Syngenta Crop Protection, in collaboration with AI-driven crop health innovator Enko, has reached a pivotal milestone in the discovery of novel weed control molecules. This advancement highlights the potential of artificial intelligence to accelerate agricultural innovation, addressing the urgent need for sustainable solutions to manage herbicide-resistant weeds.
The collaboration focuses on a groundbreaking Mode of Action (MoA) – the mechanism by which herbicides target and eliminate weeds – identified through Enko’s ENKOMPASS platform. This cutting-edge technology significantly reduces research time and costs compared to traditional R&D methods, marking a transformative step in herbicide development.
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Weed resistance poses a critical challenge to global agriculture, with losses attributed to aggressive weeds like Palmer amaranth, waterhemp, blackgrass, and Italian ryegrass estimated at $32 billion annually. Syngenta’s new MoA targets these resistant species, offering farmers more effective tools while promoting sustainable crop protection practices such as crop rotations and manual weeding.
“Weed and pest adaptation to changing climate conditions and resistance to on-market products will create a dearth of food in many parts of the world as populations grow. By using our ENKOMPASS platform, we can significantly reduce discovery time for new safe crop protection solutions and get them into the hands of farmers as quickly as possible.”
This initiative aligns with Syngenta’s “Safer by Design” strategy, which emphasizes enhancing crop yields while minimizing environmental impact. The goal is to deliver a versatile weed control solution capable of managing a broad spectrum of weeds across diverse cropping systems.
“As an innovation leader, Syngenta is pursuing some of the most cutting-edge research in the field of agricultural technology. This novel solution will be an important breakthrough in the field of weed control and will represent a critical tool for resistance management.”
The latest milestone builds on the success of an earlier collaboration targeting fungal control, now extending the partnership’s impact to herbicide development. As the project progresses to the proof-of-concept stage, it underscores the transformative potential of AI-powered innovation in reshaping the future of agriculture.
