“The World Bank pegs our global population at 8 billion people by 2030. That’s an increase of more than 30%,” describes Valdemar Fischer, chair, Syngenta NAFTA. “Calorie demand is expected to grow by 50% over the same timeframe — a reflection of the shift to more protein-based diets in countries like China. The challenge this puts on global agriculture is enormous and falls against a backdrop of diminishing water supplies per capita and finite land resources for crop production.” Add to that list of problems high oil prices, bioenergy demands, and environmental concerns.
This is where the research and development (R&D) teams at the world’s six largest agrochemical firms come in. Farm Chemicals International offers this update of the extensive work they are doing.
BASF AG
“BASF plows back around 10% of sales into R&D a year — and our strategy of investing in product innovation is paying off, as growers are willing to invest in state-of-the art products,” says Michael Heinz, president of BASF’s Crop Protection Division. “We expect this trend to continue as the rising demand for agricultural commodities amid the global megatrends prompts growers to invest more to get the maximum yield and quality per hectare of available arable land.”
BASF ha construido una red rentable de productos químicos para la protección de cultivos. De hecho, en conjunto, los activos del oleoducto de BASF lanzados desde 2002 tienen un potencial de ventas máximo de US$1.56 mil millones. El año pasado, las ventas logradas con estos productos fueron de US$1.09 mil millones, o 22% de las ventas totales de US$4.67 mil millones.
In 2008, the firm launched two active ingredients (a.i.s): orysastrobin and metaflumizone. Orysastrobin, an easy-to-use, broad-spectrum rice fungicide, was developed for the Japanese market. “The insecticide metaflumizone is a strong addition to the company’s portfolio, especially for fruit and vegetable crops and urban pest control,” says Heinz. Both of these high-margin segments are growing faster than the overall crop protection market, he adds.
Together with the in-launch fungicide boscalid, metaflumizone is part of a new generation of products that will help growers provide healthy, affordable fruit and vegetables, explains Heinz. “These products underscore our commitment to innovation in this important segment. Boscalid has surpassed the company’s expectations and is now being launched for a variety of crops such as cereals and oilseed rape in combination with other BASF active ingredients,” he says.
In 2009, BASF plans to launch the new herbicide Kixor. “Resistance to glyphosate, used in herbicide-tolerant cropping systems, is creating an opportunity for new herbicides that fill glyphosate gaps,” Heinz believes. “Here, our pipeline herbicide Kixor is an excellent fit. We expect that Kixor will be registered for the 2010 use season in North America with other countries to follow.”
BASF has also moved into developing products for seed. “As the price of seed grows, farmers are seeking to protect and optimize this investment with innovative seed treatments,” he says. In 2008, four years after entering this area, the company introduced the first seed treatment products from its own portfolio of proprietary active ingredients. In June, BASF signed an exclusive agreement with Monsanto to produce a new fungicide seed treatment for soybeans in the US. The product, slated for release in 2009, contains BASF’s top-selling fungicide F 500, the same a.i. found in Headline fungicide, which offers both disease control and plant health benefits. Its release will coincide with the launch of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean.
When it comes to plant biotechnology, “our strategy is based on marketing our traits for most crops through various partnership models,” explains Mette Johansson, manager, communications at BASF Plant Science. “For instance, for yield increase and stress tolerance in corn, soy, cotton, and canola, we partner with Monsanto.” Between 1998-2008, BASF has invested a total of US$1.58 billion in plant biotechnology, with funding steadily increasing over the years.
En Europa, BASF AG espera obtener la aprobación regulatoria para Amflora, una papa genéticamente modificada para uso industrial, a tiempo para la temporada 2009. Amflora produce almidón de amilopectina puro, que es ideal para aplicaciones técnicas y ayuda a ahorrar recursos, energía y costos. Además, el papel producido con almidón de amilopectina tiene un brillo más alto y el hormigón y los adhesivos se pueden procesar durante un período de tiempo más largo.
