Soil Health: Feeding the planet should not cost the earth

Throughout the past century, advancements in agricultural technology have allowed farmers to feed a population that has grown from 2 billion people to 8 billion today. But this has contributed to a deterioration of soil health – 33% of the earth’s soils are degraded, and topsoil could run out in just 60 years. At Syngenta, we believe feeding the planet should not cost the earth. We are working hard to help farmers to safeguard the health of their soils, and build a more sustainable future in agriculture.

Soil is a living eco system. Rather than just the ground beneath our feet, it is a world so busy with life that one teaspoon of soil can contain more living organisms than there are people on the planet. An estimated 25 percent of the world’s biodiversity lives in soil.

This rich, complex environment is what we rely on to grow 95 percent of the world’s food. Healthy soils produce more nutritious food, and give plants greater resilience to pests and diseases. Healthy soils also holds more water, making this available to plants when rainfall is unreliable, or absorbing more during heavy rains, preventing floods and the run-off of vital nutrients from fields. By sequestering carbon, healthy soils alleviate the rise in greenhouse gases, and help mitigate today’s climate crisis.

At Syngenta, we are developing advanced technologies and solutions that enable farmers to grow productively and sustainably, while protecting the health of their soil.

Innovating for healthier soil

As a leader in agricultural innovation, we strive to develop breakthrough technologies that enable farmers to protect the health of their crops while preserving the health and biodiversity of their soils.
 
One example is TYMIRIUM^® technology, a Syngenta trademarked active ingredient. This advanced technology protects plant roots from harmful plant parasitic nematodes and soil-borne diseases, particularly Fusarium species. By doing this, it safeguards soil health by ensuring a stronger root system that supports soil structure and soil organic matter, enhances nutrient use efficiency, and improves crop resilience to both biotic and abiotic stress. Highly selective, TYMIRIUM^® technology enables farmers to minimize impacts on soil biodiversity and non-target organisms.
 
Biological seed treatment solutions are another example of how innovation helps farmers reduce their dependence on synthetic fertilizers. Through our collaboration with Bioceres Crop Solutions, we offer biological seed-applied solutions that help crops, such as soybean, capture nitrogen from the atmosphere, significantly reducing the need for nitrogen fertilizers. 

Expanding portfolio of Biological solutions

Biologicals are a broad category of plant protection and strengthening products that are derived from or inspired by nature. They offer growers additional solutions to enhance soil health while managing resistance and reducing residues.

At Syngenta, we are constantly expanding our offer of biological solutions, including pheromone-based technologies that control key pests using nothing more than the power of smell.

One example is NELVIUM™, that uses natural signalling compounds to interrupt mating behaviour of a key pest: the rice stem borer, whose larvae feed on rice crops and threaten entire harvests. By using smell, adult stem borers are confused into seeking mating opportunities beyond the farmer’s fields, reducing significantly the threat of crop damage from their young.

Digital solutions to enhance precision in agriculture

Advanced digital solutions are already transforming the decision-making capabilities of farmers. The ability to detect pest infestations in soil using a combination of satellite imagery and artificial intelligence is already a reality, with growers able to identify infestations of harmful microscopic nematodes. Soils benefit most when farmers are able to be precise in their farming practices, knowing exactly where, when, and how much of any crop input to use.

Syngenta recently launched Interra^® Scan, so that farmers no longer need to second guess the actual condition of their soil. As one of the world's highest-resolution commercial soil-mapping services, Interra^® Scan produces soil nutrient, texture and carbon maps that enable farmers make better decisions to optimize the health of their soils. 

Driving research and fostering collaboration

Even today, soil holds mysteries that have yet to be fully understood. Syngenta invests significant resources in our Soil Health Center in Stein, Switzerland, where we are breaking new ground daily in our understanding of soil and all its complexity. Through our collaboration with Biome Makers, we are gaining insights into soil biology to determine how farmers can produce more sustainably while revitalizing soil functionality and improving soil health. 

We are also partnering with other scientific and agronomic experts to precisely assess the impact of biodiversity on soil health and other important agronomic indicators. Beginning in 2020, multi-year pilot programs have been launched under our LivinGro^® program in countries including Argentina, Chile, Germany, Mexico and Spain, that enable insights into soil’s microbiota, its ability to sequester carbon, and its vulnerability to erosion and infiltration.

Regenerative Agriculture: where Innovation meets tradition

It has become increasingly urgent to address the depletion of the world’s soils and its impact. Healthy soils are necessary to produce the food we need, and to protect the important ecosystem services that soils provide. Is this possible in the face of the global challenge to feed a growing population? Is it possible to align what’s best for farmers and consumers, with what’s best for our planet?

At Syngenta, we believe so. Regenerative agriculture is an outcome-based food production system that nurtures and restores soil health, protects the climate and water resources, and enhances farm productivity and profitability. It requires farmers to leave the soil undisturbed through no tillage, reduced tillage or conservation tillage and covered by crops all year round. 

Our goal is to develop the tools that will enable more farmers across the world to adopt regenerative agricultural practices. At the same time partnering across the agricultural value chain – for example with Cargill and Kellogg’s as well as with non-governmental organisations such as the Nature Conservancy and Solidaridad – to empower farmers to adopt agronomic conservation practices. In Vietnam, we work with partners to help smallholder farmers restore soil health as part of our commitment to building resilient food systems there. 

There’s a lot that we’re already doing to help restore the health of the world’s soil, but there’s much more than needs to be done. Will you join us on our journey?