| Syngenta | |
|---|---|
| Type | Public (SWX: SYNN) |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Basel, Switzerland |
| Key people | Martin Taylor (Chairman) Michael Mack (CEO) |
| Industry | Agribusiness |
| Products | Seeds, pesticides |
| Revenue | US $8. A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its registered securities ( Stock, bonds, etc SWX Swiss Exchange is Switzerland 's Stock exchange, based in Zürich. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. "Basilia" redirects here For the Fly Genus, see Basilia (fly. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Martin Taylor, born 1952, is a businessman and former chief executive of Barclays Bank. A chief executive officer ( CEO) or chief executive is typically the highest-ranking corporate officer ( executive) or administrator For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" In Agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various Businesses involved in Food production including Farming, Seed In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need A seed (in some plants referred to as a kernel) is a small embryonic Plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat usually with some stored A pesticide is a substance or mixture of substances used to kill a pest. In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been 046 billion (2006)[1] |
| Profit | US $875 million (2006)[1] |
| Employees | 21,000 |
| Website | www.syngenta.com |
Syngenta AG is a large global agribusiness which markets seeds and crop protection products (pesticides). Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Net income is equal to the Income that a firm has after subtracting costs and Expenses from the total Revenue. The word million In standard English, the -lli- in million is pronounced with an l-sound followed by a Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages In Agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various Businesses involved in Food production including Farming, Seed A seed (in some plants referred to as a kernel) is a small embryonic Plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat usually with some stored A pesticide is a substance or mixture of substances used to kill a pest. Syngenta is involved in biotechnology and genomic research. The company is a leader in crop protection, and ranks third in total sales in the commercial agricultural seeds market. Sales in 2007 were approximately US$ 9. 2 billion. Syngenta employs over 21,000 people in over 90 countries. Syngenta is listed on the Swiss stock exchange (SWX: SYNN) and in New York NYSE: SYT. SWX Swiss Exchange is Switzerland 's Stock exchange, based in Zürich. The New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE) is a Stock exchange based in New York City.
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Syngenta has eight primary product lines. The company develops, markets and sells these worldwide:
Pesticides:
Seeds:
In 2003, more than half of Syngenta sales came from selective herbicides and fungicides. A herbicide is used to kill unwanted Plants Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired Crop relatively unharmed Fungicides are Chemical compounds or biological organisms used to kill or inhibit fungi or fungal spores An insecticide is a Pesticide used against Insects in all developmental forms
Key Syngenta brands include Aatrex (atrazine), Actara, Amistar (azoxystrobin), Callisto, Cruiser, DualGold, Golden Harvest, Garst, Northrup-King (NK), Rogers, S&G, and Gramoxone (paraquat). Atrazine, 2-chloro-4-(ethylamine-6-(isopropylamine-s-triazine an Organic compound consisting of an s- Triazine -ring is a widely used Herbicide. Azoxystrobin is a Fungicide commonly used in agriculture The substance is used as an active agent protecting plants and fruit/vegetables from fungicidal diseases Northrup-King Seed Company was founded in Minneapolis Minnesota in 1896 and was based in Minneapolis until it was acquired and moved to Golden Valley Minnesota Simon & Garfunkel are an American Singer-songwriter duo of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. Paraquat is the trade name for NN'-Dimethyl-44'-bipyridinium dichloride, a Viologen.
Syngenta finances the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture. This non-profit organization supports sustainable food security projects in a number of countries.
Some of Syngenta's main competitors are: Monsanto, BASF, Dow AgroSciences, Bayer and DuPont. The Monsanto Company ( is a multinational Agricultural biotechnology Corporation. BASF SE () is a German chemical company and the largest chemical company in the world Dow AgroSciences LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company specializing in not only Agricultural chemicals such as Pesticides For other uses see Bayer (disambiguation or Beyer or Buyer. Bayer AG (German ˈbaɪə () is a German E I du Pont de Nemours and Company (,) is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a Gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée
The UN Commission on Sustainable Development states, "Major adjustments are needed in agricultural, environmental and macroeconomic policy, at both national and international levels, in developed as well as developing countries, to create the conditions for sustainable agriculture. and rural development (SARD). " [2]
Syngenta commited to comply with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides, which addresses the standards of conduct with regard to pesticide management[3].
