Syngenta unveils Virestina technology, a global breakthrough in controlling grass weeds

Published April 7, 2026 on Syngenta

Syngenta, a global leader in agricultural innovation, is bringing to market the world’s first selective herbicide to control resistant grass weeds in soybean and cotton in nearly 40 years. 

Today, Syngenta announced the global launch of Virestina technology (active ingredient: metproxybicyclone), after Argentina became the first country in the world to approve the technology. Syngenta is also planning to bring this innovation to Brazil, Australia, the U.S. and Canada. 

Argentina – the world’s third largest producer of soybeans – ranks among the most innovative agricultural markets worldwide, with its farmers often being the first globally to access cutting-edge agricultural technologies. Soybeans are one of the world’s most important crops, containing a high concentration of essential amino acids and valued as an important source of high-protein animal feed. 

Resistant weeds are a persistent threat to growers as they survive herbicide applications and remain in the field to compete with crops for nutrients, sunlight, and water. At the same time, such weeds act as a “green bridge” for pests, viruses, fungi and bacteria that infect crops. Resistant weeds can dramatically reduce harvest yields and decimate the value of agricultural farmland. 

Amid a rise in the spread and severity of weed resistance globally, Virestina technology is set to deliver an urgently-needed reprieve to growers faced with a shrinking toolbox of effective options. Over the past few decades, limited herbicide technologies have been successfully brought to market; the ability of resistant weeds to metabolize and be cross-resistant is further exacerbating the challenge. Herbicide resistance is officially reported today in 75 countries and affects farmers of more than 100 crops; grass weeds account for 40 percent of the 273 weed species afflicted. 

Virestina technology marks an important innovation in herbicide technology. In key crops such as soybean and cotton, the technology is highly effective in controlling grass weeds that are resistant to common herbicides like glyphosate and clethodim. Safe to use over crops, Virestina technology also breaks down rapidly in soil, ensuring an excellent safety profile and a reduced environmental footprint. 

Farmers benefit from greater flexibility during crop rotations and in their choice of cover crops, while lowering soil compaction and greenhouse gas emissions as they reduce the number of passes of heavy farm machinery necessary to control resistant grass weeds. 

Scientists at Syngenta’s cutting-edge Jealott’s Hill International Research Centre in the United Kingdom leveraged predictive science to bring this innovation to market in just 10 years – significantly faster than the average 12–14-year timelines for agricultural technologies – reflecting Syngenta’s nuanced understanding of the challenges growers face, and its commitment to deliver effective solutions.

“At Syngenta, our innovations have an important role in enabling growers to address some of the biggest challenges they face,” said Ioana Tudor, Syngenta’s Global Head of Crop Protection Marketing. “Vilestina technology demonstrates Syngenta’s ability to foresee a challenge a decade earlier, to accelerate our research and development timeline and successfully deliver an innovation that is timely in meeting growers’ needs. We are very proud of our industry-leading innovation pipeline.” 

Syngenta’s leadership in innovative crop protection technologies

Syngenta’s R&D pipeline is delivering some of agriculture’s most advanced and important innovations. Over the next decade, Syngenta is on track to launch at least 20 new proprietary innovations in advanced crop protection technologies and agricultural biologicals.

Its portfolio of advanced crop protection technologies already includes blockbusters such as Tymirum technology to control nematodes and fungal disease, Plinazolin technology for insect control and Adepidyn technology for fungal disease control, valued by farmers for their strong efficacy and sustainability attributes. Syngenta is also a leader in agricultural biologicals, offering an extensive portfolio of biocontrols, biostimulants and nutrient use efficiency solutions, while expanding its offer of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled digital and precision agriculture solutions.

Virestina technology was invented leveraging Syngenta’s extensive expertise in a specific family of herbicide technologies called ACCase-inhibitors (HRAC Group 1), widely considered a foundational technology in modern agriculture. As the fourth generation of this herbicide group, Virestina technology is engineered to effectively control weeds resistant to herbicides from other groups, as well as older ACCase herbicides. 

Read the original article on Syngenta.com »

Glyphosate Market Dominates Agriculture as Advanced Weed Control Technologies Drive Demand

Provided by Fact.MR
Published April 3, 2026 on EINPresswire

The global glyphosate market is witnessing steady expansion as the agriculture sector increasingly depends on effective weed control solutions, higher crop yields, and precision farming technologies. According to Fact.MR, the market is projected to grow from USD $13.5 billion in 2025 to USD $18.0 billion by 2035, registering a CAGR of 2.9% during the forecast period.

