配方专家深入探讨功效、综合管理等话题
2026年三月25日 在最近的 AgriBusiness Global LIVE! webinar, formulations experts discussed new formulations strategies for synthetics, addressing regulatory constraints as well as integrated management approaches.
The panelists included Leonardo Bastos, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, FMC; Dr. Marc Rist, Science to Solution Lead, Small Molecules, Bayer Crop Science; Dr. Darryl Ramoutar, Global Technical Director, Agriculture, gChem; and Pamela Gonzalez, Global Head of Insect Control, Syngenta.
In the Q+A segment, the panelist answered attendees’ questions about gel type formulations, integrated management, and more.
You can access the webinar recording here.
Q: Does the gel type of formulations increase the efficacy?
Ramoutar: Generally, I would say that broad gel efficacy is limited because it’s very targeted. However if the gel is a bait, from which toxins can be brought back to a colony, then efficacy can he high for this specific pest. We have some information using DMSO for building gel formulations if interested.
Rist: Gel-type formulations can, in general, support to improve efficacy. In many cases, this happens indirectly — for example, by reducing off-target losses and enabling more precise product placement, provided that appropriate application technology is used.
Q: Integrated application of biologicals and synthetics is the new age solution to drive sustainability, but mixtures with biologicals usually work only in some climatic conditions like entomopathogenic fungi or say Bt. They are highly selective, but they work only in some climatic conditions. How will formulation technology help deliver better results? How can you gain stability and compatibility with such mixtures? Are there any such innovations in plan?
Rist: Co‑formulating chemical and biological actives presents distinct challenges that must be carefully addressed during formulation development. The appropriate mitigation strategies depend strongly on the specific characteristics of the biological component, the chemical partner, and the target organism or use situation in the field. A key consideration is ensuring compatibility between the biological and the chemical throughout the product’s lifecycle. Another major factor is maintaining an adequate shelf life of the final formulation. Potential approaches include reducing the water content to improve stability, using only high‑quality biological raw materials, and — depending on the organism involved — supplementing the formulation with nutrients that support viability.
Q: What holds your company back from bringing innovation faster to market? And how do you balance innovation investment with the current market pressure (low cost, farmer profitability, generics and some new trends making farmers life more complex)?
Rist: Bringing innovation quickly to market is increasingly challenging because the problems growers face are becoming more complex. Their needs span a wide range — from dealing with expanding pest and disease pressure and weed resistance to ever‑tightening regulatory and societal expectations around safety and sustainability. Ensuring that every new product addresses all these dimensions adds significant R&D cost and lengthens development timelines.
A major limiting factor is the rising complexity of global regulatory systems, which require extensive data packages and a high degree of safety and sustainability evidence. This means we cannot simply accelerate development by doing “more of the same.” We must innovate differently. To stay ahead of these pressures, we have fundamentally changed our R&D model. To identify and advance new molecules, we moved away from classical screening cascades toward a design‑based CropKey approach, which uses intentional molecular design and artificial intelligence. This allows us to identify highly effective, safe, and sustainable molecules much faster, even within a more restrictive regulatory environment.
In balancing innovation with market pressures — such as low-cost competition, farmer profitability challenges, and the growing presence of generics — we focus on creating real and differentiated value. By designing innovations that are more targeted, more effective, and more sustainable from the start, we ensure that our R&D investments pay off for customers and for the market.
Gonzalez: The speed of innovation is often slowed by high costs, lengthy R&D cycles, and the big challenge to discover new molecules that effectively address farmers’ needs. Scale is a crucial factor because not all issues are commercially viable enough to justify a decade-long investment.
Developing a new active ingredient can take more than 10 years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars before it reaches farmers. Additionally, the complexity of regulations and variations across countries and regions further increase costs and cause delays. Today’s pressures require that every innovation decision is based on its potential for measurable impact on farmer profitability, rather than simply being a technical novelty. Farmers need innovation to maintain their profitability, but tight margins make it difficult for them to invest unless the innovation clearly enhances their bottom line.
At Syngenta, we are committed to placing farmers at the center of our innovation processes. Our goal is to bring them meaningful products that support their profitability and business sustainability. Identifying farmers’ pain points is critical for driving innovation forward.
Q: We are working on fungicidal and insecticidal peptides. Do you have any suggestions for how to formulate these peptides for increased stability, rainfastness and uniform spread?
Gonzalez: There’s no one-size-fits-all formulation; we design each peptide based on the specific properties and its planned to use in the field. Syngenta’s biodelivery teams identify which issues matter most to the peptide, then build a custom delivery system combining traditional and innovative approaches to keep the active ingredient protected and effective where it’s needed.
Ramoutar: Oil-based formulations such as emulsifiable concentrates and some suspension concentrates adhere better; you can also include stickers (resins, block copolymers/organosilicone, waxes, oil etc.); uptake enhancers such as solvents (e.g., DMSO and wetting agents may also help).
Q: What, if any, potential challenges are envisioned for integrating cyclodextrins? Would bioaccumulation be one?
Gonzalez: Cyclodextrins are used as encapsulation agents in food and pharmaceuticals, but crop protection is a different field with different exposure pathways, so their use requires dedicated testing for use in agriculture. While bioaccumulation is a valid concern, the broader challenge is ensuring safety for humans, nontarget species and the environment. Although their history in food and pharma is reassuring, we need further research to validate their safety and environmental profile specifically in crop protection applications.
Ramoutar: The key challenges with adoption are cost, consistent production, especially for EPA stability requirements, and tank mix compatibility. As a result of varied water solubility, these would be more important than bioaccumulation, which can be enhanced/predicted with improved solubility.
Rist: The use of cyclodextrins in formulation development can support the controlled release of active ingredients, but their suitability must always be evaluated in the context of the specific target and field conditions. With regard to potential challenges, bioaccumulation is not expected due to the strong enzymatic degradation of cyclodextrins. However, attention must be paid to the risk of hydrolysis, which can influence stability and performance.
Q: In the fast‑growing market for seaweed‑based biostimulants and other biologicals, how are you ensuring consistent agronomic performance and regulatory acceptance when sourcing from diverse geographies and species, and what concrete steps are you taking on standardization, traceability, and independent field validation so that growers can clearly distinguish high‑quality, sustainably produced seaweed products from the many undifferentiated ‘brown liquid’ offerings on the market?
Gonzalez: The seaweed biostimulant market is becoming difficult to navigate, and we can’t speak for competitor quality. Significant regulatory changes are creating clarity globally: The EU now requires biostimulants to demonstrate performance linked to specific claims, India and the U.S. have implemented similar regulations, and Brazil will introduce a biostimulant category in 2027. Syngenta’s rigorous approach ensures our products meet these evolving standards and help growers distinguish genuinely effective seaweed products from undifferentiated ‘brown liquid’ offerings.
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