Biofuels have become the hot topic on how we get away from oil dependency. Corn as ethanol has been the major alternate fuel source in the United States. Other countries like Brazil use sugarcane. Like many ag-companies, Syngenta also works in the bio-fuel space.
In 2007, Queensland University in Australia contracted with Syngenta to research different inputs for biofuels as a renewable energy source. [4]
Syngenta is led by Chairman Martin Taylor. Martin Taylor, born 1952, is a businessman and former chief executive of Barclays Bank. The other Directors are Peggy Bruzelius, Peter Doyle, Rupert Gasser, Pierre Landolt, Pedro Reiser, Peter Thompson, Jacques Vincent, Rolf Watter, and Felix Weber. Jacques Vincent is currently the Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of the Groupe Danone since 1998 Felix Weber (born December 1, 1960 in Hassfurt, Bavaria / Germany) is a German producer songwriter and arranger
Changes in 2007/2008 Michael Pragnell, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Member of the Board, retired from Syngenta. On January 1, 2008 Michael Mack, became the new Chief Executive Officer. He was also elected as a new member of the Syngenta Board of Directors in 2008[5]
Based in Basel, Switzerland, Syngenta was formed in 2000 by the merger of Novartis Agribusiness and Zeneca Agrochemicals. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Novartis International AG is a multinational Pharmaceutical company based in Basel Switzerland that manufactures drugs such as Clozapine AstraZeneca PLC (,) is a large Anglo-Swedish Pharmaceutical company formed on 6 April 1999 by the remerger of Swedish Astra AB Its roots are considerably older.
In 1758 the city’s Johann Rudolf Geigy-Gemuseus began trading in “Materials, Chemicals, Dyes and Drugs of all kinds”. In 1876, Sandoz Laboratories began business in Basel, followed in 1884 by Ciba. Novartis International AG is a multinational Pharmaceutical company based in Basel Switzerland that manufactures drugs such as Clozapine These three companies ultimately became Novartis in 1995. Ciba-Geigy, formed in 1971, had concentrated mainly on crop protection in its agro division, Sandoz more on seeds.
Zeneca Agrochemicals was part of AstraZeneca, and formerly of Imperial Chemical Industries. Imperial Chemical Industries ( ICI) is a British chemical subsidiary of a Dutch conglomerate and one of the largest chemical producers ICI was formed in the UK in 1926. Two years later, work began at the Agricultural Research Station at Jealott’s Hill near Bracknell. Bracknell is a town in the Bracknell Forest borough of Berkshire, England.
In 2004, Syngenta Seeds purchased the North American corn and soybean business of Advanta, as well as Garst and Golden Harvest.
In 2005, Syngenta opposed a Swiss ban on genetically modified organisms. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation This article is about organisms which have been genetically modified [6]
In 2007, Syngenta's Canadian division was named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers, as published in Maclean's magazine, one of only a handful of agribusiness firms to receive this honour. Canada's Top 100 Employers is an annual competition that recognizes the best places in Canada to work Maclean's is a Canadian weekly News magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics pop culture and current events [7]
In 21 October, 2007, a Brazilian peasant organization, the Landless Workers' Movement, led a group of landless farmers on an occupation of one of the company's seed research farms, in protest against genetically-modified vegetables and in hopes of obtaining land for landless families to cultivate. Brazil 's Landless Workers Movement, or in Portuguese Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST is the largest Social movement in After the occupation had begun, a group of gunmen arrived in a minibus and attacked the protesters. A security guard was killed, various protesters were wounded, and Valmir Mota de Oliveira, known as Keno, was found dead, "killed execution-style by two shots to the chest" according to some reports "at the centre of a bitter dispute"[8].
