Syngenta Vegetable Seeds inaugurates modernized global breeding innovation center in Spain

Date:02-16-2024

Syngenta Vegetable Seeds inaugurated the opening of a modernized R&D facility in the heart of Almería, Spain’s agricultural region known as the ″Orchard of Europe.″ Located in El Ejido, this global breeding innovation center plays a critical role in helping Syngenta bring world-class vegetable seeds to growers in Spain and beyond. Key vegetable crops bred at the facility include tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and melon.

″Every investment we make is focused on one key principle – how can we better serve growers,″ said Matthew Johnston, Global Head of Vegetable Seeds and Flowers at Syngenta. ″This expanded and modernized facility in El Ejido highlights the importance of Spain in the global agricultural landscape while underscoring our commitment to accelerating our innovation to help growers who are dealing with volatile climates and challenging environments to grow produce and feed the world.″

Syngenta’s El Ejido site was first established in 1983 and is now home to 145 employees working across R&D, production, commercial and corporate functions. This most recent investment of $3 million covers a series of enhancements to the site that centralizes seed activities in Europe, allowing Syngenta to better respond to the needs of growers.

Investments at the site include upgraded greenhouses to enable year-round breeding activities, redesigned pathology and quality labs, a seed processing area, and deployment of digital tools. The site also includes new office spaces and a new canteen for employees.

In addition to El Ejido, Syngenta also invested in expanding breeding operations across other areas of Spain. This includes a new trialing location in La Puebla, Murcia, with a dedicated focus on leafy and brassica crops. Syngenta’s commitment to bring activities closer to the grower is an important step to foster customer centricity across the organization.

″Our investment in Spain is a great example of how our global R&D footprint is intentionally shaped around localized breeding programs, giving us the ability to respond faster to the needs of growers in every region,″ said Uri Krieger, Global Head of R&D for Syngenta Vegetable Seeds and Flowers. ″Our ability to innovate faster is made possible through enabling technologies in the field and in the lab. Capturing data at every step of the R&D process allows us to be precise and effective in our decision processes.″

Syngenta was one of first companies to breed vegetable varieties more than 150 years ago, and today is the most global organization in the industry with Vegetable Seeds teams operating in more than 60 countries and shipping seeds to 124 countries.