New Global Agro-chemical Ecosystem Is Reshaping New Pattern for Corporate Development—Taking Stock of Agro-chemical 2017

• Industry-wide M&As to end soon; agriculture to enter a new era
• Japanese companies speed up overseas expansion, promising to regain market dominance
• Digital agriculture makes remarkable achievements; global deployment gains speed
• Resource integration accelerates business transforation; more companies expand into precision agriculture
• Excellent single product and channel expansion help SMEs to develop their unique path

Editor’s note: Across the world, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) among several major industry giants will come to an end soon, following fierce competition in the last two years. Going forward, a new era of agriculture with fresh opportunities and new challenges will unfold. How will major industry players deploy and reshape their business along with industry-wide M&As and integrations, as well as the upcoming new pattern? What about their achievements so far? To answer these questions, we have taken stock of some typical players and events in 2017, and have tried to review what happened to the agro-chemicals sector last year.


Industry-wide M&As to end soon; agriculture to enter a new era

Since FMC kicked off its acquisition of Cheminova in 2014, there have been ongoing industrywide M&As and integrations, which have been a major development in the agro-chemical sector in the recent years. By launching massive M&As, companies can reap many benefits in a short period. For instance, these firms can expand their production and operation, thus reducing costs; they can increase their market shares and enhance their strategic position, popularity, and competitiveness in the industry; they can gain quick access to advanced production technology, managerial experience, marketing channels, professional talent and other resources. However, successful completion of deals and delivery is not the end of M&As. The M&As are by no means successful unless integrations are achieved steadily and the potential value is realized, subsequent to these M&As. For many companies, though, this has always been a daunting challenge.

In 2017, ChemChina completed its take-over of Syngenta, concluding China's largest overseas M&A project. At the end of August 2017, DuPont and Dow Chemical merged, finalizing the world's largest-ever overseas M&A case in the chemical sector. It is expected that the takeover of Monsanto by Bayer CropScience will be completed in early 2018, resulting in Germany's largest-ever overseas M&A project. As these three sensational transactions are about to end, the global agro-chemical sector will experience an upheaval. In this wave of M&As, industry giants focused on seed for their business restructuring. By doing so, they wanted to further remove the barriers between biology and chemical research in the planting industry, thus leveraging their advantage and heritage in basic research to outpace their rivals once more. If they succeed, they will establish a new oligopoly threshold and have a firm grip on the top of the food chain in the industry.

During this period, FMC, a player ranking in the second tier, purchased part of an agrochemical business spun off by DuPont by paying a hefty amount. Expectedly, FMC will rank fifth among global agrochemical companies, with projected sales of $3.8 billion. Later, BASF acquired significant parts of Bayer’s seed and non-selective herbicide businesses for €5.9 billion; Nufarm acquired some crop protection products in European Economic Area, jointly spun off by ADAMA and Syngenta for $490 million, and acquired the SU-class and Florasulam herbicide business spun off by FMC for $90 million.

As the integrations of players in the first and second tier are gaining speed, companies from China and Japan — now ranking in the third tier — are expecting to get more seats. Currently, massive industry-wide integrations will soon come to an end. For a long time in the future, the agri-input industry will embark on a new journey in the context of a new pattern.

Japanese agchem companies have sped up overseas expansion to regain their market dominance

According to the top 20 global agrochemical companies list released by AgroPages, Chinese firms have occupied the traditional positions of their Japanese counterparts for successive years. The reason is not complex. In the recent years, the terms of protection of mainstream global patented pesticides have expired one after another, causing the market share of patented pesticides to decline over time. As a consequence, Japanese companies that enjoy the most patented products temporarily become uncompetitive. In addition to this, emerging markets— including in Brazil, Argentina, China and India — which are more sensitive to prices and prefer to use non-patented pesticides are occupying a growing proportion in the total global consumption. Once the technical materials of a pesticide lose their patent protection, the number of producers will increase, leading to a decline in profit margins. In such a situation, the enterprise that holds the patent will opt to outsource production, sell the business, or open channels, so as to expand its market share. This provides great development opportunities for companies sitting in the second and third echelons.

