science matters : spring 2010

1Science Matters Keeping abreast of Syngenta R&D Spring 2010

BiodiversityThis special issue marking the International Year of Biodiversity shows how we are providing solutions to help farmers across the world maintain biodiversity, crop quality and productivity:

Encouraging pollinators by improving habitats

Restoring bird numbers in farmed environments Enhancing diversity below ground Special article – perspectives from the Crop Diversity Trust

sciencematters

Keeping abreast of Syngenta R&D Spring 10

03 Preserving biodiversity – we all have a role to play – Sandro AruffoHead of Research and Development, Sandro Aruffo, puts biodiversity into context. What are the key challenges and what is Syngenta doing to address these?

04 Bee alert – Jeff Peters

06 Bouquets for bees – André Fougeroux

With approximately 30% of the world’s food relying on pollination, the dramatic reduction in pollinating insects, especially bees, has been devastating. Two articles focus on this critical issue. Jeff Peters and André Fougeroux discuss how we are working with farmers around the world to show how field margins can be used to encourage pollinators without significant impact on crop yields.

08 The bird man of Hillesden – Jeremy Dyson Jeremy Dyson discusses one of the major projects

Syngenta is involved in to assess the effectiveness of stewardship biodiversity schemes, with the goal of providing sound scientific opinion to governmental institutions to manage farms for maximal biodiversity.

10 Biodiversity and Birds – Peter Edwards Peter Edwards talks about efforts to improve the biodiversity of birds.

He has been working with organisations such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to put in place farm-based strategies to improve species diversity.

12 Why use predators when you can spray? – Melvyn FidgettA central role in main-taining biodiversity is the

strategy of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) which provides diverse solutions to farmers, integrating a range of strategies such as chemical use, crop agronomy and biological control. Melvyn Fidgett from Syngenta Bioline illustrates how we are unique in this area.

14 Things are hotting up in the world of peppers – Rik van WijkGenetic biodiversity is

critical in breeding new crop varieties. The “peppers team” describe the challenges they face in breeding new varieties.

16 Stewardship and Biodiversity – Richard BrownSyngenta has an excellent reputation for

stewardship of our chemical portfolio, minimizing the environmental impact of our products and helping farmers to maximize biodiversity. Richard Brown discusses these challenges and how Syngenta has worked to ensure we maintain this environmentally-friendly reputation.

18 Biodiversity is as important below ground as above – Alain Gaume The soil beneath our feet

is a rich source of biodiversity that is vital for our food supply. Alain Gaume talks about this complex ecosystem.

Contents

Science Matters is a magazine supported by the Syngenta Fellows to recognize and communicate the excellent science throughout Syngenta. Summaries of the articles in this issue are given below:

20 What’s wrong with weeds? – Peter Sutton Peter Sutton discusses the role of herbicides,

weed management and biodiversity, addressing the dilemma farmers’ face in controlling weeds yet still providing food for seed-eating animals.

22 Of pandas and potatoes– Cary FowlerAn external perspective on the importance of

protecting crop diversity from the Global Crop Diversity Trust.

28 Interviews with Principal Fellows Mary-Dell Chilton and Alain De MesmaekerScience Matters is a magazine that is driven by the Syngenta Fellows. Here we have two interviews with our only two Principal Fellows; Mary-Dell Chilton and Alain De Mesmaeker. Read how they have had a significant impact in our scientific direction.

26 Snippets – Ashley Collins & Carolyn RichesOur “out and about” reporters have biodiversity

stories from across the company

30 Editorial – Stuart John DunbarIncreasing world population, pressures on water availability and managing the impact of climate change mean that we need to “grow more from less”. In order to do this sustainably we also need to protect the biodiversity of the land we use. Senior Syngenta Fellow Stuart John Dunbar illustrates the challenge and how we are rising to it.


2010 has been designated the “International Year of Biodiversity” by the United Nations. It is a celebration of life on Earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives. It is vitally important to agriculture since it is the origin of all crops and the variety within them. However, you may have read about the loss of species, for example in the Brazilian rainforest, and how agriculture is impacting this. But are you reading the full story?

Our seeds business draws on the genetic diversity of food crops to enhance desirable traits, resulting in improved yield, quality and nutritional value. Our crop protection products contribute to conserving biodiversity on farmland by facilitating sustainable agriculture techniques, such as no-till, that prevent damage to soil structure. We also help farmers put field margins and other pockets of non-productive land to good use by creating natural habitats that will support a wide range of species. This provides significant environmental benefit with little or no effect on farm productivity.

The genetic diversity of plants is the foundation for our breeders to increase crop productivity and adapting plants to changing consumer needs. The biodiversity of plants allows us to find the native traits – or characteristics – necessary to continuously adapt to changing climates and increasing abiotic stress. Syngenta is supporting the work of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, whose role is to preserve the genetic diversity of crops.

Syngenta is actively engaged in many aspects of promoting and educating about the importance of biodiversity in agriculture and how the two must go together to ensure food security. Insects and birds play a key role in maintaining natural diversity and food production. With approximately 30% of the world’s food relying on pollination, and the fact that many flowers and trees also rely on pollination, the dramatic reduction in pollinating insects, especially bees, has been devastating.

Our field teams are working with farmers to show how field margins can be used to improve the biodiversity of birds and encourage pollinators, without significant impact on crop yields. Similarly, we are addressing the role of our products for weed management while supporting biodiversity by providing food for seed-eating animals. Our technology is being used to increase yields from the land currently farmed, thereby reducing the pressure to bring more land under cultivation, protecting the biodiversity of the forests and prairies that might otherwise be under pressure for farming use.

Syngenta is working with government and non-governmental organizations with the intention to help governments, farmers, consumers and the agricultural industry better understand the challenges facing the sustainable management of agricultural ecosystems and biodiversity. Recently, Syngenta supported the World Business Council for Sustainable Development “Vision 2050” project which calls for a new agenda for business to work with governments and society worldwide to face the challenge of sustainably feeding an increasing population.

In this issue of Science Matters, you will learn how we are working together with all aspects of society, providing solutions to help farmers across the world maintain biodiversity, crop quality and productivity.

Preserving biodiversity in agriculture is not optional, it is essential for maintaining the natural resources which sustain agriculture – we all have a role to play.

Sandro AruffoHead of Research & Development

Preserving biodiversity–weallhavearoletoplay

04 Science Matters Keeping abreast of Syngenta R&D Spring 2010

Operation Pollinator is Syngenta’s campaign to help reverse the decline of bee populations around the world by improving their habitat. So far this decline has not posed a threat to agriculture in terms of global yields, but might become a threat to future food security if habitat loss is not addressed. Jeff Peters is heading the campaign in the US.

Bee alertThe economic value of insect pollinators, mainly bees, worldwide amounts to €153 billion per year according to INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique). This fact is very much appreciated by Syngenta which provides plant protection and seeds for more than 100 horticultural crops that require insect pollinators, of which the most important by far are bee species. Now these insect populations are threatened.


Bee populations had been in decline in the UK and Europe when Syngenta officially launched the Operation Bumblebee Pilot in 2004. This program trained UK farmers and agronomists to restore bee habitats along the margins of fields with clover rich legumes; and the result was the return of the bumblebee without compromising grower productivity and profitability. Where it has been implemented, Operation Bumblebee has seen a 6-fold increase in bumble bees, a 12-fold in butterflies and a 10-fold increase in other pollinating insects. Operation Pollinator is aiming to do something similar for the US and the rest of the world.

The vital role of beesBoth honeybees and native pollinators play a key role for many of North America’s horticultural crops such as almonds, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, apples, melons, tomatoes and peppers. In fact, 30% of global food supply depends on bees for pollination. In addition, pollination (wind or insect) is an important ecosystem service which maintains the biodiversity and survival of non-crop flowering plants, particularly trees. Both the agricultural community and bee keepers continue to express concern over the drop in numbers of pollinating insects and various campaigns have aimed at raising public awareness of the problem. Syngenta has been taking action to solve this threat to biodiversity with practical land management solutions.

Jeff: “Enhancing the suitability of farm landscapes for native pollinators will create a diversified strategy for achieving good crop yields in pollination-dependent crops year after year. Modern agriculture is starting to come full circle and under-stand the other co-benefits from making wise farm management decisions which can dramatically affect biodiversity levels, conserve natural resources (i.e. soil and water protection) as well as improve their bottom-line.”

Why are bee populations declining?Jeff: “Declines of native pollinators have been linked to habitat loss – increasing agricultural intensification and urban sprawl, among other factors. While many heavily managed farm landscapes often lack the diversity and abundance of flowers that native pollinators require, recent research has shown that this trend can be reversed. Requirements for supporting a native pollinator community include diversity in foraging habitat from spring to fall with rich nectar and pollen

nutrition as well as adequate nesting habitat.

It’s a little known fact that honeybees are not the predominant species of bee. In fact there are 20,000 species of native bees around the world and most are solitary bees, many of which are excellent pollinators. These also appear to have been in decline in recent years just like the honeybee.

Whole colonies of commercially managed honeybees have declined in recent years due to disease, pathogens and a host of other stressors. These hives of commercially managed honey-bees have been particularly affected by the current phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder; and in view of this, there is an urgent need to encourage native bees. These native bees can provide a hidden benefit in that they start work earlier in the day and work later into the evening than honeybees. However, it would be misleading to suggest wild pollination services could replace managed services based on current commercial agriculture production but merely this could become a integrated crop pollination strategy. Global effort from SyngentaJeff: “The Syngenta global effort is led by independent researchers challenged to determine the most preferred and eco-nomically viable pollinator seed mixtures for specific ecoregions around the world. Their expertise in agronomy and ento-mology is an essential part of Operation Pollinator, which also has the backing of various partners such as the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the UK Centre of Ecology and Hydrology as well as others providing valuable technical assistance and research funding.”

“Once the program moves to the farm we are going to be boots on the ground, working to support the grower. We want this program to flourish and show that agriculture and biodiversity can coexist.”

Syngenta launched Phase I of Operation Pollinator in the US in the autumn of 2009 with research pilot evaluations; and Phase II will be launched at the end of 2011, when it will be implemented by growers in key states which are dependent on pollination of horticultural

Jeff Peters got his BSc in Biology at the University

of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), in the US,

after which he went to work for Roche Biomedical

Laboratories (6.5 years) and then began his career

with Ciba-Geigy (Syngenta) for the past 15 years.

During his tenure at Syngenta, he has worked on

multiple products and projects in the Environmental

Fate Laboratory Area as a study director as well

as previous role as Project Manager overseeing

contract field residues studies (field and laboratory

aspects). His current role (Technical Manager,

Sustainability) requires a working knowledge of

a broad range of scientific areas of relevance to

Stewardship and Sustainability. The position involves

interfacing with science, communication/media

relations, marketing and business units and with

external stakeholders (government, NGO’s/

conservation groups and trade associations).