In addition, Embrapa (of Brazil) and BASF expect to make the first herbicide-tolerant soybean varieties tolerant to BASF’s imidazolinone herbicides available to seed producers in the 2010/11 season. Growers would be able to plant them in the 2011/12 season. And in the company’s collaboration with Monsanto, growers can expect a drought-tolerant corn product launch during the first half of the next decade.
BAYER CROPSCIENCE AG
“We expect a continuously growing demand for agricultural products, and in the future this demand will be driven not only by the production of food, feed, and fiber but also by the use of biofuels,” says Dr. Friedrich Berschauer, chairman of the board of management of Bayer CropScience AG. Specifically, the company expects the use of agricultural raw materials for biofuels to increase considerably, and Berschauer believes this will benefit both the seed market and the crop protection market. “Innovation and constant technological progress are the only way to overcome this challenge,” he says.
Bayer’s research efforts are focused on new modes of action, improved plant health, optimized plant characteristics, and new agronomic traits. Its emphasis on herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, and increased yields is growing as well.
In agrochemicals, Bayer CropScience launched a program in 2000 with the objective of bringing 26 new active substances for crop protection to market, in various countries worldwide, by 2011. Slated for release for the 2009 season, one newcomer is Ignite herbicide for weed control in corn and soybeans. Bayer reports that it’s a nonselective contact herbicide that controls more than 120 grass and broadleaf weeds, including ALS- and glyphosate-resistant weeds. “When Ignite is used on LibertyLink hybrids and varieties, growers will gain the same benefits as those offered by the Roundup Ready system, with the added benefits of a unique mode of action, excellent crop safety, and fast-acting control,” says Andy Hurst, Bayer CropScience product manager for Ignite and herbicide-tolerant traits. Ignite is also targeted for cereals and canola.
También para el mercado estadounidense en 2009, Bayer prevé la aprobación de productos adicionales, incluidos los herbicidas Balance FLEXX y Corvus para su uso en maíz; Crop Safety Innovation (CSI) Safener, que proporcionará a los productores un alto nivel de protección de cultivos como parte de la formulación de nuevos productos como BalanceFLEXX y Corvus; e insecticida de semilla de poncho 500 para maíz.
La compañía también cuenta con una cartera de biotecnología de semillas y plantas bien equipada, con más de 40 proyectos principales. Tiene seis proyectos de tolerancia a herbicidas y resistencia a insectos en una etapa tardía de desarrollo y programados para su lanzamiento a partir de 2010. Está previsto el lanzamiento de tres nuevos rasgos de tolerancia a herbicidas en los próximos tres años. Y la soja LibertyLink está programada para su lanzamiento en 2009.
Bayer CropScience is planning to increase involvement in these tolerance-trait markets. It’s also working on new biotech approaches to making plants more resistant to stress factors such as heat, drought, cold, and soil salinity. The first products from this stress tolerance research program are expected to reach the market in 2015.
En general, Bayer estima que el mercado global de características de plantas optimizadas biotecnológicamente para maíz, soja, canola, algodón y arroz duplicará su valor entre 2005 y 2015. Berschauer dice que la empresa continuará revisando oportunidades de cooperación y adquisiciones con miras para desarrollar aún más su negocio de biociencias. La atención se centrará en la canola, el algodón, el arroz y las hortalizas, cultivos en los que la empresa ya está bien situada en el negocio de las semillas.
AGROSCIENCIAS DOW
“This is a really exciting time in agriculture, but we have an absolute imperative to improve the productivity of every piece of land in order to address global needs,” says Dr. Daniel R. Kittle, vice president, research & development, Dow AgroSciences. “So that’s what our research and development is focused on.”
