Syngenta sharpens biologicals focus with launch of first biologicals service center for seed treatment

Syngenta Seedcare is strengthening its focus on biologicals and extending its leadership in seed treatment with the opening of its first biologicals service center at The Seedcare Institute in Maintal, Germany.

Equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, the center addresses growing farmer demand across the EU for biological seed treatment solutions providing best-in-class service and application support for its customers. Syngenta Seedcare currently operates 18 Seedcare Institutes with more than 120 experts globally. Additional biological service centres are set to be added to more Seedcare Institutes in future.

Biological seed treatment solutions ensure healthy crop establishment, by safeguarding plants from pests and improving their ability to access available nutrients – right from the beginning of life. Only tiny amounts are necessary to coat the seed, helping increase soil health and protecting biodiversity and the environment. However, the incorporation of living organisms can present new challenges to developing biological seed treatment solutions, which will need to take into account factors such as biological compatibility and on-seed survivability.

″Our leadership in biological innovation and seed treatment is built on our ability to constantly enhance and adapt our service offers,″ said Jonathan Brown, Global Head Seedcare. ″This new biologicals service centre enables the successful use of biologicals as seed-applied solutions through shared practical knowledge and resources. As the industry collaborator of choice, we look forward to launching new solutions together with our partners.″

Syngenta Seedcare offers a broad portfolio of biological seed treatment solutions, comprising the EPIVIO™ range of biostimulants for healthy crop establishment; ATUVA™ to promote nutrient use efficiency for soybean and legume crops, and NUELLO™ biofertilizers that leverage nitrogen fixation and promote soil health.

The biologicals service center in Maintal offers specialized expertise to support the application of new biological seed treatments. These include extensive competence in microbiology – from understanding the viability on-seed and in-mixture with other active ingredients, the ability to develop assays for all microbial products, to expertise on the handling of sensitive biologicals throughout the process. It will also provide value-adding services, including advisory on water quality and recipe compatibility, on-seed survivability measurement, guidelines for storage, handling and cleaning, and specialized training on proper stewardship of biologicals.