Syngenta Group and Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences Reached Strategic Cooperation for Tetflupyrolimet R&D

On January 10, 2024, Syngenta Group China and the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (″HUNAAS″) held a strategic partnership signing ceremony in Changsha, initiating the R&D collaboration on the novel herbicide, tetflupyrolimet. This strategic partnership symbolizes the ongoing commitment of both parties to implement and deepen their practices of innovation and sustainable development. It is also conducive to underscoring the collaborative advantages in research institution-enterprise cooperation and the continuous contribution of their efforts to the modernization of Chinese agriculture, reflecting a shared mission and responsibility.

Steve West, Head Crop Protection Development at Syngenta Group, Yuan Tianwen, Head Crop Protection Development at Syngenta Group China, Academician Bai Lianyang, HUNAAS’s Party Secretary, Zhang Deyong, HUNAAS’s Vice President, relevant research institute leaders, and members of Professor Bai’s research team, attended the signing ceremony. This represented the high regard both parties hold for this partnership. The signing ceremony was presided over by Wang Lifeng, Director of the Research Department of HUNAAS.

Signing Ceremony

Bai Lianyang, HUNAAS’s Party Secretary

At the beginning of the meeting, Academician Bai Lianyang extended a warm welcome to Steve West and his team from Syngenta Group, highlighting the importance of this partnership for the development of HUNAAS and its research team and the potential for enhancing the overall research capabilities of both parties through in-depth exchanges.

Academician Bai also noted the current challenges in the development of herbicide technology, emphasizing the shift from a high reliance on chemical weed control to integrated weed control solutions and the enormous challenges due to regional differences and environmental impacts. HUNAAS possesses substantial research strength and has accumulated rich technical experience in the research and application of herbicides and weed resistance. With a strong domestic weed research team, it is willing to collaborate with enterprises on new product research and development and technical demonstrations, facilitating smoother research, development, and promotion of new products for the benefit of Chinese agriculture. He expressed HUNAAS values the partnership with Sygenta as an opportunity for complementary strengths and looks forward to in-depth collaboration with Syngenta, with the hope of achieving win-win in mutual growth.

Steve West, Head Crop Protection Development at Syngenta Group

Steve West, Head Crop Protection Development at Syngenta Group, highlighted the five mega trends driving agricultural market: population growth, climate change, sustainable agriculture, technology and digitization, changing consumer preferences & regulatory demands. These factors pose many challenges to agricultural production and require collaborations of stakeholders to tackle them. Steve introduced Syngenta's crop protection R&D strategy to secure long-term leadership and shared some cases. He also stressed the importance of open collaboration, stating that Syngenta maintains close cooperation with thousands of institutions and companies worldwide each year, expressing the hope that the partnership with HUNAAS would lead to more in-depth technical exchanges and cooperation.

Yuan Tianwen, Head Crop Protection Development at Syngenta Group China

Yuan Tianwen, Head Crop Protection Development at Syngenta Group China, highlighted the company’s commitment to relying on global crop protection research and development resources while increasing local research and development investments, to achieve the company’s vision of ″Based in China, Serving China, Going Global″.

Syngenta Group China is continuously introducing new compounds to support the sustainable development of Chinese agriculture. The company boasts an abundant innovative product line and R&D pipeline, represented by the already marketed ADEPIDYN^® series products, and the TYMIRIUM^® technology that revolutionizes the control of soil-borne nematodes. Particularly, the innovative herbicide tetflupyrolimet, the focus of this collaboration, represents a groundbreaking advancement with a new mode of action over the past years. It is praised as an expert in controlling resistant gramineous weeds and can effectively address the pressing issue of grassresistance in China’s rice fields. The product is distinguished by its early weed management, labor-saving, high weed control activity, a broad application window, adaptability to a variety of rice cropping systems, and good crop safety. 

He additionally conveyed his optimism that both parties would harness their respective strengths to advance the technical research and application of tetflupyrolimet. This collaborative effort is envisioned to make a meaningful contribution to Chinese agriculture and food security.

Liu Ducai, Researcher at HUNAAS

Liu Ducai, a researcher at HUNAAS, highlighted that currently, resistant weeds in rice fields exhibit widespread distribution, diverse species, high resistance levels, and considerable damage, posing a serious challenge to control measures and farmers’ benefits. Consequently, there is an urgent need for the introduction of new herbicide varieties with novel targets or mode of actions to effectively address this issue.

Tetflupyrolimet, as a new herbicide with a completely new mode of action, can provide season-long control of the most difficult-to-control resistant grasses in rice fields, demonstrating outstanding control effects and promising market prospects.

Zhang Deyong, Vice President of HUNAAS

Zhang Deyong, Vice President of HUNAAS, led the dialogue and discussion session between the two parties. As outlined in the partnership agreement, comprehensive cooperation will be undertaken in project research, development support, outcome transformation, and talent exchange. In conclusion, both parties reaffirmed their commitment to fostering continuous and in-depth collaboration. The shared objective is to advance the effective application of innovative products such as tetflupyrolimet in Chinese agriculture, ultimately benefiting farmers in China.

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