One of Dow’s solutions has been its Herculex trait family, the first of which was released in 2003. The family has grown into multiple products and is now enjoying “outstanding” success, says Kittle. Last year the technology was validated even more as Dow entered into an agreement with Monsanto to jointly develop the world’s first-ever eight-gene stack in SmartStax products, using both companies’ traits. “It’s made up of a portfolio of herbicide and insect tolerance traits that give growers a whole new standard of delivery and performance,” says Kittle. In July the companies submitted their regulatory package in the U.S. for approval and expect a target launch date of 2010.
Also in the pipeline are Dow Herbicide Tolerance (DHT) technology traits, which provide a multi-product tolerance solution for weed control. DHT complements glyphosate by allowing growers to use low-cost, robust, very reliable products — with multiple modes of action. Dow projects a 2012 launch date in corn, then introduction in soybeans and cotton in 2013.
Además, Kittle dice que la compañía está desarrollando nuevos sistemas de entrega que pueden ofrecer:
1) mejor entrega de la actividad de un material;
2) manejo y rendimiento mejorados para los productores; y
3) una huella e impacto medioambiental mejorados.
“Our formulation scientists have actually found some solutions which can do all three of those tasks,” says Kittle. “We see this as truly an ability to differentiate our solutions from those that are in the industry with us.” The products are currently in “substantial field trials,” and Dow is working on patenting.
The company has already seen success with its EcoZome technology, which helps active ingredients formulated as emulsifiable concentrates by reducing unwanted organic chemical solvents. EcoZome won AGROW’s Best Formulation Innovation last year. And this summer, Dow won one of the US’s top environmental honors, the 2008 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, for spinetoram. The insecticide, derived through the fermentation of a naturally occurring soil organism, is designed for the fruit, vegetable, and tree fruit and tree nut markets.
Also in the pipeline: a novel sap feeding insecticide. “Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) solutions are having a significant impact, but they don’t affect sap feeding insects,” Kittle points out. “In fact, there’s a growth in the market for controlling these pests.” The product is in field trials around the world. “We’re very excited about its level of activity, its spectrum, and its consistent performance,” he explains.
On the human nutrition front, Dow is working to bring a trait for an Omega-3 fatty acid, DHA, to canola. Kittle notes this particular gene set performs a simpler biosynthetic process than competitors’ approaches, producing DHA with fewer intermediates.
DUPONT
El Dr. Mark Thompson, jefe de investigación de descubrimientos de DuPont Crop Protection, dice que la empresa debe centrarse más que nunca en brindar respuestas a las necesidades cambiantes de los clientes. DuPont está concentrando los esfuerzos de I + D en mejorar la productividad y brindar más innovación y valor a los clientes más rápido que nunca, al tiempo que reduce los costos y la complejidad de la comercialización.
Thompson says the goals of current projects are to discover and develop new products; and support and renew the firm’s existing product line — with new and exciting answers to today’s pest control issues. “In discovery, we look at long-term trends in production agriculture and direct our work toward future needs. Shorter term, R&D works closely with Sales and Marketing to support and renew existing product lines, constantly listening to our customers to determine how we can adapt and improve,” he says. Case in point: To help growers reduce the number of trips across fields and save on rising fuel costs, DuPont is exploring both longer-lasting pest control alternatives and new ways to put current residual crop protection products to use.
The company’s investment in research is increasing, and a good example of the fruits of more funding is the launch of the high-yielding Pioneer Y Series soybean varieties pending in 2009. “These top-performing new varieties were developed with exclusive Accelerated Yield Technology (AYT) and will serve as a strong platform for the Optimum GAT trait,” says Thompson. The trait imparts both glyphosate and ALS herbicide tolerance.
DuPont recibió recientemente el visto bueno regulatorio del Departamento de Agricultura de EE. UU. Para la soja Optimum GAT y planea introducir el maíz Optimum GAT en 2010, pendiente de aprobación. De hecho, la compañía continúa buscando aprobaciones regulatorias en mercados de exportación clave alrededor del mundo para ambos cultivos Optimum GAT. DuPont espera lanzar cuatro nuevos herbicidas para complementar el rasgo en el período de tiempo 2009-2010: Freestyle, Traverse, Instigate y Diligent, también pendientes de aprobaciones regulatorias.