In recent years, faced with increasingly severe international competition and lackluster growth in the domestic market, Japanese firms are rushing to expand scale to occupy more market share. “Considering that many European and US companies have completed M&As and reorganizations, it is difficult to break their alliance barriers and make them ally with the Japanese companies because Japanese companies suffer from unstable shareholders, a lack of experience in business transformation, and so on. However, top-level Japanese large companies have come to realize they have to expand their business scale to survive in the future,” said Yosuke Tomoi, president of Nihon Nohyaku Group, in a recent interview.

Japanese players are conducting mutual beneficial cooperation in terms of R&D, registration, commercialization and sales driven by such factors as high costs and a lengthy period for the development of new molecular entities, increasingly tightening regulation of different countries and market vagaries. Japanese firms boast strong R&D strengths, with 40% of the world's patented agro-chemical products coming from Japanese enterprises. However, Japanese companies fail to perform equally well in building their own marketing channels. However, they are still able to release their products to the market quickly. These benefits come from the rising brand competitiveness and powerful channel operating capabilities of these Japanese firms.

In addition to muscling into overseas markets by reaching strategic cooperation with transnational giants, Japanese companies are trying to accelerate the expansion of their business scale through overseas M&As. In 2017, Japanese companies, as represented by Sumitomo Chemical, including Mitsui & Co., Mitsui Chemicals Agro, Sumitomo Corp. and Agro-Kanesho conducted M&As of varying degrees to expand their product mix, sales channels, and market share, among others. Albeit much smaller in size compared with those M&As costing $10 billion or even $100 billion, these Japanese M&As have demonstrated the ambition of Japanese companies to expand their presence in the overseas markets.

“Currently, up to 60–80% of the global market share of agro-chemical products is in the grip of a handful of industry heavyweights. However, Japan has nearly 20 new agro-chemical products that are poised for registration before entering the international market. If this trend continues, Japan's agro-chemical products stand to hold a market share of 50% globally,” said Hironori Kushibiki, president of a Japan-based agro-chemical firm Agro-Kanesho in a recent interview. This also lays a solid foundation for the rise of Japanese companies in the coming years.

Overview of the activities of the Japan agchem companies in 2017

•    Mitsui & Co. acquires Latitude wheat fungicide business from Monsanto
•    Mitsui & Co. acquired 4.9% stake in the Chinese biopesticide manufacturer Wuhan Kernel Bio-Tech
•    Mitsui & Co. acquires a minority stake in ETC Group Limited
•    Kocide completed acquisition of DuPont copper fungicide facility in Houston, Texas
•    Mitsui Chemicals Agro acquired further 1.5% shares of Sotus International
•    Mitsui Chemicals Agro acquires 10% stake in Belchim Crop Protection
•    Mitsui Chemicals Agro acquires 30% shares of PT Agriculture Construction Indonesia
•    Mitsui Chemicals Agro, Inc. (MCAG) and BASF sign commercialization agreement for new insecticide Broflanilide with IRAC novel mode of action
•    Sumitomo Chemical acquired Botanical Resources Australia Pty Ltd
•    Sumitomo Chemical acquires PGR business from Kyowa Hakko Bio
•    Sumitomo Chemical and BASF sign global collaboration agreement to develop new fungicide
•    Sumitomo Chemical and Nufarm collaborate on Sumitomo’s fungicide pipeline
•    Monsanto and Valent expand partnership in Roundup Ready Plus® Crop Management Solutions
•    Arysta LifeScience acquires South African BioSolutions Provider Verios
•    Arysta, DuPont collaborate to develop new foliar insecticides based on Rynaxypyr
•    Arysta LifeScience and Hokko Chemical Industry Co. strengthen U.S. partnership
•    Sumitomo Corp. acquires right from Bayer to market fungicide metominostrobin in Japan
•    Sumitomo Corp. acquires right from BASF to market herbicide chloridazon in Japan
•    Agro-Kanesho acquires Off ® II Flowable business from BASF in Japan
•    Nichino America signs herbicide distribution agreement with Kyoyu Agri
•    Nissan Chemical set up new crop protection subsidiary in India
•    Nissan Chemical to build facility for manufacturing new insecticide fluxametamide
•    Nippon Soda acquires plant health business from Zoetis Japan
•    PBI-Gordon, Kumiai and Ihara Partner on Herbicide Pyrimisulfan
•    PI Industries/Kumiai Chemical to establish JV in India
•    Agricultural Cooperative ZEN-NOH and Mitsubishi Corporation to establish agrochemical Joint Venture
•    Hokko Chemical set up a subsidiary in US

