced-stature corn hybrids; a fourth-generation corn rootworm technology that contains RNA interference (RNAi) technology with two new modes of action, building on SmartStax PRO; and fourth- and fifth-generation soybean herbicide tolerance traits, providing tolerance to five and six chemistries.

-- Corn Advancements. Preceon Smart Corn System is now in Phase 4 of the pipeline after a targeted commercial launch of the conventional breeding short-stature corn approach in 2024. The company intends to introduce the biotech version of the system in 2027. With improved standability in high winds and challenging weather conditions, the Preceon Smart Corn System also allows farmers to better manage their corn crop through providing better in-season access, enabling more precise crop-protection tools, such as herbicides and fungicides, as well as applications of inputs such as nitrogen.

-- Weed-Control Strategies. Digitalization has also been a key factor in advances in application technology and data science, and Bayer has been relying on artificial intelligence (AI) in its quest to help farmers control challenging weeds. For example, Bayer's icafolin product represents a new mode-of-action herbicide with an anticipated launch in 2028. Through its CropKey approach, Bayer is using AI to help speed up the process by matching the protein structure of a weed with a molecule that targets that structure. This approach enables the company to canvass huge amounts of data to find these matches, significantly broadening the potential candidate pool beyond those molecules that have been used in the past.

-- Soybean Solutions. In early 2025, Bayer announced the name of its fourth-generation soybean trait, Vyconic, and anticipates a launch in 2027, pending regulatory approvals. It is built on XtendFlex technology with glyphosate, dicamba and glufosinate tolerance, plus tolerance to 2,4-D and mesotrione, an HPPD inhibitor. Vyconic will add additional herbicide traits to give growers improved flexibility with more choices than ever in their weed management.

CORTEVA AGRISCIENCE

The Corteva Agriscience R&D engine continues to accelerate, with next-generation trait technology for corn and soybeans, and breakthrough breeding technology for hybrid wheat. The pipeline is driven by 100 years of Corteva leadership in breeding and hybrid seed production.

-- New Corn Genetics. In 2026, PowerCore Enlist corn technology will be more broadly available to help provide protection against a broad spectrum of lepidopteran pests, which means cleaner ears with improved grain quality. This multigene stack includes a combination of three distinct Bt proteins along with enhanced weed-control with the Enlist weed-control system. PowerCore Ultra Enlist corn technology provides improved protection against ear-feeding pests such as corn earworm and Western bean cutworm with an additional Vip3A protein added to the stack. In the next few years, farmers can anticipate new insect trait technologies offering new multiple modes of action for above- and belowground pests with a range of trusted herbicide traits.

Corn farmers can also look forward to a new multidisease resistance trait that will help improve plant health developed through gene-editing technology.

-- Next-Generation Soybean Tolerance. As demand for high oleic soybeans continues to rise, Corteva launched Pioneer brand Plenish high oleic soybean varieties with the Enlist E3 trait in 2025. Pioneer plans to advance additional varieties for dairy farmers across the northern U.S., with broad availability the following season. The transgenic soybean event in Enlist E3 soybeans is jointly developed and owned by Corteva Agriscience and MS Technologies.

In the coming years, Corteva expects to launch a four-way herbicide tolerance stack in soybeans. This includes a stack of proprietary herbicide tolerance traits from Corteva, combined with the protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) gene from BASF.

-- Hybridization for Wheat. Corteva recently announced a proprietary non-GMO hybrid technology in wheat. Hybrid wheat could increase yield potential while using the same amount of land and resources, and is more resistant to drought than elite varieties, delivering the high grain quality farmers expect from Corteva. The company plans to launch hybrid hard red winter wheat as early as 2027 in North America and to add to the portfolio over time.

SYNGENTA

Syngenta Seeds remains focused on research and development that responds to farmers' needs in meaningful ways.

-- Traiting Up. In March 2025, the new Durastak corn trait stack launched, which delivers more control of corn rootworm and more yield potential. Using the Duracade trait stack as a starting point, Syngenta scientists innovated to deliver more corn rootworm protection through a molecular stack and added a mode of action to give farmers a new option for controlling this yield-robbing pest. The new trait stack will be available in Durastak and DurastakViptera hybrids for the 2027 season in both the Golden Harvest and NK brands, as well as through independent seed companies.

Syngenta corn hybrid breeders push the limits of innovation to deliver products with in-demand disease tolerance and agronomic traits. This focus on continual improvements has resulted in 50% of the corn portfolio being 2 years old or newer, with a specific emphasis on identifying tar spot tolerance.

In 2024, the Wild North hybrid group was launched to offer strong options in 100-day and earlier relative maturity (RM) corn. There are plans to continue delivering hybrids that deliver consistent performance under harsher northern conditions.

-- Soybean Success. The 2026 crop year lineup delivers products that work well across different farming practices, stand strong during tough growing conditions and provide high yield potential. These new varieties combine the company's best-performing genetics with the right trait packages for today's challenges. More soybeans now feature multiple protective traits together -- such as the chloride excluder and STS (sulfonylurea-tolerant soybean) genes.

-- Research Emphasis. The Syngenta agronomy research program analyzes the agronomic characteristics of Syngenta products to aid in placement and usage in real-world farm situations. Agronomy research locations positioned throughout the Corn Belt focus on answering farmers' most pressing management questions both for our products and ever-changing agronomic pressures such as weather, pests and diseases. Agronomists use uniform testing methodology to ensure that research results are a reliable prediction of the response farmers will see in their fields. Multiyear studies provide tremendous insight into specific management tactics for each product, so that farmers can maximize the potential for profit on their farms.

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-- Follow the latest from Pamela Smith, Senior Crops Editor, by visiting the Production Blogs at https://www.dtnpf.com/… or following her on social platform X @PamSmithDTN

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