Protecting crops
Protecting crops
Syngenta Crop Protection keeps plants safe from planting to harvesting
From the moment a seed is planted through to harvest, crops need to be protected from weeds, insects and diseases as well as droughts and floods, heat and cold.
As a world market leader in crop protection, we help farmers to counter these threats and ensure enough safe, nutritious, affordable food for all – while minimizing the use of land and other agricultural inputs.
Putting a safe, sustainable and flexible toolbox into the hands of farmers
Farmers of all sizes in all agricultural systems must meet the needs and expectations of food processors and retailers, consumers, society and our planet.
Crop protection is one of the world’s most highly regulated industries. To gain and maintain registration, a chemical must be shown to be safe for workers, the environment, crops and consumers.
Syngenta is a world market leader in crop protection products, offering farmers an extensive toolbox of solutions. We develop and produce herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and seed treatment products that promote strong and healthy growth.
Our products and solutions protect crops and enhance the ability of plants to defend themselves. They can be based on world-class chemistry or naturally occurring substances and processes (biocontrols). We bring these together with new monitoring techniques, precision application, fast-developing digital technologies and new breeding techniques.
Whatever the solution, we take our responsibilities seriously when it comes to making each one safe and sustainable for farmers, the whole of society and the planet.
Active Ingredients
Martin Clough, now Head CP R&D Technology & Digital Integration speaks from our Stein R&D Center about the innovation behind precisely-designed active ingredients.
Innovating crop protection for the
future
Protecting crops means investing significantly in research and development. We don’t find active ingredients by chance. We design them and it can take 8 to 10 years to reach commercial launch.
Pests and diseases are a constantly evolving threat, and the changing environment makes it even harder for farmers to grow their crops. So, we’re accelerating the pace of our innovation to meet constantly changing natural threats and society’s increasing expectations.
Whether we design a breakthrough ‘blockbuster’ molecule or develop an active ingredient for a specific purpose, our product development is driven by scientific insights gained by working closely with farmers in the field. We include safety and sustainability criteria from the very beginning.
To create successful solutions, we need diversity of ideas and expertise. We don’t work alone but have collaborations with many partners such as universities, research institutes and sustainable agriculture experts.
Our key crop
protection products and innovations
Our solutions protect crops against weeds, insects and diseases. They also include technologies that support strong and healthy plant growth.

Weeds that are resistant to the herbicide glyphosate can cause significant yield losses and raise the costs of crop protection for growers.
Our work to meet this challenge led to a series of new products including ACURON®, a herbicide used in cereals, which is based on a new chemical combined with three other active ingredients. It improves the control of more than 70 weeds that are increasingly difficult for growers to manage, such as Palmer amaranth and giant ragweed.
ADEPIDYN™: A unique broad spectrum fungicide
ADEPIDYN™ is a new fungicide belonging to the carboxamide chemical class and the first member of a new chemical group N-methoxy-(phenyl-ethyl)-pyrazole-carboxamide.
Delivering a step change in leaf spot control (such as Cercospora, Alternaria and Venturia) and excellent control of powdery mildew in many crops, ADEPIDYN™ is also highly effective against difficult-to-control diseases such as Fusarium Head Blight, Botrytis, Sclerotinia and Corynespora, which cause severe damage on key crops.
Nematodes are microscopic worm-shaped soil organisms that cause significant damage to all major agricultural crops. CLARIVA® is an innovative seed treatment based on natural soil bacteria that protects a plant’s root system from these pests.
Nematodes are a huge challenge for soybean growers in particular: in the US alone, the cost of lost soybean can be more than a billion dollars a year . CLARIVA® protects the plants throughout the crop’s season and works in variable environmental conditions.
ELATUS™ is a ground-breaking fungicide that provides superior, longer-lasting control of soybean rust and a broad range of fungal diseases in several other crops.
By using ELATUS™ as the mainstay of disease control programs, growers benefit from more consistent performance, leading to higher and more predictable yields.
ADEPIDYN™: A unique broad spectrum fungicide
ADEPIDYN™ is a new fungicide belonging to the carboxamide chemical class and the first member of a new chemical group N-methoxy-(phenyl-ethyl)-pyrazole-carboxamide.
Delivering a step change in leaf spot control (such as Cercospora, Alternaria and Venturia) and excellent control of powdery mildew in many crops, ADEPIDYN™ is also highly effective against difficult-to-control diseases such as Fusarium Head Blight, Botrytis, Sclerotinia and Corynespora, which cause severe damage on key crops.
Our innovation has given growers a powerful tool to manage insects in all major field crops, including corn, soybean and sunflower, in multiple countries.
FORTENZA® was specifically developed to control Lepidoptera and chewing and sucking pests. It is used to combat early-season pests both above ground, on foliage, and below, as a seed treatment. It also complements the performance of insect-resistant seed traits.
ADEPIDYN™: A unique broad spectrum fungicide
ADEPIDYN™ is a new fungicide belonging to the carboxamide chemical class and the first member of a new chemical group N-methoxy-(phenyl-ethyl)-pyrazole-carboxamide.
Delivering a step change in leaf spot control (such as Cercospora, Alternaria and Venturia) and excellent control of powdery mildew in many crops, ADEPIDYN™ is also highly effective against difficult-to-control diseases such as Fusarium Head Blight, Botrytis, Sclerotinia and Corynespora, which cause severe damage on key crops.