Digital agriculture makes remarkable achievements; global deployment gains speed

“Digital agriculture paves the way for a new agricultural model, making agriculture faster, more accurate, more efficient and more sustainable. Nowadays, many new types of agricultural machinery possess the characteristics of precision agriculture. New tools can help farmers select agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and crop protection products, and can improve both the quality and yield of the products. Moreover, digital additional solutions can also help satisfy social requirements for agricultural transparency and sustainability,” said Bayer.

Currently, agricultural giants, as represented by Monsanto, Bayer and BASF are constantly increasing their investment in agriculture, and also keep optimizing and upgrading their previous products before continuously introducing them to the global market.

In early 2017, The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto, revealed its R&D line for digital agriculture products for the first time, sharing more than 35 of their latest R&D projects. Meanwhile, the company announced that it would continue to expand Climate FieldView™, its industry-leading agricultural big data platform, so as to penetrate broader regional markets.

Within less than two planting seasons, Climate FieldView quickly became the most widely-connected digital agriculture platform in the United States and is expanding into Canada, Brazil, Europe, and other regional markets. In 2017, the application area of Climate FieldView digital agriculture platform exceeded 720 million mu (in excess of 120 million acres), with the areas of paid use hitting 210 million mu (35 million acres), according to Monsanto.
 
Most notably, in June 2017, Monsanto established a strategic cooperation with Atomwise to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) technology, to develop crop protection products and promote the research and development (R&D) of new products. This was the first time that Monsanto has deployed AI in the development of plant protection products, which significantly reduced the time and cost of product development, accelerated product upgrading, and provided effective protective measures and technologies for the healthy production of crops.

Bayer also performed well in this sector and acquired Monsanto to facilitate its integration of digital agriculture resources. It has worked actively to popularize its current digital solutions. Bayer is currently offering digital solutions in over 60 countries, to realize its rapid expansion while noting that it does not only offer new technologies with great potential in countries such as Canada, the US, Brazil, Germany, France, Ukraine, and Russia, but it also has many prospects among small farmers in developing countries. Empowering small farmers to unleash their agricultural potential and increase their agricultural productivity is the key to improving the well-being of their families and communities. Bayer has partnered with two German companies, Bosch and FaunaPhotonics, as well as universities, start-ups and NGOs, to accelerate the R&D of their digital agriculture products.

In November 2017, Bayer announced the launch of XARVIO, its new digital agriculture product. The new XARVIO Scouting App allows farmers to detect and distinguish crop diseases, insect attacks and nitrogen levels, as well as damage to the lamina. Farmers can also benefit from the data collected by their neighbors, so they can see which diseases are present in the area, as well as the effects of nearby insect attacks. Prior to XARVIO, Bayer, in China, launched WEEDSCOUT, a weed-sensing application and digital platform to help farmers efficiently and accurately identify weeds and prescribe the appropriate herbicides depending on specific symptoms, to effectively control weeds and improve agricultural productivity in a sustainable manner.

BASF has strategically positioned itself to deliver key opportunities to the entire value chain by embracing digitization. In terms of agricultural digitalization, BASF has also accelerated its global deployment. In 2017, BASF acquired ZedX and jointly launched its first integrated farm management system interface with Proagrica.

