Market growth rate is over 10%, new products in seed processing industry are frequent, and the future is promising (Part I)

Seed quality is the decisive factor of agricultural production and harvest, and seed treatment is an important link in agricultural production. As an efficient means of crop protection, seed treatment technology has the characteristics of low investment cost, small environmental pollution, good control effect, high pesticide utilization rate, high economic efficiency, etc., which has become an important thrust of pesticide reduction and efficiency, agricultural green development.

Markets and markets (M & M) forecasts that the seed treatment market will grow from $6.1 billion in 2016 to $11.3 billion in 2022, with a CAGR of 10.8% over the forecast period. As the carrier of seed treatment technology, seed treatment agent has received more and more attention and recognition from the majority of growers because of its good performance (such as the ability to resist early diseases and its impact on crop yield).

Next, the editor will take stock of the players in the field of seed treatment and analyze the important varieties of seed treatment agents registered / listed globally in 2019.

BASF seed treatment agent led by 38% in 2019

In 2018, BASF entered the seed market after completing the acquisition of some business assets of Bayer, and formed complementary advantages with BASF's original business to jointly create a product portfolio belonging to BASF. In 2019, BASF's total sales including pesticides and seeds amounted to 7.814 billion euros (81.4% of pesticides, 18.6% of seeds), with a year-on-year growth of 26.9% (8.6% of pesticide sales), and the sales of seed treatment agents amounted to 639 million euros, 10.0% of the company's pesticide sales, leading the growth of 38.0%.

In October 2019, BASF launched a new seed treatment fungicide ilevo ® (flupiramide) in Australia, which can be used by Australian rape growers to prevent and control rape black shank. Black shank is a serious disease in Australian rape. Arturo de Lucas, portfolio manager, Seed Technology Australia and New Zealand, BASF explained: "we are pleased to provide seed treatment fungicide products to growers because there are very limited ways to manage the disease. The results of five consecutive years of experiments show that ilevo can prevent black shank disease more effectively, manage early leaf infection better, and reduce plant lodging and internal stem infection compared with current industry standard products. "

Rob hall, head of seed business in Australia and New Zealand, BASF, said that in addition to its disease prevention capability, ilevo has other advantages: "it is compatible with a variety of products, with low application rate, and can even promote the emergence of crops and early plant vitality, and the product has not been used for the prevention and control of black shank disease before, and its performance is expected." Ilevo not only shows good security, but also has no impact on seed germination, and has a high compatibility. It can be mixed with other fungicides and insecticidal seed treatment agents to provide more extensive protection.

Ilevo complements BASF's needle rape solution portfolio, which will continue to grow with the launch of invigor ® r4022p in Australia in 2020. Invigorr4022p is a product combining the new truflex ® technology with the BASF podguard ® character, which can improve weed control ability, harvest time and crop yield potential.

BASF has always been experienced in research and development, and has set up seed solution research centers in many regions of the world for the formulation development and technological innovation of seed treatment agents. BASF believes that chemical agents are a part of all seed treatment agents, and biological agents are an important supplement to chemical agents. In addition to traditional preparations, BASF has a relatively sound functional coating product line, including film-forming agent, color paste, pearlescent powder, etc. Film former is an important technology to help the interaction between seed and environment, and seed coating is an important balance. In fact, the seed treatment solution needs to integrate multiple functions such as crop protection, immune activation, etc. it needs better coating stability, to minimize the shedding of effective ingredients, and to improve the planting and seed mobility. It is a very complex technology.

Zhu Chunyu, technical manager of BASF (China) Co., Ltd., said: "in the early days, seed coating considered the combination with seeds. With the development of technology, more and more functions are given to it, including binding effective ingredients, providing better protection for effective ingredients, etc."

"Dryness, resistance and prevention" -- Bayer rice dry seed coating seed coating seed coating agent goes to market

In March 2019, the national listing meeting of Bayer (24.1% oximex · isothiamine), a highly anticipated innovative ingredient seed coating product, was held in Hefei. This listing meeting released the Three Character Classic of Bayer's entering the field: dry planting, magical power and harvest! In short, it can be guided by the three words of "Gan", "Kang" and "Fang".