This growth highlights a structural evolution—glyphosate is transitioning from a conventional herbicide into a core component of modern crop protection systems and integrated agricultural productivity strategies.

Quick Stats That Matter to Decision Makers

• Market Size (2025): USD $13.5 Billion
• Forecast Value (2035): USD $18.0 Billion
• CAGR (2025–2035): 2.9%
• Top Application: Agriculture (~84% share)
• Leading Crop Segment: Corn (~38% share)
• Key Growth Driver: Rising demand for efficient weed control and crop yield optimization

Why Glyphosate Is Becoming Mission-Critical

• In modern agriculture, yield optimization, cost efficiency, and weed control are essential for profitability. Glyphosate enables:
• Broad-spectrum weed control across multiple crop types
• Improved crop yields by reducing weed competition
• Compatibility with precision farming and automated spray systems
• Cost-effective large-scale agricultural operations
• It remains one of the most widely used herbicides, playing a critical role in global food production systems.

Market Drivers: What’s Fueling Growth

1. Rising Global Food Demand
   Increasing population is driving the need for higher agricultural productivity.
2. Expansion of Precision Agriculture
   Integration with automated spraying and smart farming systems is boosting adoption.
3. Growth in Commercial Farming
   Large-scale farming operations rely on efficient herbicide solutions.
4. Advancements in Formulation Technologies
   Improved liquid formulations enhance application efficiency and effectiveness.

Segment Insights That Define Market Strategy

By Formulation
Liquid Glyphosate (~71%) dominates due to ease of application and compatibility with spray systems
Granular Formulations: Used in specialized applications

By Crop Type
Corn (~38%) leads market share
Soybeans (~34%) represent a significant segment
Others: Includes wheat and specialty crops

By Application
Agriculture (~84%) dominates demand
Non-Agricultural Uses: Includes landscaping and vegetation management

Regional Outlook: Americas & Asia Pacific Drive Demand

• North America: Leading adoption due to advanced farming practices
• Latin America: Strong growth driven by large-scale agriculture
• Asia Pacific: Increasing demand due to agricultural modernization

Emerging economies are witnessing rising adoption as farmers shift toward high-efficiency crop protection solutions.

Competitive Landscape: Scale, Innovation & Distribution Define Leadership

• Key players include Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and Nufarm.
• Competition is driven by: Advanced herbicide formulations and product innovation
• Global distribution networks and farmer partnerships
• Integration with digital agriculture platforms
• Compliance with environmental and regulatory standards

Analyst Perspective        

The glyphosate market reflects a broader agricultural transformation: As global agriculture moves toward precision, efficiency, and sustainability, glyphosate remains a key tool for maximizing crop productivity while optimizing operational costs.

Read the original article on EINPresswire.com »

Staying ahead of the weeds

Published April 2026 on Syngenta News Service

Across Argentina and Brazil, grass weeds have developed resistance to some of the most common herbicides used, known as ACCase inhibitors. Many experts from the region have long been warning about the danger that resistance poses.  

Dr. Fernando Adegas is a Weed Scientist at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation Embrapa. He explains: “The resistance of grass weeds is one of the main problems in global agriculture.” 

Resistance means weed pressure goes up, yields go down and farmer livelihoods suffer.  

The rise in resistant weeds means there is an urgent need for new technologies, which are crucial to securing farmers’ control over their fields and improving the sustainability of their farming operations.    

However, developing new control methods for grass weeds is a hugely complex process. But Syngenta scientists, alongside a network of expert collaborators around the world, have achieved this, developing Virestina technology, a breakthrough herbicide to tackle resistant grassweeds.  

Sarah-Jane Hutchings has been one of the many Syngenta scientists working on the issue of herbicide resistance for the last 15 years and is currently Portfolio Lead for Weed Control Bioscience. “Herbicide resistance doesn’t come from nowhere; it occurs through selection pressure applied to plants with a natural ability to survive herbicides.” she explains.   

Tracking and responding to resistance issues is key to help develop effective new weed control options. Resistance exists at the genetic level, so, as Sarah-Jane says: “There are weeds which carry resistance to new tools we haven’t even discovered yet.”  

