Syngenta media summit touches on biologicals

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Syngenta media summit touches on biologicals

The Syngenta media summit now underway is addressing several issues important to farmers, including biologicals.

Vern Hawkins, president of Syngenta Crop Protection, says one of the most obvious areas to see adoption of biological inputs is in organic production.

“A number of growers have diversified their operations. Some of the larger growers have elements of their farm which are organic, or they have a relationship with a partner. So that group is certainly very interested in what kind of technology is available.”

He tells Brownfield Syngenta is seeing more interest in biologicals from conventional growers, but to this point it’s not a huge demand driver.

“Performance and return on investment are still things that they very much care about, and should care about. But if it contributes to solving a problem like resistance management, if it would change the utilization and crop response, they are interested in learning about those benefits.”

Hawkins does see opportunity and says that’s why Syngenta recently acquired Valagro, a leading biologicals company.

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