Part of this role is to design technical programs,

like Operation Pollinator, to support and shape the

future Syngenta’s Sustainability efforts in the US. Our

goals in Sustainability are to develop and promote

programs that focus on several key areas: soil

conservation, soil health, water protection and bio-

diversity enhancement. We understand the future

of the environment and livelihood of farmers are

dependent on sustainable agriculture to address the

critical challenges which lie ahead.

Contact: [email protected]

Operation Pollinator

InstigatedbySyngentaandbasedonscientificresearch and the

experience of selected farmers, Operation Pollinator has proven tohelpgrowerssuccessfullyestablishand manage pollen rich habitat inkeylocationsaroundthefarm–withdramaticrecoveryinthefortunesofpollinatinginsectpopulations.

Pollinator

crops. Operation Pollinator is a venture which must not fail and Jeff is determined to see that does not happen.

Further resources

www.operationpollinator.com

www.operationbumblebee.com

06

Bees need food that is plentiful, varied and nutritious, but this may be lacking around a modern farm. So how best can we help them? Syngenta’s André Fougeroux explains how their needs have now been assessed and how French melon growers are about to benefit.

Bouquets for bees – providing pollen and nectar for this vital pollinator


Bees need nectar and pollen to develop, as do a lot of other insects. A bee colony’s food resources consist not only of 60-80 kg of nectar but of 15-40 kg of pollen, which represents their source of protein.

In 2004, Syngenta started a programme to investigate the pollen resources on farms in central France, and established a network of farms consisting of three which produce grapes and eight which grow arable crops. In five of the latter, six beehives were installed at each farm and the study of pollen collection was organized with beekeepers.

Analyzing the pollen baseline In the first year, the aim was to analyse the pollen which bees gathered during the cropping season from March to October. Pollen traps were installed on each hive and the pollen was collected every 15 days over a 48-hour period. Pollen grains were analyzed in a specially equipped laboratory where it was possible to identify their origin. The results showed that the amount collected is definitely linked to plant diversity. What the study also revealed was that there was a lack of pollen from June to the end of August on all the farms. This meant that the bees have to forage poorer quality sources of food.

André: “What we observed at Beauvilliers was that the bees were lacking pollen during the critical summer months and that the pollen they collected was coming from maize, grasses, solanum and ragwort, whose pollen is far from ideal.”

Setting aside land for bee food These observations were acted on in consultation with farmers and beekeepers, and it was decided to improve the bees’ food supply by using field margins and set-aside areas on which a variety of legumes were grown, namely white clover, sainfoin and trefoil. On one 200 hectare farm, the farmer agreed to set aside a total of 3,000 square metres (0.3 ha) on which such plants could grow. The pollen collection on this farm revealed a peak in July which could be attributed to the flowers on the set-aside land.

André: “The main conclusions of this study were that while bees can gather lots of pollen in spring, they face a lack of pollen in summer in areas where arable crops are grown and this is linked directly to the lack of plant diversity. We also discovered that it takes only a little re-

thinking of land management to improve the food resources of pollinators. As a result of our findings, we were asked to define the best percentage of land which needed to be set aside, and a study was designed in which Syngenta collaborated with the National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRA), the East of France Association of Beekeeping Development (ADAEst), and a cooperative (Cohesis).”

The focus was on 5,500 hectares in Montagne de Reims. Three apiaries, each of 40 hives, were installed and 20 hectares of set-aside land was assigned and was split into several plots and sown with different clovers, trefoil, sainfoin, melilotus and phacelia. The pollen collected by the bees was monitored from May to the end of September. At the same time, the foraging activity of bees and the plant preferences were assessed.

A small area makes a big difference The study showed that 66% of pollen collected during the season came from the set-aside areas even though these accounted for only 0.32% of the total farm area. The investigators concluded that ideally 1% of land should be devoted to plants of this kind in order to provide all pollinators with the resources they need.

“These two studies clearly demonstrated that simple land management can really improve the food supply for bees who need to gather enough pollen during the summer period for the winter generations.”

Providing them with more protein allows beehives to better develop, over winter more successfully and to resist parasites such as varroa and nosema and diseases such as viruses.

André: “We now have a very good technical and scientific basis on which to implement Operation Pollinator in France. This will now focus on melon growers, encouraging them to create flowering margins in order to improve food resources for wild pollinators such as bumble bees and solitary bees, and thereby improving melon production. This project is being implemented in partnership with melon producers’ organizations.”

Nectar is a sweet substance,producedbysomeplantstoattractpollinatorssuchasbees,butterfliesand hummingbirds. Bees collect nectar from plants they visit andmakeit intohoney.Whilecollectingthe nectar, pollinators can transfer pollen from male flowers to female flowers playing a vital role in pollination.

Pollen is a fine powder of micro-scopicparticlesfromthemaleflowerthatcanfertilizethefemaleflowertoproduceseed.Pollenisavitalsourceofprotein forbeesand iscollectedbythemandtakenbacktothehive.Bees can often be seen carrying polleninlargeamountsontheirlegs.

For more information

These studies have been reported in the literature –

see below – and they are now being used to

advise farmers on how to manage their land in order

to improve food resources for bees and other

pollinators. They are consistent with the results

of Buzz project in UK and form part of Syngenta’s

initiative to protect the diversity of bees and other

pollinators – see the article by Jeff Peters earlier in

this issue.

References:

Fougeroux A., Giffard H., Ressources alimentaires de

l’abeille en zone de grandes cultures – L’expérience

des ruchers Agéris, Phytoma, 592, 45-47, 2006.

T. Poissonnet, P. Boyer, J.-F. Odoux, A. Fougeroux,

P. Lecompte. Jachère « entomofaune pollinisatrice »

en Montagne de Reims, Une modification de

l’aménagement de l’espace au profit des abeilles,

Bull. Tech. Apic., 34 (1), 17-32, 2007.

André Fougeroux studied at the Agronomic

School in Dijon after which he went to work for the

Plant Protection Service in the Ministry of Agriculture

in Paris and then moved to ACTA (Association of

Technical Coordination in Agriculture), which is part

of the Farmers’ Union, where he was Head of the

Crop Protection Service. He joined Syngenta in

1990 and in 2004 he became Stewardship Manager

for biodiversity; he is based at Guyancourt, near

Paris in France.


08

Syngenta is participating in a project to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of three different schemes designed to enhance bird habitats. These are taking place on a large farm in Buckinghamshire, in the UK, and Jeremy Dyson, who manages the project, has some good news to report.

The Bird Man of Hillesden

– encouraging birds to return to farmland habitats


Hillesden is a 1,000 hectare farm in an intensively farmed region of the UK and located three miles south of Buckingham. It is where a remarkable investigation has been on-going for the past three years, and which will continue for another two. The object is to assess the cost-effectiveness of three different options designed to encourage birds to return to farmland habitats, thereby conserving and enhancing the biodiversity of the countryside. Syngenta is a key participant in the scheme which is an initiative of the UK Government’s Department of the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs.

The project itself is being run jointly by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (part of the Natural Environment Research Council), Natural England (the UK Government’s advisor on the natural environment), and the Wildlife Farming Company (a specialist business dedicated to finding the right balance between profitable agriculture and wildlife). Syngenta’s Jeremy Dyson has the job of managing the project, which he does with technical advice from Peter Sutton.

Getting to grips with the real benefitsJeremy: “With the Hillesden project, we are getting to grips with the real benefits of the different options – which are placed in awkward-to-reach and low-yielding areas and just where farmers would want them to be located – and we are using statistical analysis applied on a farm scale at Hillesden.”

“The results have been highly encouraging because bird numbers have increased for a range of species, some of whose numbers have improved dramatically.”

The ultimate aim of the Hillesden venture is to evaluate the cost-effective-ness of what is known as the Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) scheme, which is intended to conserve and enhance bio-diversity at farm scale. The project is focussed on three biodiversity options, each replicated five times across 60 hectare patches of the farm.

The first option is simply to follow the rules of Cross Compliance, which means having buffer strips of wild habitat next to water courses and hedgerows.

The second option is from ELS and involves taking one percent of the farm-land out of production to create a number of simple habitats including grass margins, a single patch of bird food, and managing the hedgerows on a two year cutting cycle.

The third option is a higher level of the second option, and involves taking five per cent of land out of production to create a greater range of habitats. These habitats now include grass and flower margins and uncultivated corners of fields where wild plants can grow and provide birds with food. They also provide pollen and nectar for bees. The third option also includes areas in fields of around four square metres which are not sown as part of the crop and which are there mainly to attract skylarks.

Jeremy Dyson graduated from Newcastle University

with a degree in soil science and from Oxford

University with a D. Phil. in soil physics. He joined

Jealott’s Hill International Research Centre in

the UK in 1991, eventually becoming a full-time

Environmental Fate Assessor. In 2004, he transferred

to Syngenta’s site at Basel, Switzerland, as a

Senior Environmental Fate Assessor, and in 2007, he

became a Stewardship and Sustainable Agriculture

Manager for Europe, with a focus on water quality

and land use.


How do you count birds and examine their habitats?

Various in-field standard methodsare used for the counting – that’sthe easy bit. Characterising their preferred habitats, on the otherhand, needs some state-of-the-arttechnology. In August 2007, the various wildlife habitats and theircomposition were mapped usingLiDAR (short for Light DetectionAndRanging)whichisalaser-basedoptical remote sensing technologyused in conjunction with the AISAEagle. This is a new type of ultrasensitivescannercapableofseeingasingleplantandwhichismountedononeoftheNationalEnvironmentalResearchCouncil’saircraft.Togetherthese created what is known as adigitalcanopyheightmodel(DCHM)that produced a detailed map ofHillesden farm, sensitive enougheventodetectpowerlinescrossingthefarm.

A hyperspectral data, land-use map of the farm

The impact of these different options are assessed by mapping the density of breeding territories of birds (see separate box) on several occasions from Spring to Summer each year. In 2008, ten visits were made between June and August to record the presence of fledglings as an assessment of nest productivity. In addition, breeding successes of the hole-nesting birds were recorded using nest boxes located in each of the biodiversity options. Finally, the numbers of birds visiting the wild seed patches and other un-cropped areas were counted every month between December and March.

Re-aligning conventional intensive agriculture to ecosystem needsJeremy: “The project completed a detailed bird habitat map in 2009. With DCHM it is now possible to identify these habitats remotely and link them to the nest box locations and bird census records.

“By the end of the project, we will have improved evidence regarding the effectiveness of different habitats for regenerating bird populations.”

Syngenta is showing along with our partners just how biodiversity can be conserved, and even enhanced, by carefully re-aligning conventional intensive agriculture to ecosystem needs.”

10

Feeding an ever-increasing human population poses challenges for us all, if it is not to be at the expense of wildlife. Syngenta’s internationally recognized expert Peter Edwards has been finding ways to restore bird numbers even in the most intensively farmed environments.