As well as the transnational giants, over recent years, ADAMA has introduced a wide range of simple and practical agricultural applications and solutions to meet the demands of farmers, to attain higher yields and greater efficiency, through precise spraying, as well as soil, crop and environmental monitoring and disease prevention. These new offerings include Adama Wings, the world's first “swarm” robot that was jointly developed with SwarmFarm, FieldIn APP, CropVIEW® Agricultural Information System, AgroWebLab, Clima Technology, Tierra Digital Software and Trapview.

Dynamic tracking of digital farming of multinationals in 2017

•    The Climate Corporation to launch Climate FieldView™ digital agriculture platform into Europe for the 2018 growing season
•    The Climate Corporation to launch Climate FieldView™ digital agriculture platform into Western Canada for the 2018 growing season
•    The Climate Corporation acquires HydroBio
•    The Climate Corporation launches Climate FieldViewTM platform in Brazil
•    The Climate Corp., Deveron collaborate to deliver on-demand aerial imagery data
•    Monsanto launches partnerships for Climate FieldView in Brazil
•    Monsanto and Atomwise collaborate to discover new crop protection options using Artificial Intelligence Technology
•    The Climate Corporation and Koch Agronomic Services collaborate to provide deeper data insights for farmers
•    Bayer launches WeedScout in China
•    Bayer launches new digital farming brand XARVIO
•    Bayer and Netafim develop new smart irrigation approach
•    BASF and the European Space Agency to develop digital services for farmers 
•    BASF to strengthen digital farming offer with acquisition of ZedX Inc.
•    BASF and Proagrica sign agreement to offer interface for farm management systems
•    Syngenta partners with Premier Crop Systems to turn data into knowledge
•    DuPont acquires Ag software company Granular

Resource integration accelerates business transformation, more companies expand into precision agriculture

Over recent years, multinational giants have significantly spent on the precision agriculture sector and gained global attention. However, what may have gone unnoticed by many is that several stable small and medium-sized enterprises have also made an impact in the sector. They hope to use cutting-edge technology to drive corporate transformation and capitalize on new opportunities in the industry. For example, AMVAC Chemical Corporation has developed the SIMPAS precision agriculture system, which allows its operator to precisely apply diverse crop protection products at various rates, enabling insecticides, bactericides, nutrients and biomechanisms to be applied through one system. SIMPAS also allows the simultaneous application of protective granulated pesticides while sowing seeds. Farmers can easily and precisely operate the system using an iPad, saving on labor costs. AMVAC has currently licensed the SIMPAS system to Trimble, Simplot and other companies, to expand its application and market share.

Over the past two years, AMVAC has intensified the integration of its plant protection resources and accelerated its expansion into overseas markets. In 2017, AMVAC acquired three product lines of ADAMA - abamectin, chlorothalonil, and paraquat, as well as part of the selective herbicide and protective fungicide business of Syngenta. The company recently incorporated Rotam Chemical’s ReTurn XL insecticide and nematicide products into its marketing channels in North America. In 2016, AMVAC established a subsidiary in Singapore. It also founded a joint venture in Hong Kong, known as, “Huifeng AMVAC Innovation Co. Ltd.,” with Chinese agrochemical firm Jiangsu Huifeng Agrochemical Co. Ltd., to expand its market access and technical cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. AMVAC most recently took over Grupo Agricenter, a dealer based in Central America, to strengthen its commercial, technical and development structure in Latin America.

Looking back on its development history, AMVAC, instead of working hard on the R&D side of the industrial chain, has positioned itself appropriately to intensify resource integration and channel building. Over the past three decades, AMVAC has been improving its own product portfolio by acquiring plant protection products licensed by major companies. In recent years, it has integrated precision agriculture into its development strategy, to face challenges and embrace opportunities.

