Breakthrough innovation takes root in the Americas
How TYMIRIUM® technology is transforming farming across South America and preparing for U.S. launch.
In the humid farmlands of Canindeyú, Paraguay, where the rust-red earth rolls to the horizon under South America's unrelenting sun, Claudinei Bonoto has watched three generations of his family work the soil.
Since arriving in Paraguay in 1977, the Bonoto family has cultivated these fields through countless seasons, adapting to challenges both seen and unseen.
But some enemies remain hidden.
“We began observing problems with nematodes and soil-borne fungi for quite some time,” Bonoto recalls, standing in what was once a patchy field marked by stunted growth and yellowing plants.
These microscopic roundworms, invisible to the human eye, had been silently attacking his soybean roots, creating an underground battlefield that was costing him yield season after season.
His struggle echoed across Paraguay's agricultural heartland. In Caazapá, Liborio Mohr had watched his land slowly deteriorate despite years of intervention. “The plot had spots in the middle that almost stopped producing,” he recalls. “We tried five different products, but none had positive results.”
Their story reflects a global problem. Nematodes are pests that work silently underground, reducing plant vigor and creating entry points for secondary infections, and cause an estimated $80-118 billion in crop damage annually worldwide. Yet, the tools available to combat them hadn't fundamentally evolved in decades.
Scientific solution
The answer for farmers like Bonoto and Mohr began 15 years earlier in a Swiss laboratory, where a small team at Syngenta embarked on what they called ‘Project Cleo’. Their mission was to create a single technology that could control plant-parasitic nematodes while meeting the sustainability demands of modern agriculture.
“We had to make difficult decisions between power and sustainability attributes,” explains Matthias Gaberthueel, Global Technical Manager for Seedcare. “The breakthrough came when we identified a mode of action that disrupts cellular energy production in target pests, giving us both exceptional efficacy at low dose rates and an improved environmental profile.”
After screening thousands of compounds, the team discovered a dual-mode technology that tackles hidden nematodes and root diseases below ground while simultaneously shielding crops against early foliar pathogens above ground. The development process required balancing competing priorities while pushing the boundaries of possibility, ultimately achieving an eight times lower CO₂ footprint than competitors.
The technology's innovation extends beyond chemistry to application methods. It can be coated on seeds before planting, like giving each seed a protective shield. As the coated seed absorbs water and grows, the technology is slowly released into the surrounding soil and taken up by the developing plant. This is one of the most precise and sustainable methods, offering protection exactly where it is needed at very low doses. It can also be applied through drip irrigation and soil drench systems.
“Until now, however, the performance of seed treatments was typically limited to the first days or weeks of crop development. With TYMIRIUM® technology, that paradigm changes. Its unique profile not only safeguards the seed and emerging seedling from nematodes and soil-borne pathogens, but also extends protection into the young plant, helping it withstand key air-borne diseases during its most critical growth stages,” says Jader Caricati, Global Seedcare Product Manager.
Scientists discovered a way to control plant-parasitic nematodes while meeting the sustainability demands of modern farming.
Scientists discovered a way to control plant-parasitic nematodes while meeting the sustainability demands of modern farming.
The technology can be coated on seeds before planting, delivering targeted protection as plants grow.
The technology can be coated on seeds before planting, delivering targeted protection as plants grow.
Scientific solution
The answer for farmers like Bonoto and Mohr began 15 years earlier in a Swiss laboratory, where a small team at Syngenta embarked on what they called ‘Project Cleo’. Their mission was to create a single technology that could control plant-parasitic nematodes while meeting the sustainability demands of modern agriculture.
“We had to make difficult decisions between power and sustainability attributes,” explains Matthias Gaberthueel, Global Technical Manager for Seedcare. “The breakthrough came when we identified a mode of action that disrupts cellular energy production in target pests, giving us both exceptional efficacy at low dose rates and an improved environmental profile.”
After screening thousands of compounds, the team discovered a dual-mode technology that tackles hidden nematodes and root diseases below ground while simultaneously shielding crops against early foliar pathogens above ground. The development process required balancing competing priorities while pushing the boundaries of possibility, ultimately achieving an eight times lower CO₂ footprint than competitors.