Biodiversity and birds – restoring bird populations on intensive farmland

During the last few decades, farm-land bird populations have suffered from intensive farming in many countries and extensive agriculture in others, where there has been the loss of natural habitats like the rainforest. Syngenta was very aware of the threat, and for several years we have sponsored initiatives designed to help restore bird populations and their diversity.

Peter Edwards and feathered friend


One such project was the monitoring of birds on our own Jealott’s Hill Farm which took place from 1970 to 2000 in cooperation with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).

Recovery masked other declinesPeter: “In the beginning we observed a recovery in bird populations, due to the phasing out of organochlorines, less harsh winters and recurring droughts in Africa. What we did not recognize was the more serious threat of intensive farming. Eventually, we saw tree sparrows and corn buntings completely disappear from Jealott’s Hill and skylark populations decline by 75%.”

These observations were not limited to Jealott’s Hill but were of national concern and were linked largely to loss of winter stubble from increased winter cropping, and the lack of grass leys in arable rotations.

“As a result of research led by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) we now understand many of the reasons for bird declines in the UK and Europe.”

Even so, the BTO Atlas, which maps the distributions of birds in the UK every 20 years, shows continued declines of the most vulnerable species.”

So what is Syngenta doing? The company is participating in research with governments and NGOs aimed at protecting and restoring bird populations and biodiversity. While much research has been focussed on Europe, the company has been active elsewhere – for example, in the humid tropics of Costa Rica. Syngenta has supported Latin American banana growers (especially Dole and Del Monte) by investigating the role of forest margins as habitats connecting fragmented rainforest, thereby protecting yet more vulnerable rainforest species.

Herbicides like Gramoxone® are valuable tools for weed management and non-till agriculture (see Science Matters, Spring 2009). Less well known are its benefits for farmland birds. It improves the availability of food, both by encouraging populations of invertebrates in the soil, and on the surface by increasing the

Peter Edwards did an MIBiol in ecology and

animal behaviour at Sir John Cass College, London

while working as an ecologist for ICI, now Syngenta.

He has worked at Jealott’s Hill International

Research Centre in Product Safety for 40 years, mainly

evaluating the safety of new pesticides to wildlife. In

1997 he was awarded an MBE for his ‘contribution

to bird ecology and conservation in agriculture’.


Case studyRelief for the Reed Buntingin the UK

Following a report from a Lincoln-shire farmer, Nicholas Watts, aboutthe decline of the Reed Bunting,Syngenta investigated the benefits of desiccating the oilseed rapecrop with Reglone® and glypho-sate prior to harvest. The researchwas done with help from the BTO. Desiccation typically leads to a 10daydelaybeforeharvestingandthisgives birds with nests in the croplonger for their chicks to fledge.The results were amazing, and thesurvival rate of second brood reedbuntingincreasedby50%.

Case studyEncouraging the Little Bustard in Spain

Operation Little Tetrax in Spain isjust about to start. Thisprojectwillinvestigate how best to encouragesuccessful breeding of the LittleBustard and expand its numbers.LikeseveralIberiansteppespecies,theLittleBustard isunderpressurefrom intensification following irrigationschemes.

Peter alsohopes toobtain support from the Technology StrategyBoard’s support for a web-basedknowledgetooltohelpfarmersandbirdbiodiversityintheirregion.

supply of seeds from the previous harvest. This was investigated recently by the RSPB as part of the Syngenta Soil and Water Protection (SOWAP) project in Europe.

The benefits of no-till agriculture are nowhere better seen than in Brazil where it is the norm for cereals, maize and soy. Burrowing Owls, which have nest holes in the middle of these large arable fields, have clearly benefited. Without no-till, this species would be restricted to the uncultivated field margins and any remaining grassland.

Recent environmental schemes supported by Syngenta include the SAFFIE and BUZZ projects, both applying the same principles and focusing on different populations: SAFFIE on birds, and BUZZ on pollinators (see Operation Pollinator articles on pages 04 and 05).

SAFFIE, part funded by Syngenta, looked at the best ways to manage sown field margins and improve the crop structure of winter wheat to support breeding Skylarks. Field margins were best managed for biodiversity by light harrowing and selective herbicide use with Fusilade®. By having two 4 x4 metre undrilled patches per hectare there can be a dramatic increase in the numbers of Skylarks nesting twice in one season and fledging more chicks each year.

Peter: “At first I was surprised when our research showed that the combination of undrilled patches and field margin did not show the expected increase in the number of chicks, but we found that was due to nest predation by mammals. However, we believe this is only a problem in small fields and where margins are close to the undrilled patches.”

Other Syngenta funded biodiversity projects are now looking into the response to different proportions of managed off-crop habitat.

Reed Bunting Little Bustard

The use of beneficial insects and mites for pest control is not a new concept but in recent years it has become increasingly popular with flower, fruit and vegetable growers across the world.

The first ever recorded commercial sales were of the parasitic wasp (Encarsia formosa) made by a Mr Speyer from Waltham Cross in the 1920’s; he sold wasps for whitefly control in the UK and for export. However, the advent of DDT soon resulted in lost interest in using biological controls of insect pests for the next 40 years.

This question is something that growers regularly ask Melvyn Fidgett from Syngenta Bioline when he suggests using beneficial insects and mites to control a pest problem. The response is easy: “It is part of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and good for biodiversity.” Here Melvyn discusses the history of beneficial insect use and how he is working with colleagues at Syngenta Bioline to develop new breeding and delivery systems to help bring Integrated Pest Management to life!

Why use predators, when you can spray?

12

An Aphelinus parasitic wasp depositing its larva in an aphid

Melvyn: “I am often asked if growers will stop using insects and revert back to using chemicals if a new effective insecticide is introduced. My answer is always no, but they will probably use the insects and new pesticides together in a program.”

So what has changed compared to the days of Mr. Speyer?When the uptake in biological controls was rekindled in the 1970s and 80s, it was due mainly as an alternative approach, as many insecticides had developed problematic levels of resistance. Even though growers had a real need for new insect control solutions the use of beneficial insects was still very slow to develop, and remained in the niche area of glasshouse crops in the UK and the Netherlands.

In the last five years this “Integrated Approach” of combining beneficial insects/mites with chemical treatments has become established in more cropping systems in many more countries. Insecticide resistance, residue issues, supermarket pressure, worker safety are some of the main reasons why growers have been converting to the Integrated Approach, and in most cases this has been more effective that what they had before.

These new technical and consumer demands on growers have resulted in them wanting to change, but it can also only be feasible if the bio-companies respond with cost efficient products.

“Growers will not pay more or accept incomplete control because they still have to achieve yield and quality targets which meet retailer requirements.”

Early converts to biological control used parasitic wasps such as Encarsia formosa for whitefly control. Encarsia needs to spend the majority of its life cycle inside its host the whitefly, and needs the whitefly to complete its development. It is therefore never going to completely kill off its host’s population, or provide one hundred percent efficient control.

Encarsia is produced on tobacco plants, which are infested with whitefly. This production system on plants is relatively inefficient plus a labour and energy intensive process, and therefore a grower

Melvyn Fidgett joined Ciba-Geigy Agrochemicals

as a Marketing Trainee in 1977 having studied

General Agriculture at Harper Adams Agricultural

College. He worked in sales and marketing and was

Marketing Manager for the UK. He transferred to

Ciba-Bunting as MD in 1995 (now Syngenta Bioline).


could only afford to introduce low numbers of 1-2 per m² which is barely optimal for whitefly control.

In more recent years, predatory mites have been developed for the control of whitefly, one example being Amblyseuis swirskii. This is introduced into the crop in release sachets, and within weeks you can find many thousands of predators on each plant. Amblyseuis swirskii had been known to be an efficient predator for more than three decades. The real challenge was to develop breeding and delivery systems that result in thousands of mites on a plant and high levels of pest control. Predatory mites are produced in climate controlled rooms, in a rearing substrate. This may be such as vermiculite, buckwheat or bran. The mite is fed on a prey of a pest mite which are often found in stored food products.

Melvyn: “Selecting which prey for the predator to eat can take many years to find. Then developing a production system for the predator is the next step. Patents are now being granted to recognize the innovation and develop-ment work that is required to breed these efficient predators.”

In crops such as cut flowers the use of “Bugline” a continuous line of release sachets enables grower to effectively control thrips, in an Integrated Program. Syngenta Bioline was granted a patent on the Bugline development.

Integrated Crop Management programsThe next stage of the development is how it can be used effectively on different crops. The Integrated Crop Management (ICM) program will often mean that the growers change to using beneficial insects and mites, they also often need to use different insecticides and fungicides which are compatible with the use of


Syngenta Bioline

Syngenta Bioline is dedicated tothe production of premium quality bumblebees, beneficial insects andmites for use in vegetables, fruit,flowers and ornamental crops.Theydeliver innovativesolutions to growers through Integrated CropManagement techniques. Syngenta BiolineisactivethroughoutEurope,NorthAmericaandJapan.

beneficial insects and mites. These compatible pesticides can be broad spectrum or specific against a pest we develop where and when they fit and how they are used. Sometimes a short persistence broad spectrum insecticide is more useful than a specific “soft” chemical.

“It is my view that the Integration of Biological and Chemical control is the future of pest control for many high value crops.”

It is not an either/or, but a combination. The next development of the ICM concept will be increased use of micro-bial pesticides particularly for disease control. In a integrated program microbial fungicides are often used when a crop is fruiting and they can help in reducing residue levels in the harvested crop.

Further resources

More information is available at

www.syngenta-bioline.co.uk

Predatory mites are introduced into the crop

in release sachets

14

Biodiversity provides opportunities for improving crops by introducing better cultivars. Syngenta’s pepper breeding team of Rik van Wijk, Jeanlouis Nicolet and Moshe Bar* are dedicated to doing just that.

Things are hotting up in the world of peppers

The capsicums are among the world’s most widely cultivated food plants and the best known is C. annuum. It comes as red, green, and orange peppers popular as vegetables and salads in Europe and the US, and as chili peppers whose dried powder is a popular spice particularly in Asia, Central America, and South America where it originated from. The range and diversity of C. annuum types is large and they go by many names, of which the best known peppers are Bell, Cayenne, Jalapeno and Pimiento. In fact there are 30 species of capsicum, of which five are domesticated: C. annuum, C. chinense, C. frutescens, C. baccatum, and C. pubescens.

Science Matters Keeping abreast of Syngenta R&D Spring 2010


C. chinense is commonly grown around the Caribbean and in the tropics, and provides the world’s hottest cultivars including the taste searing Habanero. C. frutescens is well known from its tabasco cultivars, while those of C. baccatum provide the colorful spices known as aji in South America. How-ever, C. pubescens, the least common of the domesticated capsicums, is in a class of its own in terms of its genes. It is genetically isolated from the others as a consequence of severe inter-specific incompatibility. The other peppers are in a good shape gene-wise and they can make inter-specific crosses.