Overview of AMVAC’s activities 2017

•    acquires Andersons' FFIII™ fungicide product line
•    closes its acquisition of three products from Adama
•    Mexico Srl acquires certain herbicide and fungicide products from Syngenta in Mexico
•    acquires Grupo Agricenter to expand Latin American presence
•    acquires OHP to expand its non-crop business
•    grants Trimble global distribution rights for SIMPAS
•    Simplot collaborate on SIMPAS prescription application system
•    signs exclusive distribution agreement with Rotam North America to sell ReTurn XL insecticide/nematicide

Sole products and channel expansion have helped SMEs to develop their unique path

Unlike major companies with significant R&D and production capacities and well-developed sales channels, unique companies, which are small but are specialized and competitive in certain areas, have appeared in recent years. Through their R&D strengths in a specific area, these firms have kept improving their capabilities and delivered sole products or platforms that have amazed the entire industry. Such firms are more focused on product R&D, and when it comes to the commercialization and market development of their products, as well as marketing through their own resources, these companies rely more on a sophisticated business operating model and extensive channels of multinationals and local companies, to rapidly launch their products into the market.

For example, Stockton (STK), an Israeli biopesticide company that specializes in the R&D, production and sale of plant extract-based biopesticides, has earned a worldwide reputation for developing and popularizing a sole product, Timorex Gold® (melaleuca alternifolia extracts), its patented flagship biological bactericide. The product is currently registered in over 30 countries, and, most notably, its sales channels are distributed across many countries and regions around the globe. The product is integrated into the sales channels of Syngenta in Chile, Mexico and Argentina, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. To expand the sales channels of its product, STK has signed strategic distribution agreements with many local distributors, including TQC Group in Peru, Duwest in Guatemala, Grosafe Chemicals in New Zealand, and Engage Agro in Canada.

Similarly, Vive Crop Protection, a Canada-based agrochemical company, developed its Allosperse™ delivery system, which improves the targeting and performance of pesticide active ingredients. This technology has been used in the development of many crop protection products and provides remarkable benefits. Based on this technology, the company is developing second and third generation products and expanding its scope of application. Vive has also reached an agreement to develop new products with Arysta and SipcamRotam. Supported by Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), it has forged partnerships with four biopesticide producers to jointly develop new high-performance biopesticides. The technology will subsequently be introduced to the biopesticide sector.

Entostat®, a patented technical platform launched by Exosect, a British company, also merits attention. This platform can drastically improve the transmission efficiency of active ingredients. In 2017, Exosect signed, for the first time, a licensing agreement for Entostat®, its patented preparations platform, which can blend two types of active ingredients at minimal dosage. Exosect’s partners have also developed new insecticide formulas by using the platform.

3AEY fungicide, which includes three active substances (eugenol, geraniol and thymol), is a biological bactericide developed by Eden Research, a British biopesticide company. 3AEY contains a powerful product mix based on the three active ingredients, which have been approved by the European Union. 3AEY is currently approved for use in Italy, Bulgaria, Kenya, Greece, Spain and Portugal. Eden has agreed strategic distribution partnerships with many plant protection companies, such as Sumi Agro in France, as well as Sipcam, Iberia and Efthymiadis in Italy.




The global agrochemical industry is now moving into a critical period of transformation. To stand out in this new competitive environment, companies must have a keen insight and a clear understanding of trends in the industry.

Which corporate development models can enable a company to stay relevant in the face of the current major transformation?

To succeed, companies must return to where they started, re-examine the industrial chain, re-focus on their goals and work harder to maintain their position. Most importantly, they should embrace innovation throughout the process.

We are living in an era of constant change. Keep innovating and iterating, or we will lag behind the times. Hopefully, the development models of these companies have proved informative for you.