For 2009 the agrochemical industry can expect worldwide introductions of Altacor, Coragen, and Prevathon insect control products — all powered by DuPont’s breakthrough new insecticide active ingredient, Rynaxypyr. The company has received 10 country registrations for these products to date and expects 10 more by year’s end — leading to significant global launch activities in 2009.
Otros productos nuevos que se esperan en los próximos años incluyen el insecticida Cyazypyr; un nuevo herbicida para el manejo de la tierra, pastizales / pastizales y especies invasoras; y dos nuevos fungicidas.
MONSANTO
“As a business, Monsanto invests approximately 10% of our income, or more than US$2 million per day, to both discover and deliver valuable new technologies to farmers. Ninety-six cents of every dollar that we invest into research-and-development goes towards improvements in seeds and trait technologies — such as drought tolerance and higher-yielding crops,” says Steve Padgette, vice president of biotechnology at Monsanto. “This past June, Monsanto pledged to work to both double agriculture yields in soybeans, corn, and cotton by 2030 while also doing it in a way that can offer farmers novel approaches to better conserve our natural resources.”
This year represented a number of R&D firsts — and saw some of the most substantial progress the company has seen in the time it has conducted biotechnology research. Second-generation drought-tolerant corn advanced to Phase 2 and first-generation drought-tolerant corn advanced to Phase 3, making it the industry’s first drought project to move into the regulatory and commercial phase. Five projects were added to the pipeline including soybean disease resistance, second-generation high-oil soybeans, high-stearate soybeans, SmartStax corn, and high-oil corn.
La soja tolerante a dicamba, que está diseñada para proporcionar un modo de acción nuevo y único para los agricultores, avanzó a la Fase 3 después de demostrar una sólida tolerancia a las aplicaciones de dicamba. La soja Vistive III, que produce un aceite vegetal estable bajo en grasas saturadas, avanzó a la Fase 3. La soja de mayor rendimiento mostró un rendimiento positivo: este año, se probaron más de 60 eventos en 18 ubicaciones, y los eventos de plomo mostraron fuertes ventajas de rendimiento sobre los controles convencionales de soja. Las semillas de soja enriquecidas con omega-3 continuaron demostrando una aceptabilidad del consumidor comparable en resultados recientes entre el aceite de soja SDA y el aceite de soja convencional en usos alimentarios. El producto también continúa demostrando un rendimiento sólido en comparación con los controles.
En 2009, Monsanto está planeando un lanzamiento comercial controlado de soja Roundup Ready 2 Yield en 1 a 2 millones de acres. (En cuatro años de pruebas, el aumento de rendimiento promedio de Roundup Ready 2 Yield sobre su contraparte de primera generación fue 9%). El lanzamiento permitirá a los agricultores de determinadas geografías experimentar los beneficios del producto antes del lanzamiento completo. La compañía está planeando un lanzamiento a gran escala de 5 a 6 millones de acres en 2010.
“Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans will serve as the primary platform for Monsanto’s introduction of new soybean trait technologies, including higher yield, expanded herbicide tolerance and enhanced oil products — as well as new stacked trait offerings,” says Padgette.
YieldGard VT PRO in corn, one of the primary components of SmartStax technology, is primed to offer farmers a broader spectrum of insect control and improved durability when compared with Monsanto’s first-generation corn borer offering. It’s currently awaiting regulatory approvals. YieldGard Rootworm III is designed to provide two modes of action for improved spectrum control and enhanced durability against corn rootworm. The technology incorporates cutting-edge RNA interference (RNAi), which can harness the plant’s natural machinery for protection against insects.
Drought-tolerant cotton, designed to minimize risk in cotton farming by providing yield stability in water stressed environments, demonstrated strong performance across multiple gene leads. “With these results in hand, we now believe there are a number of product leads to create a family of drought traits in cotton,” says Padgette.