Like all crops, peppers are threatened by diseases, insects and drought. The major challenge for the pepper breeding community is to develop cultivars able to cope with or resist such stresses. Useful traits with the right characteristics for this already exist in the various domesticated and wild (aka landrace) capsicums.

Transference of useful traits Enrichment of the breeding germplasm means transferring useful traits from the wild gene pool, although it is not always easy to overcome the crossing barriers. In such cases in-vitro culture techniques, such as embryo rescue or the use of bridge crosses, are needed. Following an inter-specific cross with C. annuum, major resistant genes have been

introduced in Syngenta products. The aim was to provide protection against the pepper mild mottle virus, tomato spotted wilt virus, potyvirus, bacterial spot and the fungal disease antracnose. These discoveries were made by teams working at Syngenta, and at universities and public institutes, some supported by industry consortia. And the search continues still, now using exotic landraces to open new kinds of innovative traits like insect resistance. Indeed, the Syngenta pepper team is today considered the pioneering group by the vegetables industry and their work is highly regarded.

The old cultivars have also been used to improve the fruit quality of peppers. For instance, Morron, an open pollinated variety grown in the Ebro valley in Spain for the canning industry has been improved in terms of firmness, smooth-ness and thicker walls. The result is Roxy and its derived F1.

“A successful breeding program directed at improving agriculture productivity, quality and sustainability is highly dep-endent on secured access to genetic resources.”

A point of worry today is the main-tenance and access to the biodiversity of gene banks. Some national gene banks limit this access while others demand the rights to any discovery done on their accessions.

Preserving biodiversityOne of our missions in Syngenta is to preserve the biodiversity in a given crop. Molecular marker technologies today provide reliable genotyping data invaluable for germplasm characteriza-tion and management, whether it be to assess the genetic diversity within gene banks or to manage the breeding germplasm we already have. We seek parental lines for crossings followed by marker assisted selection. Increased knowledge of genetic groups or improved structure of the germplasm will help breeders to utilize their germplasm more efficiently through exploitation of complementary lines, the object being to maximize the outcomes of a hybrid breeding program.

* Rik van Wijk is Leader in the Molecular Breeding

of Pepper, Jeanlouis Nicolet is a pepper breeding

specialist, and Moshe Bar is Leader in Pepper Global

Development.

Rik van Wijk (pictured centre) grew up between

plants and animals on a farm in south-west of the

Netherlands. He studied plant breeding at the

Wageningen University (WU) graduating in 1995. He

then went to work for the biotechnology company

Keygene (The Netherlands) as marker assisted

breeding project manager. In 2002 he moved to the

Institute for Pig Genetics, while physically based at

the Animal Genetics and Breeding department of

WU where he did his PhD on molecular genetics of

meat quality. This followed by a year postdoctoral

research at the same department. Subsequently he

moved back to his most loved ‘plant world’ when

joining Syngenta in 2006, based in France where he is

Molecular Breeding Lead of pepper.

Rik would also like to acknowledge input from

colleagues Jeanlouis Nicolet (left) and Moshe Bar (right)

in writing the article – they are pictured with him.


Fishing in the wild gene pool

There are considerable geneticvariations in landraces and wildrelativesofthedomesticatedpeppers.Although some traits already trans-ferred to our breeding germplasmarebasictraitsintoday’shybrids,wehave only just started unlocking thisvariation. Thediscovery and transferof useful traits is a lengthy processrequiring years of classic breeding.Useful traits rarely come withoutsome negative effect on the overallperformance(socalledlinkagedrag).A well known example of this is thereducedgrowthandfertilityassociated

with resistance to the pepper mild mottle virus. A certain level of the linkagedragispresentevenaftertwodecadesofbreeding.

There is a major challenge ahead todiscovernewtraits.Molecularmarkertechnologies and approaches willaid in this. Genetic mapping allows identification of qualitative trail loci(QTL) or genes underlying traits ofinterest.Within theSyngentapepperbreeding group there are new tech-nologies and increasing activitiesaimed at the more complex traits ofpolygenic disease resistances, yield,fruit quality, andnutrition, aswell asbioticstresses likedroughttoleranceorotherusefulbiological traits.Valu-ablegeneticvariationforsuchtraitsiserodedwithinthebreedinggermplasmduringdomestication,followingyearsofprofessionalbreeding,andneedtobe‘fished’outofthe‘reservoir’ fromexotic materials to “re-energize” thebiodiversityofthecrop.

16

Biodiversity is central to the stability of the Earth’s environment, it is also central to Syngenta’s imperative of producing more from less. Richard Brown explains that as an environmental steward, Syngenta contributes directly to the identification and protection of High Conservation Value Forest, such as those areas in Indonesia where the orang-utan is under threat, and in areas of intensive production our product stewardship programmes help to protect the health of workers, consumers and the environment.

Stewardship and biodiversity– central to feeding the world in a sustainable way

One of the things that I am often asked is, “What is Stewardship?” In a number of languages people struggle to find the equivalent to this slightly old-fashioned English word. A steward is someone who manages something for someone else and the word has its roots in the Biblical parable of the good steward. More recent definitions from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) include the concepts of “responsible” and “ethical” behaviour.

The orang-utan has become a symbol of

conservation in the forests of Indonesia


Connections give ecosystems their stabilityBiodiversity is not only the assemblages of plants, animals and microbes in an environment but also the functioning of the webs and feedback loops that connect them and give ecosystems their stability. It is this stability of the Earth’s environment that has allowed life to evolve and prosper here. The biodiversity of the Earth is intimately connected its stability, so paying close attention to biodiversity is responsible and ethical as well as an essential part of taking care to manage our natural resources for future generations.

“Stewardship of our natural resources is an imperative for the human race and Syngenta’s imperative of producing more from less is central to meeting the challenge.”

Biodiversity is at the heart of our strategic imperative of growing more from less. Much of the land that is well suited to agriculture has already been converted. Our options are either to increase pro-ductivity of this land or to take more species-rich natural habitat into cultivation. The responsible and ethical approach towards protecting biodiversity would appear to be intensification on existing land and the protection of natural habitat. In addition to this, the land that is in cultivation needs to be managed sustainbly and a main focus of Syngenta’s Product Stewardship is to ensure that the products are used with-out a risk to the health of operators, consumers or the environment. By responsibly and ethically supporting intensification, Syngenta does much to enable growing more from less but what do we do for the natural habitats?

Helping farmers to protect natural environmentIn Brazil, 80% of the forest that is converted goes into low-productivity pasture. This is the opposite of producing more from less. In the highly productive Cerrados area, the soils are very old and over vast amounts of time they have been leached by rainfall and become acid. After conversion these acid soils were limed and nutrients added and so the region is now highly productive but due to the change in the soil conditions, if abandoned it would no longer be suitable for the native plants.

In order to help farmers increase the percentage of their holdings that contain unconverted land, Syngenta has been working with an environmental NGO, The Nature Conservancy or TNC, to identify blocks of natural forest that they can buy and protect. Brazilian farms that contain less than a certain amount of un-converted land receive a lower payment for their produce and so there is a strong incentive for these farmers to protect the natural habitat that they have purchased. In addition, the remote sensing of these areas by TNC identifies the areas of High Conservation Value Forest that can be protected and by arranging for the protection of neighbouring blocks the total area of the conserved forest is greater and its conservation value is enhanced even further.

Optimizing palm plantations to protect valuable forestIn Asia, there is much debate and concern over the destruction of High Conservation Value Forest in Indonesia as exemplified by the many organizations committed to protecting the orang-utan which has become the symbol of the Indonesian forest. For simplicity, the finger of blame has been pointed at Oil Palm plantations, though the underlying politics are a little more complex. However it is true that forest is being converted into plantation. Much Oil Palm production is not yet optimized and through the application of plant sciences and the use of Syngenta’s crop protection products, increases in yield and profit-ability can be increased from existing plantations.

“By increasing yields from existing plantations we can minimize the need for new plantations, helping to protect native wildlife such as the orang-utan.”

However, ironically, there is interest in organic palm oil which yields up to 30% less than the conventionally produced crop which would increase the pressure on natural habitats by producing less from more.

Further resources

More information on Syngenta’s stewardship

activities can be found at www.syngenta.com/

en/corporate_responsibility/stewardship.html

or in our 2009 Annual Report available at

http://annualreport.syngenta.com

Richard Brown was born and raised on a small farm

in Norfolk in the UK and graduated from Newcastle

University with a degree and PhD in Agricultural

Biology and Ecology. After working at Imperial College

London, he joined the Jealott’s Hill Ecology team in

1984 and has held various roles risk assessment,

registration and biology, eventually becoming Head

of Lab R&D in the USA. After three years running a

biotech start-up in California, he re-joined Syngenta

as Global Head of Product Stewardship in 2003.


The orang-utan, helping maintain biodiversity through seed dispersal

Primarily frugivorous, orang-utanshave an important role as seed dispersers.Theyselectivelychooseripe fruitwhose seedsare adaptedto withstand passage through theirbodies. Over 400 food types havebeen documented as part of theorang-utans’ diet. Once the seedshave passed through the gut, theyareexcretedandfindthemselvesintheirowncompostpile,whichhelpsthemtobecomeestablished.

Aswellasactingasseeddispersers,orang-utans also help to open uptheforestcanopy. Thisallowslighttoreachtheforestfloor,whichhelpsthe forest to regenerate naturally.Theyareavitalcogintheworkingsoftherainforestecosystem.

18

Biodiversity does not only mean the wildlife we can see, it also includes the world we cannot see and which lives in the soil. This is vital to our food supply and, as Alain Gaume explains, it is a remarkably complex ecosystem.

Biodiversity is as important below ground as above

Although we know a lot about plant and animal biodiversity, much less is known about microbial diversity and in particular about that of soil microbes. Indeed the maintenance of viable and diverse populations of these species is essential to sustainable agriculture. They are part of a system whose complexity and sensitivity varies according to several factors: agricultural practices such as cropping and tillage; agrochemicals; plant species; and, most surprisingly, to microbe-microbe inter-relationships.


“We need to discover as much as possible about these microbial communities and their interactions with plants and with plant protection chemicals.”

This area of knowledge is expanding as new research tools become available.

There are many natural factors which affect the productivity of the land, such as choice of crop species and cultivars, and soil characteristics like pH, nutrients availability and water content. In addition to all these factors, two others are of particular importance to Syngenta, namely herbicides and pesticides.

How do pesticides affect soil micro-organisms and their activities?Pesticides in soil undergo chemical degradation, transport, and adsorption and these depend on the particular pesticide and environmental factors such as the type of soil. The literature regarding the impact of these chemicals on microorganisms is inconsistent. In part this confusion arises because the research does not reflect the chemicals and dosage rates which farmers use. Furthermore, the responses of microbes to these chemicals have traditionally been focused at the process level, measuring responses in terms of micro-bial numbers, respiration rates, and enzyme activity. Little attention has been paid to responses of the overall microbial community, or to the organ-isms themselves, and different pesticide applications affect them in different ways.

