Syngenta Group and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) extend collaboration

Date:05-24-2024

• Strengthening of a unique NGO-corporation collaboration model that links conservation goals with economic potential and addresses societal issues like deforestation and land degradation.

• Extension of multi-year agreement that started in 2018, focusing on five strategic projects across the globe.

• By 2026, ambitious target to recover over 300 thousand hectares of degraded land in Cerrado Brazil and regenerate agricultural soils in China with a focus to impact the agricultural sector for the adaption of sustainable farming practices. In the US the focus lies in enhancing climate resilience of crop land

• Collaboration and innovation drive the transformation of agriculture into a climate solution that regenerates soil and nature.

Syngenta Group, the leading global agriculture technology company, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a world-wide conservation organization with the mission to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends, renewed their successful collaboration that links conservation goals with economic potential and addresses societal issues like deforestation and land degradation. The two partners have been collaborating since 2009 and entered into a global collaboration in 2018.

The new three-year collaboration builds on successful projects and focuses on further advancing business practices with the goals to scale up regenerative agriculture, improve resource efficiency to minimize impact of agriculture on climate, improve soil health, and promote habitat protection in major agricultural regions worldwide including the Cerrado region of Brazil, China, and the United States.

The collaboration embodies Syngenta’s commitment to regenerate soil and nature, core to its new Group-wide sustainability priorities announced in April 2024.

Petra Laux, Chief Sustainability Officer of Syngenta Group: ″We are very proud to continue our collaboration with TNC and our partnership for impact. We want to further leverage our efforts towards a climate solution-oriented agriculture fueled by innovation and partnerships that regenerate soil and protect nature. Agriculture must not only feed a growing global population over the coming decades, but it also needs to fight climate change and safeguard natural resources.″

Restoring millions of hectares of degraded land in Brazil, China and the US

Syngenta has set an ambitious target to recover 1 million hectares of degraded land throughout Brazil, with a significant portion focused on the Cerrado where the TNC collaborates with the company.

The goal of the initiative is to make the restoration of degraded land the profitable option sought by farmers in Brazil when expanding their production, instead of clearing native vegetation. The REVERTE^® program, originally designed by Syngenta and TNC for the Cerrado due to its significant potential, includes Itaú BBA bank as the organization offering a line of credit for the growers following socio-environmental criteria.

Michael Doane, Global Managing Director Food & Freshwater Systems, TNC: ″REVERTE^® aims to demonstrate, through an integrated solution involving good agricultural practices, financial tools, policy, and business models, the economic viability of restoring degraded pastures instead of opening new cultivation areas and avoiding deforestation. Restoring land in the Cerrado delivers soil and water conservation benefits, increases carbon sequestration, and can increase the resilience of the production systems to extreme climate events. The program aims to support the transformation of agribusiness in the Cerrado, generating social, economic, and environmental benefits today and in the future.″

As of March 2024, REVERTE^® has garnered commitments from over 263 farms, encompassing a total of 202 thousand hectares of degraded land, with 137 thousand in the Cerrado biome.

China: The Run Tian project has already regenerated 2400 hectares of agricultural soils in the North China Plain, the largest wheat producing area in China. It has also trained more than 17 thousand farmers on regenerative agricultural practices, leading to increases in yields by 4%, soil moisture storage 300m3 per hectare and net benefit USD 360 per hectare. Moving forward, Run Tian will develop new business strategies to further improve soil health to empower and support frontline producers to protect the soil ecosystem. It will also leverage Syngenta Group’s fast-growing network of Modern Agriculture Platform (MAP) centers that promote sustainable farming practices. The MAP offering helps farmers modernize their farms sustainably, while boosting crop quality, yield and farm profitability. As part of Syngenta Group’s recently published Sustainability Priorities, the company has a target to expand the number of farmer service centers to 1000 by 2028.

United States: In the US, the collaboration will develop and launch two new projects. The first will focus on enhancing cropland’s climate resilience and reducing farming pressure on water resources by unlocking diverse crop rotations with regenerative sorghum production. In a parallel effort, the collaboration will also look to scale regenerative agriculture practices with seeds producers in the US, as part of the broader global Syngenta Seeds effort to implement regenerative agriculture in seed production. The collaboration with TNC will bring new business value to farmers, while reducing the environmental footprint of the seeds supply chain and preserving the quality of seeds delivered to Syngenta Group customers. Syngenta Group supports a broad range of sustainability projects and partners with academia and industry around the world – demonstrating its commitment to a collaborative approach.

Syngenta Group and TNC will hold a LinkedIn Live event on the partnership progress. Tzutzuy Ramirez and Roberto Castro, Syngenta, and Michael Wironen and Rodrigo Spuri, TNC, will discuss how the partners will continue to develop their unique NGO-corporation collaboration model and what the plans are for the future. The event will be hosted on the Syngenta LinkedIn page on Wednesday, May 29 at 14.30 CET