Syngenta’s digital capabilities do not just include a suite of tools that help farmers plan their harvest and monitor their crops; they also include AI capabilities that help ag retailers work more efficiently, so they can better serve their communities, Meade McDonald, the company’s digital agriculture and sustainable solutions marketing manager, told AgTechNavigator.
This week, Syngenta announced the evolution of its partnership with crop intelligence company Taranis to bring AI technology to agricultural retailers across the Midwest, with plans to move into the Southern U.S. in the new year, McDonald noted.
Syngenta and Taranis — which uses drones to monitor fields and AI-based insight — have been working together for several years, and last October announced a formal multi-year partnership, McDonald said. This partnership evolved beyond its initial scope, with the two companies creating a joint offering under the motto of “the AI to action offer,” he added.
“As we head into 2026, we are now thinking about expansion of the offer - expansion to new crops beyond corn and soy. Although we will still be focused on corn and soy in the Midwest, we are scoping other crops, and we are looking down the road into expanding to other geographies as well. And so, we talk about the way we position ourselves now, as moving from a collaboration to a true partnership,” McDonald elaborated.
Can AI help ag retailers have a better work-life balance?
Just as farmers are addressing financial and labour challenges, ag retailers are similarly finding ways to attract talent and improve the sustainability of their businesses, with AI offering a solution to both these problems, McDonald explained.
Taranis’ data is pulled into a digital portal and can be filtered easily through color-coded tabs, allowing ag retailers to review field data more effectively and in real-time, McDonald said. Additionally, Syngenta is focusing on developing new tech that “that help retailers solve problems for their growers,” he added.
“We all know what retailers will do with more time. They will have more [of a] work-life balance. They will be able to retain talent longer. They will be able to raise their level of service to their growers. And ultimately, it is all about increased service to the grower and increased productivity, and that is a huge opportunity for the retailer. We certainly care about the impact of this offer to growers who are enrolled under those retailers, but this is an offer to our retail partners to help them improve their own success,” McDonald said.
Where does Syngenta go next with its digital platforms?
Beyond its partnership with Taranis, Syngenta is exploring a range of new capabilities from smart applicators to predictive technologies to complement its existing digital capabilities, like Cropwise, McDonald said.
“We are doing a lot in the digital space with weather, but we are also building lots of predictive tools. Disease predictive models are certainly a big topic. There is a lot of curiosity and a lot of demand for tools that can help predict the onset and confirm disease in the field,” he elaborated.
He added, “We are working on things that help applicators in spray rigs. We are scoping a new tool that can predict pulls in weather, pulls in nozzle size, and helps the applicator manage what is going on with the application of a product in that field with a digital app.”