Evidence exists that pesticides reduce microbial diversity, but increases functional diversity within microbial communities. Some microbial groups even use pesticide molecules as energy sources. However, pesticides can negatively influence other groups, directly by delaying or inhibiting growth, or indirectly through competition mechanisms. Microbes which respond positively can then out-compete others. In the longer term, it appears that initial effects of pesticides are reversible and relationships return to normal. The same is true for biopesticides.

Investigating the impactSyngenta recently joined a European research consortium to look at the impact of fungicides on beneficial root-colonizing microorganisms such as arbuscular mycorhizal fungi and nitrogen- fixing bacteria. Strategic partnerships have been set up and these serve two purposes. One is to examine the delicate relationships between plants, beneficial microbes and chemicals. The other is to complement the progress made by Syngenta Seed Care by introducing seed treatments that are safe and efficient systems of pest control.

In seed treatments, the chemical is applied in a localized manner and this may affect the rhizosphere microbial diversity, initially to a greater extent than other ways of delivering the pest-control agents. Existing practices include the successful implementation and use of growth-promoting rhizobacteria along with seeds.

It is envisaged that seed treatment technology will undergo further develop- ments and have a bigger impact on

Alain Gaume studied agronomy at the ETH in

Zürich and did his PhD on rhizosphere mechanisms

for nutrient (phosphorus) uptake and use in maize.

After postdoctoral studies followed by a senior

scientist position at the ETH, he went to Agroscope,

the research unit of the Swiss Federal Office for

Agriculture. He joined Syngenta last year and is now

Head of Seed Care Research.


The remarkable world beneath our feet

The rhizosphere is the zone of soilaround roots. Microbial numbers intherhizospherearemuchhigherthaninthebulksoilandthisisduetotherootsthemselves.Whatgoesonintherhizosphere is astonishing. Indeed,themicrobeswhichdwellinthismicroenvironment interact in ways thatareequivalenttothemtalkingtooneanother.Therhizosphereisinfluencedby root activity, and the interactionsbetween roots and their immediatesurroundings are some of the mostcomplexexperiencedbylandplants.

sustainable crop production with a package of solutions designed to enhance plant growth, support beneficial microbes, and deliver the metabolites required to establish an optimal rhizosphere environment.

Revealing the rhizosphereTo encourage a better understanding of the rhizosphere (see separate panel) within Syngenta, a live event that linked both Jealott’s Hill in the UK and SBI in the USA was held at the end of 2009. Each site hosted external speakers who gave presentations on key areas in this exciting area of work. After a full day of presentations, the external guests joined our scientists for workshop sessions to allow further exploration of the subject area. The entire session was videotaped and is available for internal viewing. The event also led to the creation of a new Rhizosphere Network.

Roots secrete compounds known asexudates and these can stimulate orinhibit microbial populations andgovern their activities. Root exudatesconsists of water-soluble ones, suchassugars,aminoacids,organicacids,enzymes, hormones, and vitamins,andinsolubleones,likecellwalls,rootdebris,andthegelatinousglycoproteinmucilage. Carbon dioxide is alsoreleasedbyrootsastheyrespire.

Thecarbonprovidedbythesedifferentsources is used by many species ofbacteria and fungi to grow. In return,microbes may assist the plant bycontrolling nutrient turnover, and may

even produce compounds whichpromote plant growth. However, thestimulation of microbial growth canharm plants if pathogens are favoredamongstthemicrobialcommunity.

Rootexudatesarealsousedbyplantsas signals to initiate a dialogue withsoil microbes. They facilitate sym- bioticinteractions,aswiththerhizobiawhicharesoilbacteriathatfixnitrogen,an essential nutrient for healthyplants. Because root exudates havethe potential to influence microbesandvice versa it suggests that theremayhavebeenco-evolutionbetweenplantsandmicrobes.

Weeds compete with food crops for soil nutrients, water and light, so that as far as the farmer is concerned, the fewer the better. However, weeds are a natural part of the environment, providing food for birds and insects. Peter Sutton, from Ecological Sciences at Jealott’s Hill, explains the dilemma.

What’s wrong with weeds?

20

Controlling weeds boosts crop yields – of that there is no doubt. Indeed, in crops like maize, it can be difficult to find the crop itself in areas not treated with herbicides. These are an essential part of modern agriculture, but today’s approach is to integrate their use better, so that while they allow growers to enjoy their benefits, at the same time their effects on biodiversity are minimised and mitigated. As a major herbicide manufacturer, Syngenta is seeking ways to balance these two requirements and that’s what Peter Sutton is trying to achieve.

Peter’s experience in this area of crop protection is extensive. He has worked in Africa, with the UK business, with the global business, and is now at Jealott’s Hill International Research Centre, where he is involved in both weed and eco-logical sciences. His experience includes working in the field with the world’s major crops, namely wheat, maize, rice, potatoes, soya, cotton, plantations, and fruits, and with the major herbicides, in particular Fusilade®, Callisto®, Reglone®, Axial®, Dual® and Touchdown®.

How does Peter view his remit to boost crop yields whilst protecting other species?Peter: “For the most part, arable fields and commercial farms in Europe are not locations for rare or endangered plant species. Consequently herbicides do not threaten either individuals or populations of protected species, and farmers have used selective herbicides to remove weeds for decades.”

Maize is a key crop in Europe which provides food, fodder, and biofuel. How-ever, it is very sensitive to competition from weeds and, if the crop is to flourish, there must be fewer than ten weeds per square metre – and ideally only one weed per square metre. A level as low as the latter is considered acceptable to both farmers and environmentalists ensuring optimum yield and biodiversity.

Maintenance of functional diversityA major debate in Europe concerns the introduction of glyphosate-tolerant crops. Work on the effect which glyphosate has on the abundance of invertebrates indicates that functional diversity is maintained, even though the abundance of some species may be reduced. The use of non-selective glyphosate together with the newer herbicides such as mesotrione and nicosulfuron, favours minimum tillage and even no-till agriculture – see Science Matters Spring 2009 – and with it comes environmental benefits in terms of less deterioration of farm equipment, reduced energy consumption, with less water run-off and less soil erosion.

Peter: “Changes in weed types in maize fields that may result from glyphosate use are likely to be small compared with other changes occurring in agriculture, and in any case views about how to maximise production while maintaining or increasing biodiversity are changing. Maintenance of biodiversity may be better achieved by managing off- crop areas.”

“Growers, biodiversity, and the environment can all benefit given appropriate weed management.”

Re-evaluation of the Farm Scale Evaluation (FSE) data suggests growers, biodiversity, and the environment can all benefit given appropriate weed management. Glyphosate can make a valuable addition to integrated weed management. Trials subsequent to the FSE found that band spraying and its timing for sugar beet crops lead to enhanced weed and insect biomass without compromising yield, and such crops could be managed for biodiversity as well as offering food and shelter to farmland birds and other wildlife. The same would be true for other crops, and herbicide-tolerance technology could be a powerful way of developing more sustainable farming systems with little impact on biodiversity.

The effects weeds can have on crop yieldsThe effects of weeds on glyphosate tolerant maize was demonstrated in 2008 at the Czech University of Life Sciences. When no attempt was made to control weeds then the yield was 5.7 t/ha. With just one application of glyphosate at 2 l/ha the yield almost doubled to 10.0 t/ha,

and at 4 l/ha the yield increased further to 11.7 t/ha. A maximum crop yield of 12.5 t/ha was achieved by using two 3 l/ha applications of glyphosate, and the commercial standard (acetochlor/iso-xaflutole at 1,755 g/ha) yielded 11.0 t/ha.

“Essentially one can have 12 tonnes of crop or 6 tonnes of crop and 6 tonnes of weeds – but not both.”

Taking an integrated approach Syngenta’s fundamental research into weed management strongly supports the use of herbicides in rotation, or mixed herbicide chemistry. An integrated approach allows the growers more options, not only in terms of weeds, climate, soil, and seasons, but also in terms of a strategy to avoid the development of weed resistance.

Peter: “In any agricultural system it is the combination of crop choice or rotation, and the degree and timing of weed management, which determines the surviving weed numbers, and the long-term effects on the weed seed bank. By fine-tuning the intensity and timing of herbicides, including glyphosate, growers can potentially manage crops to their own and the environment’s benefit.”

Peter Sutton graduated from Cambridge University

with a degree in Natural Sciences (Botany, Zoology,

and Biochemistry). He came to Syngenta Crop

Protection via ICI and Zeneca. Peter first worked

on field trials at Jealott’s Hill, then progressed to

becoming an agronomist, a weed scientist, a

development manager, and he is now an ecological

risk assessor and project manager for Syngenta’s

Ecological Sciences.



Weeds can devastate a crop of maize such as that

shown here

Peter explaining the effects of weeds on a crop

22

Biodiversity not only applies to the big creatures but also to the crops that feed the world

It was an inauspicious beginning.

Days after the international community failed to establish legally binding measures to halt climate change, the UN launched the International Year of Biodiversity. Scientists predict climate change will directly imperil one-fourth of the Earth’s species.

In the coming months, you can expect to hear about charismatic mega-fauna – whales, tigers, gorillas, pandas, etc. – as well as the diversity of species found in the oceans and tropical forests. You’ll be exposed to the organizations devoted to saving them. Most of all you will be told about the threat of extinction. The issue of “endangered species” has dominated the biodiversity narrative since the 1980s when the term entered into common usage.

To many people, “biodiversity” is almost synonymous with the word “nature”, and “nature” brings to mind steamy forests and the big creatures that dwell there. Fair enough. But biodiversity is much more than that, for it encompasses not only the diversity of species, but also the diversity within species. It includes not only wild species and their diversity, but domesticated species and their diversity.

“It is the diversity within species that keeps species going. This is the diversity upon which natural selection works, the diversity that fuels adaptation and evolution for everything from pandas to potatoes.”

Unless we appreciate the critical role that intra-species biodiversity plays in the survival of species, we risk seeing extinction as a numbers’ game, as something that happens when the last individual dies. Extinction, however, is a process, not an event. It effectively occurs not when the last individual dies, but when the species loses the ability to adapt successfully. After that, it’s just a waiting game for the last individual to succumb. No species gets a free pass. In the game of life, less diversity means fewer options for change. Wild or domesticated, polar bear or pea, adaptation is the requirement for survival.

