How we develop new products

Our goal is to provide farmers with access to effective technologies and solutions so they can meet the dual challenge of feeding a growing global population, while promoting sustainable farming practices. Our top priority is supporting farmers’ needs every season. Syngenta R&D invests more than $1.4 billion in global seeds and crop protection annually.

At Syngenta, we understand that healthy food starts with healthy plants. But how do we safeguard crops from threats that can compromise their vitality and yield?

At the heart of our crop protection solutions lies precisely-designed active ingredients – carefully crafted molecules that target specific crop threats while maintaining the highest safety standards. 

Every crop protection product we develop must meet rigorous criteria: safety for operators and consumers, environmental responsibility, high effectiveness in field conditions, user-friendly application, and cost efficiency for farmers.

Through this meticulous approach to innovation, we're helping farmers everywhere in their mission to feed growing populations and mitigate the impact of climate change  .

Our impactful technology and trials platform gives farmers confidence in our solutions and allows for optimum decision making in the field. 

With all-year-round access to our industry leading germplasm – a plant’s genetic resources, specifically seeds, plants, or plant parts, that are used for breeding and research – we have 365 days a year/24 hours a day to pull germplasm, complete research, and support genetic advancement. We’re able to bypass growing seasons and identify solutions that are relevant to growers across the globe.

Syngenta has made strategic investments in core R&D sites near hundreds of field trial locations. This gives us access to a multitude of GxE (Genetic x Environment) data sets that help us speed up product development. This ensures products are commercialized in the most suitable regions based on data analytics that predict performance across environments.

Through our STEPP (Strategic Testing for Effective Product Placement) Trials, we advance only the best-performing hybrid varieties (bred by crossing two distinct parent lines to produce offspring with superior traits). STEPP is a revolutionary late-stage product testing and commercialization program that delivers consistently high-performing hybrids to market and supports farmers with accurate crop placement and management recommendations.

Agricultural biologicals fall into three distinct categories. Biocontrols help farmers manage pests and crop threats with products based on naturally occurring materials. Nutrient use efficiency, or NUE, products enhance crop nutrition by optimizing the uptake and utilization of essential nutrients. Biostimulants, Syngenta’s largest market segment, strengthen plant resilience and performance, helping crops thrive under challenging conditions like temperature extremes and water stress.

Our comprehensive innovation ecosystem enables us to rapidly develop and deliver science-based biological solutions that consistently meet farmers' needs. For biocontrols, we integrate Syngenta's proven crop protection capabilities with cutting-edge microbial science to develop reliable alternatives. For NUE, we combine the knowledge of plant-microbe interaction with latest omics technologies to discover breakthrough solutions, giving more flexibility to farmers to manage their fertilizer inputs. And finally, through our unique research approach, GEAPOWER®, we combine raw materials expertise, proprietary extraction methods, and advanced screening technologies to transform active ingredients into high performing biostimulants.