Protesters and sympathizers (including Sarah Wilson, of the Christian Aid) claimed that the gunmen were under orders of Syngenta to kill the occupiers, but the company says that the guards of the security company they contracted were not allowed to carry guns. Christian Aid is one of the biggest international development agencies in the world The MST claimed further that NF Security was a front company controlled by rural producer organizations linked to the agribusiness. Amnesty International expressed concern, and said that threats and intimidation by gunmen hired by landowners and agricultural companies are a common occurrence in Paraná. [8]
The police investigation completed in February 2008 implicated MST members and employees of NF Security but not Syngenta. [9]
Syngenta condemned the violence and severed the contract with the security firm. [10]
As with most corporations, Syngenta and its predecessor companies have been involved in numerous legal actions over the years. Syngenta uses the court system to defend its intellectual property and right to free trade. Syngenta declares a policy of not exercising its patents in seeds and biotechnology in the least-developed of developing countries.
In 2001, the US Patent and Trademark Office ruled in favor of Syngenta when the company filed suit against Bayer to protect its patent on a class of neonicotinoid insecticides. In 2002, Syngenta filed suit against Monsanto and a number of other companies claiming infringement of its US biotechnology patents covering transgenic corn and cotton.
In 2004, the company again filed suit against Monsanto, claiming antitrust violations related to the US biotech corn seed market.
The Syngenta legal record also includes citations by regulators, NGOs, and individuals for health issues related to its products.
Following a series of fatalities due to accidental consumption in the 1960s, the company’s herbicide, Gramoxone (Paraquat), gained notoriety in the 1970s and 80s due to a rash of suicides using the product, similar to the use of Monsantos herbicide Roundup/glyphosate for suicidal purposes. Paraquat is the trade name for NN'-Dimethyl-44'-bipyridinium dichloride, a Viologen. Roundup is the brand name of a systemic broad-spectrum Herbicide produced by the U Although the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies it as only moderately hazardous, in the United States it is labeled a restricted use pesticide and it is banned in several countries. The U. S. Center for Disease Control describes the herbicide as "dangerously poisionous" to humans if ingested, inhaled, or absorbed into the body. Syngenta has added a blue dye, a foul odor, and a powerful vomit-inducer to Gramoxone to help prevent mistakes and misuse.
The company has also faced questions on its Galecron insecticide’s possible relationship to bladder cancer and other illnesses. Production of Galecron stopped between 1976 and 1978 for new safety assessments, and then halted permanently in 1988 after more research showed potential risk. In a 1995 class action in the US, Ciba-Geigy agreed to cover costs for employee health monitoring and treatment.
Atrazine has been banned in several Wisconsin counties in the United States and in the European Union. Wisconsin ( or wɪˈskɑnsɨn (French Ouisconsin) is one of the fifty United States of America, located in the north central part of the United States The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in Syngenta has been linked to attempts to block the publications of UC Berkeley Professor Tyrone Hayes, although Syngenta has denied those claims. Tyrone Hayes researches the herbicide Atrazine, which he has found to cause hermaphroditism in frogs. [11] However, EPA and its independent Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) examined all available studies on this topic - including Hayes' work - and concluded there is "currently insufficient data" to determine if atrazine may affect amphibian development. Hayes, formerly part of the panel, resigned in 2000 to continue studies independently.
Syngenta statement on Atrazine
"With a safety dossier meeting the most stringent regulatory requirements, atrazine is among the best and most extensively researched crop protection products in the world. It has been the subject of hundreds of studies, 200 of them carried out over the last ten years. Syngenta is convinced of the safety of atrazine, which has been used safely and successfully by farmers for more than 45 years.
Atrazine is a selective herbicide used effectively in corn, grain sorghum, sugar cane and a range of other crops. " [12]
Syngenta sponsors several agricultural programs in developing nations. SFI created its flagship program, the Farmer Support Team (FST). The FST is a nationwide program in the Philippine archipelago. It works with farmers in all the major rice, fruit, and vegetable production provinces of the country. It began by helping Filipino farmers gain greater understanding and achieve higher productivity through trainings in Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Integrated Crop Management (ICM) and Total Crop Management (TCM). In Agriculture, Integrated Pest Management (IPM is a pest control strategy that uses an array of complementary methods mechanical devices physical devices
The objectives and goals of the Syngenta Foundation are "to work with rural communities in the semiarid regions of the world and improve their livelihoods. " [13]
The Syngenta Foundation addressed the World Food Day Symposium in 2005 as an output of the Millenium Ecosystem Report. [14]