People and plantsWhether we consciously realize it or not, the biodiversity with which we are most familiar, and the biodiversity with which we have most intimate historical, cultural and biological connections, is that associated with food plants. We all know that apples come in red, yellow and green models, and we know some of the varietal names. But how many people realize that there are thousands of distinct varieties of potatoes, tens of thousands of varieties of beans, hundreds of thousands of types of wheat, and even more of rice? This diversity, this cornucopia of genes, has arisen and persisted in large part because of the ancient and ongoing tie between peoples and plants. Farmers and more formally trained plant breeders use the diversity found in wheat and other crops to improve the yields, disease and pest resistance of the varieties in use today. The process of varietal improvement is continuous. The bread you eat today is undoubtedly made from different varieties of wheat than 25 years ago, as new varieties have been


Of pandas and potatoesThe Global Crop Diversity Trust ensures the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide. Their Executive Director Cary Fowler explains why it matters that the international community takes action to conserve diversity of crops.

Diversity in beans

Beans, the “meat of the poor”, contribute essential protein to millionsinLatinAmericaandAfrica.Beansarenutritionallycomplemen-tary to carbohydrate-rich grainssuchasmaize,andthecombinationof beans with such staple crops provides the foundation for a diet providing all of the essential amino acids needed for a complete vegetable protein. Beans are alsorichinessentialmicronutrientssuchas ironand folicacid (oneof theBvitamins especially important forpregnantwomen).

Beans display an impressive arrayofcolours,texturesandtastes,andplantsdifferfrombushestoclimbingvines, annual or perennial. Beanscanbegrownfromsealeveltoover3,000 metres in a huge variety ofclimates and soils, and are often intercroppedwithother foodplantsintraditionalfarmingsystems.

An external perspective


species, the maize and sorghum varieties grown by subsistence farmers in Africa cannot and will not easily relocate. And staying where they are is hardly an adaptive strategy that inspires confidence. Even if such crop varieties were to survive, what would become of the farmers hit with devastating drops in production due to climate change?

Seed banks with their vast collections of crop diversity constitute a cultural corridor, a bridge through time that will help enable crops to adapt to climate change. The biodiversity that seed banks protect may not inspire our empathy as easily as pandas, but its loss would be catastrophic for many, many species.

Let’s PartyThe International Year of Biodiversity is now well underway. Charismatic biodiversity will be celebrated. Less charismatic biodiversity will be eaten.

Beginnings are often messy.

“Perhaps it matters little whether the international community chooses to celebrate crop diversity, but it profoundly matters that the international community takes action to conserve it.”

In October, in Japan, the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity will convene for the tenth time. That occasion should commence not with gloom and doom and revelations of more extinctions. It should begin instead with a stunning announcement that steps have been taken to ensure the survival of the biodiversity upon which we most directly depend. Technically and financially such an announcement is feasible now. This year. For any crop. For all crops.

Imagine such a beginning.

Better yet, for a year that started so poorly for biodiversity, imagine such an end.

continuously developed for higher yield and to stay one step ahead of ever-evolving pests and diseases.

“Nevertheless, when we think about biodiversity, we rarely think about food.”

Syngenta’s fundamental research into the word “biodiversity” doesn’t appear in Culinary Artistry, an interesting book I recently read about food and cooking traditions. Yet the book, of course, is all about the interplay between cultural and biological diversity.

What is it that makes one cuisine distinct from another? Which foods and spices are strongly associated with a particular cuisine? What makes Thai food “Thai” as opposed to Italian? It doesn’t necessarily have to do with where the crops were originally domesticated. So many key ingredients are immigrants!

Spicy Thai dishes with chillies and peanuts employ ingredients of American origin. Italy’s pasta and China’s noodles depend on wheat that was first domesticated in the Near East. Nordics love their (Andean) potatoes. And quintessentially Brazilian ingredients such as black beans, garlic, lime, rice, scallions, are historical imports with the possible exception of the beans.

Spices have travelled far and wide too, fuelling an international trade that stretches back millennia. Today, cumin, from the upper Nile area, figures prominently in cuisines from sub- Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Middle East, Morocco, Spain, Thailand, and Tunisia.

The number of crops we use for food is impressive enough, but the diversity within those crops is particularly notable for both agronomic and cultural reasons. Like other biodiversity, however, it is endangered.

Plants and animals are not waiting for the next IPCC report to document global warming. Hundreds of scientific articles document the movement of wild species in response to climate change. But the disturbing fact is that many aren’t moving fast enough, and can’t. Others simply have no corridors of escape. All are potential climate change road kill.

Agricultural crops face a similar dilemma. As with pandas and many other wild

Colourful carrots

Carrots belong to the Apiacea familytogetherwithothercultivatedplants such as parsley, dill and fennel. There are two main groupsof cultivated carrots, called the “eastern”andthe“western”carrots.The “eastern” type is the oldest cultivated form and originated asa crop in central Asia more than a thousand years ago. The roots of the eastern type are branched,with strong yellow or purple colouring caused by high anthocyanincontent.

Centuries later the carrot was imported to Europe from Arabiancountries. The “western” carrotwas developed by farmers in the Netherlands in the 17th century.It had a less fibrous texture thanits predecessor, an unbranchedroot and was characteristic for itscarotene richorangeflesh. It is the“western”typethatdominatesworldproduction today and a range ofvarieties exist adapted to different soil conditions climates and growing season. The root alsocomes inawidevarietyof shapes,tastes and texture and colours rangingfromwhitishtodarkpurple.

Despite the breeding of carrots foruniformity there are collections ofmorethan1,000differentaccessionsof carrot, both in the UnitedStates of America and the Russian Federation. More than 50 othergenebanksaroundtheworldholdasmallernumberofsamples.


Cary Fowler is Executive Director of the Global

Crop Diversity Trust. Prior to joining the Trust as its

Executive Director, Dr Cary Fowler was Professor

and Director of Research in the Department for

International Environment & Development Studies

at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. He

was also a Senior Advisor to the Director General

of Biodiversity International. In this latter role, he

represented the Consultative Group on International

Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in negotiations on the

International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for

Food and Agriculture.

Cary’s career in the conservation and use of

crop diversity spans 30 years. He was Program

Director for the National Sharecroppers Fund / Rural

Advancement Fund, a US-based NGO engaged in

plant genetic resources education and advocacy. In

1985 he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award

(the “Alternative Nobel Prize”) in a ceremony in the

Swedish Parliament. In the 1990s, he headed the

International Conference and Programme on Plant

Genetic Resources at the Food and Agriculture

Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which

produced the UN’s first ever global assessment of

the state of the world’s plant genetic resources. He

drafted and supervised negotiations of FAO’s Global

Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources, adopted

by 150 countries in 1996. That same year he served

as Special Assistant to the Secretary General of the

World Food Summit. During the negotiation process

of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic

Resources, Cary chaired a series of off-the-record

retreats with key delegates, sponsored by the Nordic

countries. He is a past-member of the National Plant

Genetic Resources Board of the U.S. and the Board

of Trustees of the International Maize and Wheat

Improvement Center in Mexico, and is currently Chair

of the International Advisory Council of the Svalbard

Global Seed Vault. He holds a position as Associate

Curator at the Memphis City Family of Museums.

Cary has been profiled by CBS 60 Minutes and the

New Yorker, is the author of several books on the

subject of plant genetic resources and more than

75 articles on the topic in agriculture, law, and

development journals. Cary earned his Ph.D. at

the University of Uppsala (Sweden), and in 2008

received an honorary doctorate from Simon Fraser

University (Canada).


The Global Crop Diversity Trust

The fight against hunger is one ofthe greatest challenges facing theworldoverthecomingdecades.Cropdiversity is fundamental to defeatinghunger and achieving food security.Important collections of cropdiversity face urgent and chronicfunding shortages. These shortagescanleadtolossofdiversity,theverybuildingblocksonwhichadaptiveandproductive agriculture depends. Thesoleglobal response to this threat istheGlobalCropDiversityTrust.Theirmissionistoensuretheconservationand availability of crop diversity forfoodsecurityworldwide.

In line with the International Treatyon Plant Genetic Resources andthe Global Plan of Action for theConservation and SustainableUtilization of Plant GeneticResources for Food and Agriculture,their goal is to advance an efficientand sustainable global system of exsitu conservation by promoting therescue,understanding,useandlong-term conservation of valuable plantgeneticresources.

The Trust’s response is to raise anendowment, the interest from whichis enough to guarantee the effectiveconservation – and vitally, the readyavailability to those who wish touse it – of the biological basis of allagriculture. The endowment willensure that the conservation of thismost critical resource is placedforeveronafirmfoundation.

The Trust is a unique public-private partnership raising funds from individual, corporate and government donors to establish anendowment fund that will providecompleteandcontinuousfundingforkeycropcollections,ineternity.

ProvidingthebackdroptotheTrust’saction is an international consensus on the importance of this issue. Nationsoftheworldhaveadoptedanumber of international agreementsrecognizing the need to conservecrop diversity and confirming the important role of collections maintained in genebanks. Amongthese are the Convention on BiologicalDiversity(1992),theGlobalPlan of Action for the Conservationand Sustainable Utilization of PlantGenetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (1996); and the International Treaty on Plant GeneticResources for Food and Agriculture(2001).

Achieving the Millennium Develop-ment Goals, the priorities for developmentagreedbyallmembersof the United Nations, will require crop diversity to be effectively conserved, and the Trust directly contributes to three of the goals:to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (Goal 1), to ensure environ-mental sustainability (Goal 7) and to develop a global partnership fordevelopment(Goal8).

Further resources

This article was originally produced as part of a newsletter series prepared by Cary Fowler for the Global

Crop Diversity Trust. To subscribe to future newsletters visit http://www.croptrust.org/main/topics.php

or send an email to [email protected]. Further details on the Trust can be found at www.croptrust.org.

Saving seed at Svalbard

The Global Crop Diversity Trust is working with the

Consultative Group on International Agricultural

Research (CGIAR) and seed banks from around the

world to assist in preparing and shipping seeds to

the Seed Vault in Svalbard.

The formal opening of the Svalbard Global Seed

Vault deep inside an Arctic mountain (see picture)

in February 2008 marked a turning point toward

ensuring the crops that sustain us will not be lost

and aims to save more than a million different

varieties of crops.


“I read a lot, mostly history, philosophy and classic literature” was Alain’s response to my question on what he does in his spare time. This should come as no surprise to those of us who know Alain. He has a wide range of knowledge on lots of subjects. This became very clear during our inter-view. Alain has recently been promoted to “Principal Syngenta Fellow”. This is the highest scientific level in the company and there are only two Principal Fellows amongst more than 25,000 employees.

Challenging and supporting chemistry Alain became interested in chemistry at an early age. “I had an inspiring teacher at school in Belgium; he showed me how chemistry could be a really fascinating subject” However Alain very nearly did not become a chemist! For one month after school he hesitated between taking philosophy or chemistry at University. He chose chemistry as he felt his interests in literature could be continued as a hobby. He has maintained both these interests throughout his career. Alain spent 11 years in Pharmaceutical Research and, so far, 13 years in Crop Protection Research (CPR). I asked him “What are the differences and similarities in the two industries?” “They both have great scientists – the quality of the research is of the highest order. However, I prefer crop protection. The combination of excellent, impactful, science and something you can measure in daily life is unique. The more you learn about the science the more there is to discover. I find this very stimulating scientifically. Size also matters. Syngenta is not too huge – you know everyone in your area and you can have real impact. You are not a cog in a machine.”

