THEBUSINESSBYTES
BUREAU
DAVOS, JANUARY 19, 2026
As global agriculture confronts
mounting economic, geopolitical and environmental headwinds, Syngenta Group is
set to make a strong case at the World Economic Forum for artificial
intelligence as a critical enabler of farm resilience, productivity and
inclusivity. With the number of active farms shrinking worldwide and financial
stress deepening across rural economies, the company says innovation and open
access to digital tools are no longer optional but essential for sustaining the
global food system.
Addressing the urgency of the moment,
Syngenta Group CEO Jeff Rowe said farmers are navigating one of the most
complex periods in modern agricultural history, demanding immediate and
practical solutions. He underlined that the current window offers a rare
opportunity to reverse troubling trends by ensuring that every farmer,
irrespective of scale or technical expertise, can harness the transformative
potential of AI and digital technologies.
Rowe emphasised that the true power of
innovation lies in blending advanced AI with deep agronomic expertise. He noted
that technology alone cannot deliver results unless policymakers and businesses
work in tandem to demonstrate tangible on-ground benefits, simplify farm
operations and dispel the perception that farmers must be technology
specialists to benefit from digital tools. Building trust through transparency
in data usage, peer validation and outcomes visible in farmers’ own fields, he
said, will be central to accelerating adoption.
A recent IPSOS research study
conducted in partnership with Syngenta has highlighted a widening digital
divide within agriculture. While large-scale farms are rapidly adopting
advanced AI-driven solutions, smaller and older farmers risk being left behind.
The findings point to an urgent need for coordinated efforts to democratise
agricultural technology, turning the challenge into an opportunity to unlock
value across the entire farming community.
Syngenta’s Cropwise digital platform
is already demonstrating how AI can be scaled inclusively. Its Grower GenAI
Chatbot is empowering more than two million farmers across India by providing
round-the-clock, multilingual agronomy support. Farmers can interact through
text, voice or images of crops to receive instant analysis, disease diagnosis
and product recommendations with high accuracy, supported by advanced natural
language processing and voice recognition capable of handling local dialects.
The platform is designed to replace costly field visits with accessible,
real-time advice.
Building on this, Syngenta is
preparing to launch predictive intelligence systems for pest and disease
outbreaks in selected markets. These solutions combine real-time scouting data,
advanced risk modelling and geospatial AI to forecast outbreak probabilities
and geographic spread, enabling farmers to take preventive action before damage
occurs. The company says such tools are aimed at simplifying decision-making
while making sophisticated insights universally accessible.
Positioning itself as an ecosystem
enabler, Syngenta is opening its Cropwise platform to third-party developers to
co-innovate and bridge the agriculture technology gap. The company maintains
that responsible data governance remains central to its approach, with
individual grower data accessed only with explicit consent and compliance
aligned with global data protection regulations.
At the World Economic Forum in January
2026, Syngenta is championing collaborative policy frameworks to widen access
to agricultural technology and accelerate sustainable farming practices. On
January 21, in collaboration with the Financial Times, the company will convene
a high-level roundtable in Davos, bringing together global business leaders,
policymakers and academics to explore responsible applications of AI across the
food value chain and chart pathways to translate technological promise into
scalable, lasting impact.