The technology's innovation extends beyond chemistry to application methods. It can be coated on seeds before planting, like giving each seed a protective shield. As the coated seed absorbs water and grows, the technology is slowly released into the surrounding soil and taken up by the developing plant. This is one of the most precise and sustainable methods, offering protection exactly where it is needed at very low doses. It can also be applied through drip irrigation and soil drench systems.
“Until now, however, the performance of seed treatments was typically limited to the first days or weeks of crop development. With TYMIRIUM® technology, that paradigm changes. Its unique profile not only safeguards the seed and emerging seedling from nematodes and soil-borne pathogens, but also extends protection into the young plant, helping it withstand key air-borne diseases during its most critical growth stages,” says Jader Caricati, Global Seedcare Product Manager.
Scientists discovered a way to control plant-parasitic nematodes while meeting the sustainability demands of modern farming.
Scientists discovered a way to control plant-parasitic nematodes while meeting the sustainability demands of modern farming.
The technology can be coated on seeds before planting, delivering targeted protection as plants grow.
The technology can be coated on seeds before planting, delivering targeted protection as plants grow.
Proven in South America
When Syngenta introduced this technology in Latin America, the transformation in Paraguay's fields validated the years of research. “We observed improved plant growth, more uniform plants, an absence of spots, and, ultimately, the harvest, despite the drought we experienced in the region, gave us good results,” says Bonoto.
David Bergen Dick, a veteran farmer with four decades of experience in Caaguazú, had a similar experience. “We saw a difference when the crop grew; the plants were more even in size. We achieved 200 kilos more yield than in plots where nematodes were present,” he says.
Nematodes and early diseases thrive in tropical soils under year-round warmth and humidity.
Nematodes and early diseases thrive in tropical soils under year-round warmth and humidity.
The most dramatic transformation came at Mohr's troubled field. “On harvest day, we found no dead spots—the entire plot was almost 90 percent complete, without the spots it had before,” he says.
The technology's success in Paraguay paved the way for Brazil, where Caricati's personal connection to the challenges runs deep. As a Brazilian agronomist, he understood how nematodes and early diseases thrive in tropical soils under year-round warmth and humidity.
“This technology could be particularly beneficial for Brazilian farmers as it has shown yield increases of 10-12 percent in trials there, addressing the country's challenges with nematodes in tropical soils while also helping manage early foliar diseases that thrive in the hot, humid climate. Farmers benefit from stronger plant establishment and improved foliar disease management,” Caricati says.
Innovation across continents
Since its initial launch in South America in 2022, the technology has expanded to Asia and Africa, with registration now imminent in the US and other key markets. American farmers will benefit from an extensive global validation across diverse cropping systems and environmental conditions, with over 8,000 trials conducted across more than 100 crops in 60-plus countries.
In the US, the technology will target major row crops including soybean, cotton, and wheat, addressing challenges that growers know all too well. What positions this as disruptive is its unique combination of attributes arriving at a critical moment. “There is no new chemistry in development for nematode control in the next decade, so this technology fills a crucial gap,” Gaberthueel says.
The development represents collaboration on a global scale—discovered in Switzerland and developed by scientists worldwide.
“True breakthroughs in crop protection are rare. What makes this technology groundbreaking is not only its innovation after two decades without major advances in young plant care, but the fact that a single treatment can now deliver sustainable protection, from seeds to young plants, against key threats both below and above ground,” Caricati says.
The long view
Gaberthueel and his team are developing hybrid formulations with biological seed treatments. The integration of conventional chemistry with biological solutions points toward the future of sustainable agriculture.
“This technology raises the bar for sustainable crop protection. By combining low-dose precision with broad-spectrum efficacy, it helps farmers safeguard both yield and environmental resources, while maintaining strong resistance management for the decades ahead,” Caricati says.
For farmers facing the invisible threat of nematodes, this innovation offers comprehensive, sustainable protection that actually enhances crop performance under stress.
Discover more about the new breakthrough technology in this video.
The technology's registration will ultimately cover 44 crops for nematode control and 20 for disease control, reflecting its versatility and the breadth of agricultural challenges it addresses. In an industry where breakthrough innovations are rare, this development proves that when science meets determination, even the most intractable agricultural challenges can yield to human ingenuity—one field at a time.