Alain is based at Stein in Switzerland and currently has a role of challenging and supporting chemistry projects to identify new innovations to overcome barriers to success. He gets most inspiration from helping people and working across scientific borders; integrating chemistry, biology, and bioscience. During his career he has made many break-throughs, he is at his happiest when he is part of a multi-disciplinary team. “The two projects I am most proud of integrated chemistry with bioscience; DNA antisense when I was in Central Research and later in CPR the HPPD project.”

Fantastic opportunity to promote science Finally I asked “What does being a Principal Fellow mean to you scientifically?” Alain’s response summed up his approach to science. “I was really honoured to be considered. It is a fantastic opportunity to promote science. Being a Principal Fellow will enable me to use the Fellows’ Network to involve more people in what I do. It will give me more freedom to have new ideas and launch new projects. Being a Fellow will also enable me to connect with new areas of science within the company and help me become a better ambassador for the excellent work we do.”

Just like his scientific life, Alain’s family is a highly interconnected one. He has two daughters, one in England and one in Belgium, so working across borders is as important to his home life as it is to his working environment. His wife Nadine is also a scientist at Syngenta, working in the Patents Group at Stein. Alain says he does have one thing he wants to take

Philosophy and Chemistry

time to do and that is more sport. He is a supporter of Olympique de Marseille football (soccer) club but he would like to become a more active sportsperson. He still takes time to read though, bridging the gap between science and literature. We all welcome him to the Fellows’ network.

Alain’s career in briefAfter completing his degree and Masters in Chemistry at the Catholic University of Louvain, Alain went on to do a PhD with Professor H.G. Viehe entitled “Synthesis and thermal isomerisation of capto-dative substituted cyclo- propanes.” This work led him to post-doctoral research at the famous Weizmann Institute in Israel where he worked for two years before joining Ciba-Geigy Central Research Laboratories in 1985, working in collaboration with the Pharmaceuticals Group on natural products, carbohydrates and nucleic acids.

Alain became a group leader in 1989 and in 1994 was responsible for combinatorial chemistry research in collaboration with external organisations such as Chiron Research in the USA. In 1997 he transferred to Crop Protection in the newly formed Novartis Crop Protection Business, becoming Head of Chemistry Projects in 2000. On formation of Syngenta he was Head of Optimisation Chemistry and subsequently Global Head of Research Chemistry. In 2008 he became Senior Chemistry Expert and was promoted to Principal Fellow in January 2010.

The pinnacle of the Science Ladder within the company is the role of Principal Syngenta Fellow and in this issue we meet the two scientists who have achieved this highest scientific level. Both Alain De Mesmaeker and Mary-Dell Chilton have followed different paths to get to their current level, but both have long and creative scientific careers and are contributing to the company’s aim of growing more from less.

an interview with Principal Syngenta Fellow Alain De Mesmaekerby Stuart John Dunbar

sm Contact: [email protected]


“I’m not interested in the nitty-gritty, tiny details. I want to make things work and get on to the next thing,” says Principal Syngenta Fellow Mary-Dell Chilton. “I’m basically an engineer in my outlook.”

Colleagues know ‘The Routine’ if they really have an urgent need to reach Mary-Dell. Don’t e-mail, text or even call her. You probably won’t get through. Posting a note on her lab door, however, just might work as the least intrusion on her tireless quest to improve the performance of crops through plant genetics.

At a life stage when most in her peer group are more likely to be found in the garden or on the golf course, Mary-Dell can still be found most days and many evenings in her lab at Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc., in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. Her focus at the moment, as with many in the company, is finding ways to successfully deliver stacks of multiple traits into the crop genome.

Lasting place in the annals of plant science She still uses the same method and primary tool, transformation via the soil microbe Agrobacterium tumefaciens, that she employed in research in the 1970s that secured her a lasting place in the annals of plant science. In a 1977 article in the journal Cell, Mary-Dell reported the finding that a soil bacterium called Agrobacterium, that was known to cause galls (tumors) on plants, does so by transferring a group of its genes into chromosomes of the host plant, taking over the plant’s cellular machinery and making the cells grow rapidly, forming a gall. Five years later, her team at Washington University, in collaboration with Andrew Binns at the University of Pennsylvania, harnessed the gene- transfer mechanism of Agrobacterium to produce the first transgenic plant. In 1983, Syngenta predecessor CIBA-Geigy recruited her from academia to launch a research center based on the new advances in plant biotechnology.

In December 2009 she was honored by the company in ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the opening of that center, now known as SBI, which she also led through its first 10 years.

International recognition In 2002, the prestigious Franklin Institute, recognizing the impact of her work on yield gains and loss prevention for growers across the globe, awarded her the Benjamin Franklin Award for Life Sciences, putting her in company with Einstein, the Curies and Edison, among others.

The finding that Agrobacterium DNA could lodge and function in a foreign plant cell contradicted conventional wisdom of the time, which was that recombination could only occur between similar DNA strands, not foreign DNA from another organism. Further, the finding that genes from a bacterium could actually function in a plant cell was totally surprising. “One thing that has made this research so much fun,” Mary-Dell says, “was the way this bacterium broke so many of the rules we had learned as students. Agrobacterium was an iconoclast!”

That gift for metaphor, delivered with a twinkle of the eye and a vocal spark, is characteristic of “Mary-Dell,” as she insists on being called. Her career featured major professional and personal accomplishments. Her focus is legendary – but it would be hard to imagine a warmer, more personable figure. Or one less predictable. For example, she firmly rejects the notion that she might have had an extra challenge in fighting her way to the top of a historically male-dominated field.

“I don’t think the discrimination against women in science thing has entered into my career, anywhere,” she says. “The place where I was impacted was when I was a college freshman and they wouldn’t let me sign up for Astronomy 101 until I was a sophomore, even though I had made telescopes (as a Westinghouse Talent Search national winner) in high school. That just made me mad and I decided the astronomers could take a hike if they didn’t want me.”

Making things workan interview with Principal Syngenta Fellow Mary-Dell Chilton

A generous teacher Annick de Framond, a longtime colleague of Mary-Dell’s who has co-published with her many times, started her career as a graduate student under her in St. Louis. “She was the most generous teacher,” Annick says. “I remember once when we did a paper from her lab and she put my name first on the publication. Usually supervisors do the opposite.” That act reflects a generosity of spirit she and others saw time and again. When Mary-Dell met the young Annick, arriving at the airport from her native France for the first time as a graduate student, she invited her to live with her and her husband, Scott, until she was established. She was the first of some 30 young scientists from abroad to live with the Chiltons upon their arrival. Their home to this day is fondly remembered as the ‘Chilton Hilton.’ “I remember we’d all work with Mary-Dell in her lab until it was midnight, when we’d go home and watch Mission Impossible,” Annick says.

“Mary-Dell is extremely interested in the development of young people in science with internships, post docs and the like,” added Qiudeng Que, another longtime colleague at SBI. “She has helped a lot of people who became giants in our field.”

Today Mary-Dell’s budding research center has grown from a tiny core to a sprawling facility where more than 400 professionals pursue a wide range of biotech development projects ranging from insect and herbicide resistant crops to water-optimized seeds and seeds designed to enhance biofuel processing.

“I was at a place in science where I needed collaboration from some-one more deeply into agriculture,” Mary-Dell recalled of her decision to come to industry. “I didn’t know. We had this tool but didn’t know what genes crop plants wanted to have in order to improve.”

Today, however, in no small thanks to her, we do.

sm Contact: [email protected]


Allelic diversity goes wild Scientists at Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc (SBI) in the USA are utilizing Allelic Diversity (AD) like never before. Using 2nd Generation sequencing technology, called the Illumina Genome Analyzer II, SBI scientists can identify and utilize the untapped genetic diversity that resides in exotic maize germplasms developed by Sonali Gandhi in Clinton, Illinois, faster than ever. The AD program aims to enable the isolation of exotic alleles of genes and introgress them into our commercial cultivars. Identifying enhanced alleles for trait improvement, helps our breeders get solutions to our customers for common issues such as yield, drought or pest resistance.

Using the Illumina Sequencer, SBI scientists have sequenced pieces of 10-20,000 genes from more than 135 exotic maize lines developed through the AD Maize program.

“Before using this platform, we could only sequence a section of a line at a time,” says Sarah Muncie, research scientist, Integrated Genome Biology. “Now, we can look at larger regions of the genome of each of the lines at once.”

This means the AD team are potentially able to identify alleles that may have positive effects on traits much faster. Sarah explains: “It’s similar to looking on

a map and being able to see an entire region rather than just one city. Originally, you may have been looking at one location at a time, but there are more regions that could be beneficial to visit.”

By examining entire genomes across diversity germplams panels, the team is opening the possibility to find new results quicker and maybe even information they weren’t originally searching for, enabling Syngenta to bring novel solutions to growers, faster!

Cloud birdsBirds form an important part of the mythology of native peoples in the Americas. Guatemala’s native bird is the Quetzal or cloud bird. It lives in the rainforests in the Alta Verapaz highlands. These rainforests play a crucial ecological role in the area, providing water for two rivers and are also host to the national orchid the Monja Blanca. The region’s native people live as nomad farmers, living on the hills, but the soil is poor so they continually burn the forest to use the land for farming. This deforestation has caused landslides and made many species extinct, placing the cloud bird under ecological stress.

Since 1997 Syngenta’s Crop Protection team in Guatemala has been involved with the Eco-Quetzal project which aims to conserve and protect the forests by providing its native inhabitants with alternative ways to earn their livelihood by promoting sustainable use of renewable natural resources.

The project provides training on how to manage their environment, preserve

Our intrepid reporters, Carolyn Riches and Ashley Collins have been tracking down other examples of where Syngenta people are making a difference.

Out and About

the soil and protect the birds from im-proper use of pesticides. The project has made many achievements, including establishing 7,400 hectares of protected forest, creating new income sources for the native peoples and reducing cases of pesticide poisoning by 50%. Contact: [email protected]

Patchwork forestSyngenta has been working with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to help co-ordinate farmers in protecting patches of virgin forest with high conservation value in Brazil.

Where land has been cleared for farming, it is not unusual for 90-95% of the forest to be turned into arable land. In areas such as the Cerrados in Mato Grosso, the soils are heavily limed and fertilized to make them usable for crops such as soya and cotton. Current regulations require that in these areas at least 20% land is left uncleared and more in areas closer to the Amazon rain-forest. However, due to the fertilization of the soil, cleared areas cannot easily be returned to their original state. As a result, the farms are no longer in compliance and cannot get a pre-mium price for their produce. To bring their overall holding back into compli-ance, Syngenta and TNC are working

The colourful Quetzal bird


with farmers to identify blocks of virgin forest that they can purchase and protect. If these blocks are adjacent then the overall conservation value is increased. Wildlife has a much larger overall area to use rather than being isolated on smaller islands of forest. Where protected blocks join together larger areas of natural habitat, they become ‘wildlife corridors’ and the total number of species that can exist in the overall the area is increased.