2017 Big Events of Agri-input Industry – M&As

•    DuPont and Dow merged
•    ChemChina acquires Syngenta
•    Bayer acquires Monsanto
•    Sanonda acquires ADAMA
•    Biobest NV acquires Real IPM Kenya
•    Biolchim SpA acquires 70% share of Matécsa Kft
•    Lianhe Chemical Technology acquirs Fine Industries
•    FMC Corporation acquires significant portion of DuPont's crop protection business; simultaneously sells its Health and Nutrition to DuPont
•    Belchim Crop Protection acquires Proagro GmbH
•    Belchim Crop Protection acquires Engage Agro USA
•    Eden Research signs multiple new commercial and development agreements with Spicam
•    John Deere buys self-propelled sprayer manufacturer Mazzotti
•    Jebagro acquires significant stake in Grupo Agrosol
•    Biobest acquires an equity stake in Borregaard Bioplant and its Swedish subsidiary Biobasiq Sverige
•    AGCO acquires Precision Planting from The Climate Corporation
•    Gowan Crop Protection acquired Agrotechnology S.A. in Chile
•    Rallis India sells its entire stake in Advinus to Eurofins Pharma
•    Eurofins acquired two Japanese testing labs
•    DuPont acquires Ag software company Granular
•    Mexichem acquires world's largest irrigation company Netafim
•    Eurofins Scientific acquires EAG Labs
•    John Deere acquires ‘See & Spray’ robotics startup Blue River Technology for $305m
•    ADAMA receives products in Europe from Syngenta while divesting others of similar nature and economic value to Nufarm
•    BASF to acquire significant parts of Bayer’s seed and non-selective herbicide businesses
•    Coromandel International acquires bio-pesticides business of E.I.D. Parry
•    Agroceres acquired Brazilian special fertilizer company Binova
•    Koppert acquires Brazilian biological control company BUG Agentes Biológicos
•    Nippon Soda acquires plant health business from Zoetis Japan


2017 Big Events of Agri-input Industry – Collaboration

• Nufarm to distribute MBI’s GRANDEVO® Bioinsecticide in Australia and New Zealand
• Monsanto and 2Blades Foundation collaborate to combat corn diseases
• Monsanto and NRGene announce global licensing agreement for big data genomic analysis technology
• Monsanto announces global genome-editing licensing agreement with Broad Institute for newly-characterized CRISPR system
• Isagro USA to distribute Taegro 2 biofungicide in U.S. and Canada
• Stockton enters into a long-term distribution agreement with Chongqing Shurong Crop Science Ltd. for Timorex Gold® in China
• RiceTec partners with Adama on new herbicide tolerance system
• Bayer and Yara International ASA entered into software collaboration and technology license agreement
• Futureco Bioscience entered into an equity alliance with Sumi Agro Europe
• MBI and Groundwork BioAg test Biological Stack Seed Treatments
• BASF and the European Space Agency to develop digital services for farmers
• CCAB Agro and InVivo Group to consolidate a strategic alliance
• Marrone Bio Innovations and Evogene advance novel bacteria and related proteins beyond discovery into insecticidal product development phase
• Trimble/Valley Irrigation sign distribution agreement
• The Climate Corporation and Koch Agronomic Services collaborate to provide deeper data insights for farmers
• Precision Laboratories partners with Monsanto to offer Intact™ drift reduction agent in Roundup Ready PLUS® Crop Management Solutions
• Biolchim-cifo and Ilsa: together for a big industrial project
• BASF to strengthen digital farming offer with acquisition of ZedX Inc.
• KNE Certis reached distribution agreement with Nufarm
• Stockton and Jebagro in Registration Transfer Agreement
• BASF transfers herbicide Dicamax Brazil registration to Monsanto
• PI Industries partners with BASF for crop protection solutions
• Agri-Star distributes MBI’s bioinsecticides GRANDEVO® and VENERATE® in Mexico
• Ourofino inked agreement with Finep on new agrochemical development
• Dow AgroSciences, DJI sign MoU to create new era of China’s smart farming
• BASF, Cargill, P&G and GIZ collaborate to drive production of sustainable certified coconut oil in the Philippines and Indonesia
• Adama enters into a global collaboration with RiceTec to bring advanced weed control solutions to rice farmers worldwide
• Eurofins-Agrowing collaboration designed to help create actionable information on the farm with drone data
• PI Industries/Kumiai Chemical to establish JV in India
• Isagro USA to market Vestaron Corporation's Spear(R)-T biological insecticide in greenhouse vegetables
• Sumitomo Chemical and BASF sign global collaboration agreement to develop new fungicide
• Stockton transfers 90 product registrations to IQC
• Vive Crop Protection and SipcamRotam announce partnership
• Stockton enters an official distribution agreement for Timorex Gold® with Duwest in the Dominican Republic
• Valagro reaches an agreement with Syngenta to supply biostimulants for seed treatment
• DuPont Pioneer and Evogene announce multiyear research collaboration for development of corn bio-stimulant products
• Bayer and Netafim develop new smart irrigation approach
• Evogene achieves important milestone in Monsanto crop disease collaboration
• Stockton and Seipasa enter a long-term partnership in the USA
• Biocontrol Technologies signs a distribution agreement with INOCHIO to commercialize T34 Biocontrol® in Japan
• Stockton signs a long term distribution agreement with Duwest
• Syngenta partners with Premier Crop Systems to turn data into knowledge
• Dow AgroSciences and TeselaGen expanding advanced biodesign platform for ag
• BASF expands biological inoculants production for agricultural markets in Canada
• BASF and Proagrica sign agreement to offer interface for farm management systems
• Bayer, Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) to find solutions against citrus greening
• Stockton signs a commercialization and distribution agreement with Syngenta Australia
• Bayer and SICIT 2000 sign distribution agreement on biostimulants
• JDI, Rotam CropSciences reach distribution agreement for crop protection products
• Vive Crop Protection Announces Biopesticide Partnership with SDTC
ÉLÉPHANT VERT and MBI sign distribution agreement in North Africa
• Bayer and Bosch develop new, digital Smart Spraying solutions
• BRANDT signs distribution agreement with SiteOne Landscape Supply
• Ingenza advances in ABLE® biomanufacturing technologies in collaboration with Syngenta
• MBI signs exclusive distribution agreement with Kenya Biologics for Kenya and Tanzania
• Syngenta, LS Electronicamecánica develop machine for seed treatment in Argentina
• Fuhua Group, Evonik Industries AG reach strategic partnership in China
• Bayer, UPL launch program for control of Asian Rust in Brazil
• ADAMA and Ceradis sign crop protection R&D agreement to develop highly effective, sustainable products
• Adama Beijng signed a national distribution agreement with Cytozyme
• Plant Impact announced new commercial partnership with Albaugh Brazil
• BASF and leadXpro announce research collaboration
• Bayer signs agreement with Federal University of Viçosa on tropical agriculture research
• MBI signs distribution agreement with DISAGRO for Central America
• ADAMA and ALRISE Biosystems sign R&D agreement to develop highly effective and sustainable crop protection products