SYNGENTA
“Our R&D efforts remain focused on supporting our companywide commitment to the advancement of sustainable agriculture through innovative technology,” says Valdemar Fischer, chair, Syngenta NAFTA. It’s a focus that’s driven primarily by population increases and a growing global demand for food and feed products, as well as biofuels, he says.
Indeed, the issue of limited resources is center stage across the globe, but at Syngenta, it’s been a driving force since the inception of the company in 2001. Fischer reports the company spends approximately US$800 million each year on R&D, with a clear goal of helping farmers to increase their productivity per hectare in all areas of the globe.
“We understand that unlocking the full potential of plants will overcome many of the global challenges that we face,” he says. In the seed and trait sector, Syngenta is seeing the fruits of plant breeding work initiated in 2003. The firm recently broadened its research effort to take advantage of major breakthroughs in genomic sequencing and marker assisted breeding.
In corn, Syngenta is targeting a number of second-generation trait launches for 2009 and beyond, including MIR162 for broad Lepidoptera insect control and corn amylase for more efficient bio-ethanol production. “In our corn technology pipeline, we are in late-stage development of traits for drought tolerance, high-ethanol corn varieties, and rootworm dual modes of action,” says Fischer. Early work is in progress for a nitrogen use efficiency trait. “And by 2011, we estimate that 85% of our corn seed portfolio will consist of multi-stacks.”
In soybeans, Syngenta anticipates launch of herbicide tolerance traits in 2011. Other input traits in the firm’s soybean pipeline include aphid resistance, nematode resistance, and second-generation nematode resistance. Researchers are also working on an output trait for healthier oils.
This year, Syngenta announced two partnerships – with DuPont granting Pioneer Hi-Bred access to its VIP/broad lepidoptera (LEP) trait, and with Monsanto that included cross-enabling terms that will accelerate the delivery of new products to the market and expand choices available to growers. In addition, Syngenta and DuPont will jointly prepare regulatory studies for DuPont’s Cyazypyr, a new broad-spectrum insecticide, slated for commercialization starting in 2012.
In March, Syngenta signed an agreement with Rohm & Haas to develop and commercialize Invinsa technology. “Invinsa will be the first-ever product introduced into field crop markets to specifically protect crop yield during extended periods of high temperatures, mild-to-moderate drought, and other crop stresses,” Fischer explains. “Launch is targeted within two years with a market potential estimated at over US$500 million.”
Syngenta’s R&D strategy also takes full account of the needs and opportunities of emerging markets. The company has expanded its presence in Asia Pacific with several ventures, including a 49% stake in SanBei, a leading corn seed company in China, and a five-year research collaboration with the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, also in China. Syngenta also plans to build a US$65 million biotech R&D technology center in Beijing, where the research focus will be on yield improvement, drought resistance, disease control, and biomass conversion for biofuels.
And in active ingredient news, AVICTA seed treatment is expected to launch in Brazil this year, and in 2009 on corn in the United States. “We have three products in late stages of development: a cereal fungicide, a seed treatment fungicide, and a corn and sugarcane herbicide. These are on track for commercial introduction in 2009 through 2012,” says Fischer.
He lists several recent product introductions including: Halex GT postemergence corn herbicide, the first product?to combine the utility of glyphosate with residual control of both grass and broadleaf weeds for use in glyphosate-tolerant (GT) corn; AVICTA seed treatment on cotton — with launch this year in Brazil as well; Revus, the first mandelamide fungicide and a member of the carboxylic acid amide (CAA) class of chemistry — it has no cross-resistance to other classes of fungi; Axial XL herbicide, for use in spring wheat, winter wheat, and barley, combining Axial and a spray adjuvant; Orion wheat herbicide, a new class of chemistry for cereal broadleaf weed control; and Inspire fungicide, with a triazole mixture — Inspire and Inspire mixtures provide broad-spectrum control of leaf spots and powdery mildews while acting as resistance management tools in the pome fruit and vegetable industries.