Cleared forest converted to cotton fields

after harvest

“This is Syngenta’s ‘grow more from less’ approach in action. Land suitable for high productivity is being farmed and at the same time other land that might have been cleared for lower levels of production is being protected for the benefit of the species that live there,” says Richard Brown (Head of Product Stewardship).

Growing farmland wildlifeIntensive UK farming has worked for food production, now it’s also working for wildlife sustainability. Over the last 50 years, diverse habitats have given way to demanding farming methods. But today, higher productivity through better technologies and farming practices allow farmers to produce more with less. In addition, agri-environment schemes, such as Entry Level Stewardship (ELS), encourage farmers to find workable and cost-effective solutions to boost wildlife on their farms.

Syngenta has a good relationship with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and has worked along-side them to develop practical solutions to support farmland bird populations. Syngenta Crop Protection UK and the RSPB have co-sponsored a DVD entitled ‘Growing Farmland Wildlife’. “We’re delighted to support this DVD, which is an invaluable reference tool for farmers wanting to understand how they can increase biodiversity on farms,” says Luke Gibbs (Head of Syngenta Public Affairs, UK). Produced by Natural England and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the DVD contains advice and guidance for farmers on getting the most out of their wildlife habitats – with proven benefits

for birds and insects on arable farms. Information is based on research from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and Marek Nowakowski (Wildlife Farming Agronomist).

Marek Nowakowski explains how to boost

farmland wildlife

In addition to distribution from DEFRA, our UK Field Force Teams will circulate the DVD to Syngenta customers this Spring. “The DVD is particularly timely as many farmers are about to renew their ELS agreements or are looking to join the scheme for the first time,” continues Luke. “It brilliantly highlights the ways in which farming can be highly productive whilst being environmentally sustainable.”

Biodiversity brings brand to lifeEmployees at the T&P Műnchwilen product development site in Switzerland have put biodiversity into practice by planting a wildflower margin and at the same time created their own brand story!

The aim of the project is to find out which wildflower growing regimes (e.g. fertilisers and weed control) have the greatest influence on local biodiversity (plants, insects, birds) and enable staff to relate their personal experiences to Syngenta’s biodiversity theme.

Staff have sown two native wildflower mixes, helped manage the growing regimes and created self-guided plot tours. Experts and contacts in agriculture, botany, ornithology, and entomology have provided support in species identification and labelling. The wild-flower margin is located outside the staff cafeteria. “This means we see the development whilst eating our lunch. It really brings the brand to life for us,” says Heinz Binz (Communications Manager, Műnchwilen).

Műnchwilen employees sow the wildflower plots

The project has delivered valuable educational and public relations results. “We have interesting stories, new experiences and even received unexpected acclaim from Dr Christian Körner, Professor at the Basel University Institute of Botany,” continues Heinz.

Weeds have grown like a jungle on the untreated reference plot, illustrating what a crop has to compete with if herbicides are not used. “This has been a key learn-ing for us. Even one of our managed plots had tree seedlings by the end of last summer – we’d have a forest in ten years time if we left it alone,” explains Heinz. The first set of results are being published as we go to press. For more information, please contact Heinz Binz (Heinz.binz@ syngenta.com) or follow the story on the Syngenta intranet: http://global22.pro.intra/WMUBrandAmbassador/de/ biodiversity_project/

Paraquat saves soil in the PhilippinesNew results from a five year study of how paraquat can protect Philippine soil as part of a no-till agriculture system have been announced. Professor Gil Magsino from the University of the Philippines presented the findings and conclusions from the Sagip-Lupa project’s 4th Annual Report at the University of Benguet.

The project looked at three Philippine sites and compared the soil losses of paraquat-enabled no-till agriculture with those lost to traditional farming methods (where ploughing and hand hoeing re-move unwanted plant material, disturb the soil and reduce biodiversity, leaving the soil prone to erosion). Findings over a four year period have shown that more than 100t/ha of topsoil have been lost to trad-itional farming methods, which is significantly higher than in the no-till system. The paraquat system also significantly out yielded the traditional system by 11 times (depending on the crop).

Paraquat-enabled no-till agriculture works by spraying the weeds only when necessary, minimizing soil disturbance. By leaving plant roots intact to anchor the soil and dead weeds on the surface, soil structure is improved and organic matter and microbe levels increase. Water infiltrates more quickly and is less likely to wash the topsoil away. Ultimately, the improved biodiversity means a healthy soil and more nutrients available for crops. This is especially important in areas prone to heavy rainfall and flooding, including the Benguet area. Contact: [email protected]


This biodiversity issue of Science Matters gives you a snapshot of Syngenta’s activities in preserving the biodiversity of our environment for us all. As the articles highlight, the challenges of feeding a growing population with pressures on available water supply and the impact of climate change mean we have to be even more vigilant in protecting the biodiversity of the environment. As Richard Brown says in the opening sentence of his article “Biodiversity is central to the stability of the Earth’s environment, it is also central to Syngenta’s imperative of producing more from less”

Why is this? The biodiversity of plants is the foundation of modern agriculture. The Crop Diversity Trust estimates that there are over 200,000 varieties of wheat alone, see www.croptrust.org/main/ for more details. Variations in species and natural bio-diversity of plants enabled breeders to develop the higher yielding varieties essential to improving crop yields. By improving yields we are using the farm-land more efficiently. However, low yields are a recipe for deforestation and the destruction of fragile habitats, as growers are forced to bring more land into production to feed an expanding population. Biodiversity is also essential to some of the strategies needed to over-come the impact of climate change. By accessing varieties that can tolerate different climactic conditions, breeders can transfer desirable genetic traits to high yielding crop varieties via conventional or genetic manipulation approaches. The “peppers team” high-light how the integration of desirable traits from wild and cultivated species is used to overcome diseases, insects and resist drought in their article “Things are hotting up in the world of peppers”. This

use of the rich diversity of plant genetics is only one example of the importance of biodiversity to breeding new varieties, there are a lot of other examples from across the company, from breeding new ornamental flowers like Impatiens and new tomato varieties to the breeding of new sugar beet varieties to better resist drought.

Small changes can have big effectsWe have shown that small changes to farming practices can have big effects on preserving biodiversity. The articles on birds and bees illustrate this very well where active management of field margins can preserve the biodiversity of birds and pollinating insects. This has a real impact on yields too as Jeff Peters discussed in his article “Bee Alert”, 30% of the world’s food supply depends on bees for pollination.

Healthy soil leads to healthy plantsCrop yields are also dependent on healthy soil, which will be the theme of the next edition of Science Matters. You probably know that soil nutrients are key to healthy plant growth, and therefore good yields. You might not have thought about the soil as a rich environment whose biodiversity is important to preserve to maintain high crop yields. Alain Gaume highlights this important issue. Unfortunately we know less about the soil micro-environment, the interactions between species and their impact on plant growth, than we do about the organisms we can see above ground. Alain is also part of a new “Rhizosphere Network” which is a company-wide network of scientists looking at the soil and its ecosystem as a whole; understanding the biodiversity of the soil and how this impacts plant growth. No-till farming has been shown to help maintain the biodiversity of the soil by maintaining its micro-structure

and helping preserve nutrients that might be reduced by ploughing. It also helps reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses produced by farming since a large component of the greenhouse gasses in farming result from ploughing. Biodiversity is at the heart of bringing plant potential to lifeAs you can see, the importance of Biodiversity to sustainable agriculture cannot be over-emphasised. Protecting the biodiversity of the environment is also at the heart of our purpose of “Bringing plant potential to life”.

Stuart John Dunbar is a Senior Syngenta Fellow

and Editor of Science Matters. His degree is in

Zoology from Nottingham University and he did a

PhD in insect neurobiology. After a couple of

post-docs, Stuart joined the company 25 years

ago as an insect electrophysiologist. He is currently

a group leader of Biochemistry which is part of

Bioscience Section at Jealott’s Hill International

Research Centre in the UK.


Editor’s comments Reflections on growing more from less whilst maintaining biodiversity

Further resources

For more details on what Syngenta is doing

to conserve biodiversity visit

www.syngenta.com/en/corporate_

responsibility/conserving_biodiversity.html

Ladybirds are one of the most visible and well-known

beneficial insects feeding on many hundreds of

aphids and other pests throughout their life.

Science Matters Keeping abreast of Syngenta R&D Spring 2010

Syngenta Fellows - supporting Syngenta Science

Science Matters is a magazine supported by the Syngenta Fellows to recognize and communicate the excellent science throughout Syngenta.

The main contact for comment and future content is Stuart J. Dunbar who can be contacted at

Syngenta Limited, Jealott’s Hill International Research Centre, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG42 6EY, United Kingdom

or by email at [email protected].

Editor-in-Chief: Sandro AruffoEditors: Stuart John Dunbar and Mike BushellThe Editors would like to acknowledge the valuable contributions of John Emsley and the authors and other persons named in each article. The views expressed in this magazine are the views of the authors and may not necessarily always reflect the views or policies of Syngenta.Design & Production: Kre8tive Communications Limited.Print: Geerings Print Limited

Unless otherwise indicated, trademarks indicated thus ® or TM are the property of a Syngenta Group Company. The Syngenta wordmark and ‘Bringing plant potential to life’ are trademarks of Syngenta International AG.

© Syngenta International AG, 2010. All rights reserved.

Editorial completion April 2010.

Science Matters is printed using water reduction processes, including a completely chemical and water free printing plate making process. In addition, all water used in the actual printing process is re-circulated and new water is only added to replace that lost by evaporation. Science Matters is printed on 9lives80 which is produced with 80 percent recovered fibre comprising 10 percent packaging waste, 10 percent best white waste, 60 percent de-inked waste fibre and only 20 percent virgin totally chlorine free fiber sourced from sustainable forests.

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements

This document contains forward-looking statements, which can be identified by terminology such as “expect”,

“would”, “will”, “potential”, “plans”, “prospects”, “estimated”, “aiming”, “on track”, and similar expressions. Such

statements may be subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from

these statements. We refer you to Syngenta’s publicly available filings with the US Securities and Exchange

Commission for information about these and other risks and uncertainties. Syngenta assumes no obligation

to update forward looking statements to reflect actual results, changed assumptions or other factors. This

document does not constitute, or form part of, any offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer,

to purchase or subscribe for any ordinary shares in Syngenta AG, or Syngenta ADSs, nor shall it form the basis

of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract therefore.

science matters : spring 2010

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