2017 Big Events of Agri-input Industry – Investment

• Koppert Biological Systems opens branch in Greece
• Rotam establishes Korean subsidiary
• Rotam officially moves into UAV business
• Monsanto expands Louisiana herbicide dicamba facility
• BASF expands production capacity for herbicide dicamba in Beaumont, Texas, US
• Stoller inaugurates biopesticide factory in Brazil
• BASF inaugurates new Innovation Campus Asia Pacific in Mumbai, India
• Monsanto completes $50 million plant expansion in Muscatine, US
• DuPont invests R100 million into the Africa Regional Technology Hub
• Albaugh plans local plant expansion in US
• BASF opens new Seed Solutions plant in Argentina
• Meghmani Organics to expand its 2,4-D capacity in Dahej
• Clariant steps up R&D support for agricultural challenges
• Bayer opens new facility in Mexico
• Valagro Group opens its new production plant in Brazil
• Adama to invest US$30-50 mn in new factories in Brazil
• Ourofino Agrociência inaugurates WDG herbicide factory
• WinField United introduces a new incubator for Ag innovation opens in River Falls
• BASF expands Canadian facilities for biological inoculants production a
• Bayer joins in $100 mln investment bet on ag-biotech startup
• Stockton, Lidorr build biological manufacturing unit in Israel
• Croda opens centre of innovation for formulation science
• Monsanto to invest AR$120 million on laboratory in Argentina
• Adama to open four plants in Brazil
• Sumitomo Chemical to establish Bioscience Research Laboratory
• Monsanto opens $400 million expansion of its Chesterfield, Mo, research facility