Syngenta
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| Type | Agribusiness | |
| Founded | 2000 | |
| Location | Basel, Switzerland | |
| Key people | Martin Taylor, Chairman | Michael Pragnell, Chief Executive Officer |
| Industry | Agriculture | |
| Products | Seeds, crop protection products | |
| Revenue | US$ 8.1 billion | |
| Employees | 19,000 | |
| Website | http://www.syngenta.com/en/index.aspx | |
Syngenta AG is a world-leading agribusiness which markets seeds and crop protection products and is involved in biotechnology and genomic research. The company is a leader in crop protection, and ranks third in the high-value commercial seeds market. Sales in 2005 were approximately US$ 8.1 billion. Syngenta employs some 19,000 people in over 90 countries. Syngenta is listed on the Swiss stock exchange (SWX: SYNN) and in New York NYSE: SYT.
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[edit] Products
Syngenta has eight product lines. The company develops, markets and sells these worldwide:
Crop Protection:
- Selective Herbicides
- Non-selective Herbicides
- Fungicides
- Insecticides
- Professional Products
Seeds:
- Field Crops
- Vegetables
- Flowers
In 2003, more than half of Syngenta sales came from selective herbicides and fungicides.
Key Syngenta brands include Actara, Amistar, Callisto, Cruiser, DualGold, Northrup-King (NK), S&G, and Gramoxone. In 2004, Syngenta Seeds purchased the North American corn and soybean business of Advanta, as well as Garst and Golden Harvest.
Although Syngenta proclaims to be publicly committed to sustainable agriculture, Atrazine, one of its key herbicide products, is persistent in soil and water and is a major contaminant of well-water in the Midwestern United States. Syngenta does finance the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture. This non-profit organization supports sustainable food security projects in a number of countries. Development and marketing of pesticides and some genetically modified seed have made Syngenta a target of environmental and human safety activists. This is also true of its main competitors: Monsanto, BASF, Bayer and DuPont.
[edit] Board of directors
Syngenta is led by Chairman Martin Taylor. The other Directors are Peggy Bruzelius, Peter Doyle, Rupert Gasser, Pierre Landolt, Michael Pragnell (CEO), Pedro Reiser, Peter Thompson, Jacques Vincent, Rolf Watter, and Felix Weber.
[edit] History
Based in Basel, Switzerland, Syngenta was formed in 2000 by the merger of Novartis Agribusiness and Zeneca Agrochemicals. Its roots are considerably older.
In 1758 the city’s Johann Rudolf Geigy-Gemuseus began trading in “Materials, Chemicals, Dyes and Drugs of all kinds”. In 1876, Sandoz Laboratories began business in Basel, followed in 1884 by Ciba. These three companies ultimately became Novartis in 1995. Ciba-Geigy, formed in 1971, had concentrated mainly on crop protection in its agro division, Sandoz more on seeds.
Zeneca Agrochemicals was part of AstraZeneca, and formerly of Imperial Chemical Industries. ICI was formed in the UK in 1926. Two years later, work began at the Agricultural Research Station at Jealott’s Hill.
Syngenta has been linked to attempts to block the publications of UC Berkeley Professor Tyrone Hayes. Tyrone Hayes researches the herbicide Atrazine, which he has found to cause hermaphroditism in frogs. In addition, Atrazine has been proven to enter fresh water supplies and has the potential to cause hormonal imbalances in humans. [1]
[edit] Legal Issues
Like other global chemical and biotech companies, Syngenta and its predecessor companies have been involved in numerous legal actions over the years. Syngenta has, for example, used the courts to defend its intellectual property and perceived right to free trade. Syngenta declares a policy of not exercising its patents in seeds and biotechnology in the least developed of developing countries.
In 2001, the US Patent and Trademark Office ruled in favor of Syngenta when the company filed suit against Bayer to protect its patent on a class of neonicotinoid insecticides. In 2002, Syngenta filed suit against Monsanto and a number of other companies claiming infringement of its US biotechnology patents covering transgenic corn and cotton. In 2004, the company again filed suit against Monsanto, claiming antitrust violations related to the US biotech corn seed market.
The Syngenta legal record also includes citations by regulators, NGOs, and individuals for health issues related to its products.
Following a series of fatalities due to accidental consumption in the 1960s, the company’s herbicide, Gramoxone® (Paraquat), gained notoriety in the 1970s and 80s due to a rash of suicides using the product. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies it as only moderately hazardous, in the United States it is labeled a restricted use pesticide and it is banned in several countries. The U.S. Center for Disease Control describes the herbicide as "dangerously poisionous" to humans if ingested, inhaled, or absorbed into the body. Syngenta has added a blue dye, a foul odor, and a powerful vomit-inducer to Gramoxone to help prevent mistakes and misuse, but it is unclear if these safeguards are in place in the products that are distributed in all countries.
The company has also faced questions on its Galecron insecticide’s possible relationship to bladder cancer and other illnesses. Production of Galecron stopped between 1976 and 1978 for new safety assessments, and then halted permanently in 1988 after more research showed potential risk. The company was never found guilty of wrong-doing. In a 1995 class action in the US, Ciba-Geigy agreed to cover costs for employee health monitoring and treatment.
Syngenta recently opposed a Swiss ban on genetically modified organisms. [2]
[edit] Syngenta Philippines
[edit] Foundation
[edit] Farmers Support Team
To realize its mission, SFI created its flagship program, the Farmer Support Team (FST). The FST is a nationwide program, reaching farmers in all points of the Philippine archipelago. It has touched the lives of farmers in all the major rice, fruit, and vegetable production provinces of the country. It began by helping Filipino farmers gain greater understanding and achieve higher productivity through trainings in Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Integrated Crop Management (ICM) and Total Crop Management (TCM). In 2006, SFI began to introduce the concept of community organizing for community development through its FST project (livelihood) management workshops.
[edit] Foundations Partner Agencies and State Colleges and Universities (SCUs)
FST responds to farmers’ needs by providing them with greater knowledge, understanding, appreciation, and skills in IPM, ICM and TCM, in partnership with leading Philippine state colleges and universities (SCUs) which are recognized for their excellence in agricultural education. This program includes the sharing of resources among institutions which redound to the provision of dynamic, relevant and effective services to adjacent farming communities. Participating SCUs also establish demonstration farms showcasing new technologies and SPI crop solutions.
Among FST’s Partner Universities are:
- Aklan State University (ASU)
- Benguet State University (BSU)
- Bulacan National Agricultural State College (BNASC)
- Camarines Sur State Agricultural College (CSSAC)
- Central Luzon State University (CLSU)
- Iloilo State College of Fisheries (ISCOF)
- Isabela State University (ISU)
- Leyte State University (LSU)
- Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU)
- Pangasinan State University (PSU)
- Pampanga Agricultural College (PAC)
- Southern Philippines Agri-business and Marine and Aquatic School of technology (SPAMAST)
- Sultan Kudarat Polytechnic State College (SKPSC)
- Surallah National Agricultural School (SUNAS)
- Tarlac College of Agriculture (TCA)
- University of Southern Mindanao (USM)
- University of Southeastern Philippines (USP)
Among the national government agencies and other institutions tapped to provide lectures and field instruction on TCM are the Department of Agriculture, National Food Authority, Department of Trade and Industry, and the Cooperative Development Authority.
