Syngenta expands digital agriculture capability, names new global and North America digital agriculture leaders

Digital agriculture — a term that’s used increasingly — means something different depending on which agricultural company or employee is asked. Some say it’s all about data. Others say it’s about precision agriculture. At Syngenta, digital agriculture means turning data into meaningful information that farmers use to run their operations more productively and profitably, provide sustainability performance downstream, and protect their resources including soil, water and biodiversity.

While Syngenta has built a track record in digital ag for nearly two decades, the company is expanding this capability. Dan Burdett, who has 20+ years industry expertise, has been named head, global digital agriculture and will lead the company’s overall strategy and implementation in this area. Burdett was most recently head of customer marketing, where he was instrumental in the 2015 acquisition of Ag Connections and expanding the footprint of AgriEdge Excelsior®, a whole-farm management program, to 14 million acres in the United States.

“At the most basic level, Syngenta’s approach to digital agriculture is driven by growers’ needs and the global needs of ag productivity,” said Burdett. “That’s why we are focusing on technologies and tools that can complement the agronomic and economic depth of a grower’s operation. We are taking a similar approach to bring value to commercial growers, our plant breeders and seed production growers, by aggressively leveraging data analytics. By connecting digital agriculture capabilities to our product lines, our sales teams and our channel partners, we have the opportunity to differentiate ourselves in this active space.”

In validating new concepts and bringing viable technologies to the field, Burdett and his team will collaborate globally across multiple business areas, including R&D, Syngenta Ventures, commercial, and production and supply functions.

“Dan is a great leader to develop a digital capabilities ecosystem, while supporting our growers every step of the way,” said Alexander Tokarz, head of business development for Syngenta. “He has spent his entire career providing value to growers. He understands their needs. Moreover, the agriculture industry is feeling the impact of technology disruption, and Dan and his team are positioned to judiciously harness new tools and concepts by building capabilities internally, and seeking out strategic partners and opportunities.”

Digital Agriculture Solutions Group

In North America, Syngenta’s long history of providing valuable tools for growers to manage their farm operations holistically is now broadening its scope with the newly formed Digital Agriculture Solutions group. Led by Aaron Deardorff, head, Digital Solutions at Syngenta, this team is focused on developing integrated grower offers enabled by AgriEdge Excelsior® and the company’s Sustainable Solutions group strategies and initiatives.

“We’re expanding our ability to offer growers more value through the new Digital Agriculture Solutions group. We are piggybacking on the success that both Syngenta and Ag Connections have created with growers for more than 15 years, and taking it to a higher level,” said Deardorff.

In 2015, Syngenta acquired farm management software developer Ag Connections as a wholly owned subsidiary following a 14-year relationship. Ag Connections works extensively with Syngenta on its AgriEdge Excelsior program, which delivers leading software, trusted on-farm service and innovative product recommendations to growers. 

Syngenta has been recognized for its data analytics innovation over the past few years. For instance, in 2015 the company won the Franz Edelman Award from INFORMS for its use of advanced analytics in soybean breeding. The award is known as the Nobel Prize for advanced mathematics, and the company won against the likes of IBM, Ingram Micro, the U.S. Army and three others. Similarly, Syngenta won the 2015 ANA Genius Award for Analytics Innovation, beating out IBM and Adobe for the prize.