In short, resistance is a constant problem. Sarah-Jane explains: “With the development of resistance, it's a case of when, not if it will evolve.”   

Once it starts to increase in a population, the process can be hard to manage without new solutions.  

But what if you saw resistance coming, and managed to get ahead of the problem before it started?  

Seeing a decade ahead 

Deepak Kaundun is a Syngenta Fellow and has been studying herbicide resistance for more than 20 years.  

Around a decade ago, Deepak and a network of collaborators, saw the problem of resistance coming. Drawing on their collective knowledge of ACCase inhibitors, and close analysis of on-the-ground conditions plus reports from farmers, they made a prediction. Grass weeds, particularly those across Latin America, were going to evolve resistance to the most used control methods. 

Sarah-Jane says: “We had no computer models at the time. Instead, we shared a deep understanding of ACCase resistance, understood the drivers and what the farmers were doing. We could see that farmers were moving towards compounds that made resistance likely.”  

But when effective products are available, managing resistance that hasn’t yet appeared might seem less urgent. It’s here that the value of scientific expertise comes into play. 

Deepak says: “I'm a scientist. If I tell you what is obvious to everybody, I'm not doing my work. We made this judgement based on expertise, on our knowledge of past occurrences, of other cropping systems, on how other weeds behave, and based on the same mode of action.

“So, I went to Sarah-Jane and said, there's something coming. Let's get prepared for it,” he continues.  

But here’s the first challenge scientists needed to overcome. How do you find a way of testing for resistance if that resistance hasn't developed yet?  

Sarah-Jane explains: “We have a world-leading weed seed bank, built over many years. After all, we can’t buy these seeds – we have to collect them. This was so valuable when we wanted to identify compounds that could control resistance in a population that didn’t exist yet.” 

The team decided to focus on species that were closely related to the weeds that they had predicted would start showing resistance.  

Deepak says: “We looked for proxy species that would allow us to screen and test for resistance. For example, there’s a grass weed that’s very common in carrot fields in France, and I called a colleague and asked if I could have some seeds from this population.”  

With the help of experts, academics and hundreds of scientists around the world, the team gathered seeds from these proxy species, ranging from the fields of France to tropical climates like Malaysia. When samples had been collected, these weeds had to be cultivated.  

“We developed new tools to separate sensitive and resistant plants, grow them in polytunnels and then produce seeds to understand the resistance. It all started with me buying a polytunnel and bringing in a shovel from home. We've got 20 polytunnels on site now,” says Sarah-Jane.  

By thinking ahead and building up a population of proxy species, the team established a platform to allow for screening and testing. And this paid off.  

As increasing reports of resistance started to emerge from agronomists, researchers and farmers across Latin America, the team was already well placed to start screening and testing potential molecules.  

It was not just in this biological expertise that the team was leading the way. After all, collecting these resistant populations won’t do much good if there isn’t a scalable, effective control option.  

The close links between Syngenta experts and on-the-ground collaborators were again vital, as their real-world knowledge helped shape the creation, development and testing of Virestina technology.  

Sarah-Jane says: “Developing new ACCase inhibitors is an area of expertise at Syngenta. Every project has its challenges, but we carry these learnings forward, and we knew that knowledge would give us a great chance of succeeding with Virestina technology.”  

After a process that involved more than 15,000 potential molecules and the work of scientists from across the world, Virestina technology was developed: the first product that can overcome the known mutations in weed genes that allow them to be resistant to other ACCase herbicides.  

Breakthroughs are always a matter of collaboration and Virestina technology is no different. Starting with bold scientific predictions, the project drew on global knowledge including leading agronomists and academics as well as the farmers who must manage resistance on the ground.  

Looking back, Deepak is very proud of the collective insight brought to bear on the problem. "We not only predicted the country and the weed species, but we also predicted the exact mechanism of resistance too,” he says.   

Sarah-Jane agrees: “It’s very validating to have a hypothesis, test it and see it come to fruition.” 

As Deepak says, Virestina technology shows the importance of predictive science: “There is a paradigm shift here. If you are trying to develop a solution for an issue that is already a problem, you are already behind. We have to keep being bold and keep thinking ahead to spot the next issue before it threatens farmers’ harvests.” 

Read the original article on Syngenta.com »

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