News

An efficient pipeline means better solutions for farmers

Syngenta’s Head of Field Crops Seeds Development for North America says the company’s newest Research and Development center plays a key role in getting products to farmers quicker. Warren Kruger tells Brownfield Syngenta centrally manages how the pipeline operates.  “Then we specialize each portion of the power plan in each of those innovation centers,” he says.  “So there’s a lot of coordination exchange tracking that goes into making sure that each of those elements in what’s being done is then moved throughout the entirety of the pipeline.”

He says the center, in Malta, IL will allow for farmer collaboration and input, which makes it unique.  “They’re looking for things like standability and they’re looking for really strong agronomics, whether it’s root strength, whether it’s disease resistance,” he says.  “A lot of these things are consistent year-over-year in terms of the type of solutions they’re looking at.”

Kruger says the R&D center also considers how changing environmental factors impact farmers’ needs. “Because of things like climate change or differences in the environment, the kind of pests that we see are changing,” he says.  “We see a lot of different diseases or the frequency with which of those diseases are coming through.  Wind speeds are changing and where the winds coming from is changing and we’re also seeing a change in the force of the rain.”

Brownfield interviewed Kruger during the recent grand opening of the Research and Development Center in North Central Illinois.    

AUDIO: Warren Kruger, Syngenta Head of Fields Crops Seeds Development