Inside the state-of-the-art lab solving agriculture’s next problem
The pathogens plaguing growers' fields and greenhouses are evolving at an unprecedented rate. But Syngenta’s new 10-million-dollar R&D Technology Center in Southern Spain could help them stay one step ahead.
In El Ejido, near the coast of Almería in sun-drenched southern Spain, there’s an exclusive facility that’s fully controlled, biosafe, and isolated. Entry is restricted to a select few. It houses a library of some of the most devastating pathogens vegetable growers face. These yield-robbing pests have levelled entire harvests, stunted plant growth, and unraveled the carefully laid plans of millions of growers. Inside the facility, these pathogens are kept under the strictest conditions, the advanced equipment around them rigorously sterilized and cleaned. Expert scientists and researchers at the site adhere to the highest standards of biosafety.
Syngenta's new R&D technology site at El Ejido, near the coast of Almería, Southern Spain.
Syngenta's new R&D technology site at El Ejido, near the coast of Almería, Southern Spain.
What are they doing? Trying to understand and solve agriculture’s next problem before it takes root. It’s an essential part of protecting crops and safeguarding food security. Studying and analyzing the plights of harvests’ past, or potential threats to come, is the first step in developing an effective solution to it.
The two-year race
That next threat is emerging at an unprecedented rate. Roughly every two years, a new plant pathogen – a virus, bacteria, fungi, nematode, or parasitic plant – becomes known by the damage it inflicts in fields or greenhouses. Growers contending with unpredictable weather conditions and volatile input prices now face an imminent threat to their crops.
“In our industry, it’s always the growers that bear the cost,” says Uri Krieger, Global Head of R&D for Syngenta Vegetable Seeds. “Farmers wake up one morning to find a new pathogen that they’ve never seen before, potentially destroying what they’ve spent their whole season preparing. From a risk perspective, the growers are always at the forefront.”
The scramble begins: to deploy the solutions, to formulate new stop gaps, and to limit the geographic spread of this latest problem. It’s the start of a new, but now familiar cycle.
Genetics, through breeding disease-resistant traits into seeds for growers, are critical to building resistance to emerging pathogens. But the development of those new varieties that incorporate that resistance can take years.
In the meantime, growers do what they can to maintain healthy harvests and yields. They often use targeted crop protection products to limit its spread, adjust what they plant, and re-think harvesting times, if needed. But there’s only so much they can do.
“Unfortunately, sometimes farmers lose in this,” Uri says. “That is the race we’re up against, in breeding new varieties.”
In the labs, such as the one in El Ejido, scientists are racing too: accelerating that rollout of new varieties that offer increased protection against this new enemy.
Meanwhile, that two-year clock has reset and is already ticking away. In another 730 days, a new problem will likely sprout, and the cycle will begin again. It’s a tricky problem requiring a dual solution: earlier pathogen detection and faster breeding timelines. Syngenta’s new state-of-the-art R&D facility, located in one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world, takes a new approach to solving it.
Real-time tracking
That secure library of pathogens, and the biosafety technology that allows scientists to safely work with them, is just one aspect of a carefully designed runway. One built to supercharge breeding and trait development while keeping a finger on the pulse of growers’ needs.
How? By starting with growers, out in their fields – literally.
The concept isn’t new, it’s what Syngenta’s vegetable breeders have done for decades. Working alongside growers as they trial new varieties and respond to new pest and disease threats is an essential part of bringing better, more resilient seeds to market.
Luis Planas, Minister of Agriculture for Spain, is shown the work being undertaken at the new site.
Luis Planas, Minister of Agriculture for Spain, is shown the work being undertaken at the new site.
And where better to do so than in the agricultural heavyweight of Andalucía, Southern Spain? Linked to farming since 4000 BC, the region now has the highest output value of vegetable and horticultural products in the entire European Union. It’s estimated that one out of every four euros that Spain earns can be traced back to its agri-food products.
Nicknamed ‘Europe’s vegetable garden’, it’s also one of the first places growers will face the brunt of that two-year threat. That made it the ideal place for a new $10 million facility, recently opened in El Ejido, to help them.
“We chose this site because it puts us alongside the growers we serve,” Uri explains. “Not observing from a distance, but working together with them directly: listening, learning, and applying Syngenta’s global innovation to meet their specific needs and together preparing for what comes next.”
The new facility brings together breeding, seed operations, trait development, fruit quality, applied data science and digital, all under one roof.
The new facility brings together breeding, seed operations, trait development, fruit quality, applied data science and digital, all under one roof.
Taking it one step further, the new site encompasses a field-to-lab approach. Diagnostics begin in growers’ fields. The moment a grower notices something new, and potentially crop-threatening is happening, they can work directly with experts to assess that threat.
In tandem, the facility brings together breeding, seed operations, trait development, fruit quality, applied data science and digital, all under one roof. So, when that real-time information from local growers has identified a new pathogen, the response is already underway. The genetic components that deliver the solution are carefully assessed in the laboratory, and the new variety is then designed and developed for testing in growers’ fields.
Meanwhile, market-leading trait technology halves the time it takes to develop new vegetable traits by conventional methods. Now, more resistant varieties of seeds can be in growers’ hands much faster than previously possible.
Pictured is a select group of scientists and technical experts with exclusive access to the new El Ejido site.
Pictured is a select group of scientists and technical experts with exclusive access to the new El Ejido site.
Like clockwork, another threat may pop up every two years - but now science can catch up. After an opening ceremony attended by a handful of exclusive guests, including Spain's Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, the new site was thoroughly deep-cleaned and once again closed to only a select few. Now the real work begins.
“The science is ready, the team is ready, and after three years of preparation, planning, and building, we’re more than ready to get started,” Uri says.
