Seed and crop protection giant Syngenta is continuing to invest in its digital offerings with a focus on AI and providing farmers with locally relevant insight to improve their farming operations, Conor Marsh, the company’s digital innovation and strategic partnership lead, told AgTechNavigator at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in London, which took place Sept. 23-24.
Syngenta launched Cropwise in fall 2020 with the Seed Selector feature and has added a range of capabilities throughout the years. At last year’s World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit, Syngenta rolled out Cropwise AI, a generative AI tool designed to improve crop management practices, the company shared in a press release at the time.
Syngenta is using AI to help address a number of problems for the farmer today, Marsh noted. For instance, AI and satellite imagery can help determine field boundaries, and machine learning can help improve planting recommendations, he said.
The ag industry collects “a huge amount of data” through field operations and research on seed genetics, crop protections, and biologicals, Marsh said. “We see AI as a huge opportunity to take that data and deliver better insights and better products for farmers,” he added.
AI is not only making better recommendations, but the technology is also providing information in the language most relevant to the grower, Marsh noted. Cropwise Grower is an app that features a chatbot that can give agronomy advice in a farmer’s local language, which has found success among smallholder farmers in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, he added.
“One of the things that this technology allows us to do is farming exactly at high-resolution. You could think of it in the same way that human health is moving from standard products to more personalized solutions,” Marsh elaborated.
How Syngenta is partnering for success
Looking ahead, Syngenta is also looking to expand its market and technology reach by aligning with partners that complement its strategy or reach new customers, Marsh said.
Earlier this year, Syngenta partnered with global agricultural company Al Dahra to bring its digital farm management product to 222,000 acres of farmland in Romania, Serbia, Egypt, and Morocco, the company shared in a press release.
“We seek to partner with partners that share our values about increasing the productivity and the sustainability of farming, and that can be partnerships with new technology partners that have expertise that complements us, or we can combine our agronomic knowledge and our products with what they develop,” Marsh added.