-Dry: Bayer into the field is rice dry seed coating seed coating seed coating agent soaking seed does not fall off, no loss of liquid medicine

-Resistance: Bayer into the field ® is a seed coating agent based on the principle of systematically induced disease resistance, which improves the resistance of rice to external adverse environment from the beginning of sowing, and endows crops with natural magic power

-Prevention: Bayer is a seed coating agent for the control of rice blast, and it also has a good effect on rice bakanae

On the spot of the listing meeting, leaders and experts from the National Agricultural Technology Center, Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province Plant Protection Station shared the excellent results of Bayer's early field test and demonstration.

Yi Meiqin, customer solution manager of seed processing business of Bayer crop (China) Co., Ltd., said: "the mixed disease of fungus and bacteria in Rice Panicle is becoming more and more serious, so there is an urgent need for solutions to effectively prevent and control the damage of fungus and bacteria in Rice Panicle without increasing the application times. At present, the market of rice seed treatment is still immature, which needs to be further cultivated and is still a blue ocean to be developed. The requirements of farmers are safety, convenience, time-saving, long-term, high yield, good rice quality, and good price to sell; for seed industry, it is necessary to be safe, followed by water content, strong seedlings, to contain the disease of seedlings, rice blast, bacterial disease, ear neck blast, and at the same time, it is necessary to increase production. The requirements for film-forming agent are very high, with many different requirements. Therefore, the research and development and promotion of seed coating agent is a technical activity, not only to understand the theory, but also to understand the crops, and the process of rice seed coating agent promotion is particularly difficult. "

In April 2019, Bayer launched a new seed treatment fungicide evergol energy ® in Australia. As seed treatment agent, it can control or inhibit many diseases, including smut in wheat, barley, oats and rye. Evergol energy can also be used in furrows to inhibit crown rot and mildew in wheat, barley, rye and oats, giving growers greater flexibility.

Bayer, as a seed processing market, has a history of more than 100 years. In the past, Bayer has been actively cooperating with seed companies and seed distributors to create a new market segment, which ultimately brings benefits to growers. Boualem saidI, global head of Bayer seedgrowth, said in an interview: "with the successful acquisition of Monsanto, we were forced to divest part of our portfolio. We still have a very successful and strong product portfolio in the market, and constantly put forward new innovative products: for example, routine ® start, which is our seed treatment method that can effectively control rice blast for a long time. Later, there will be redigo ® m and scenic ® gold, two new products that are disease control solutions mainly for the European market. Then there are innovative products, such as peridiam ® 319 (corn) and 009 (rice in Asia Pacific); poncho / Votivo is a biological seed treatment agent for corn and soybean crops, which is a combination of systematic chemical insecticides and biological insecticides, providing protection against nematodes. "

Boualem added: "our goal is clearly to be a market for seed applications again. In order to maintain our position, we have invested a lot of money in the research and development of seed treatment technology and products. One of our new research fields is to break through the boundaries of crop efficiency by improving root health, absorbing nutrients and water management. I firmly believe that we can show some new developments in the next few years. Our extensive integrated field footprint will enable us to consistently deliver better, tailored solutions for all farmers through a combination of technologies such as chemicals and biologics. "

Another new product of Syngenta seedcare -- quaternary compound potato seed treatment agent with fungicidal and insecticidal effects

Syngenta, as a world seed processing company, has a very rich seed processing product line, which can provide customers with a comprehensive seed coating product portfolio, effectively resist and prevent early pests and nematodes, and help improve crop yield potential.

Syngenta seedcare, April 2019 Gamma A new product, the potato insecticidal / germicidal seed treatment agent cruisermaxx ® vibration ®, has been added. The seed treatment product contains three industrial bactericidal ingredients and one insecticidal ingredient, which can prevent and control the pathogens of potato black nevus, psoriasis and rot. in addition, cruiser ® can protect the potato from major pests.

Kris pauna, Syngenta's director of seedcare commodity products, said, "the product can provide full disease and pest protection for young and young potatoes. The unique combination of the four active ingredients can help to establish stronger and more active roots and stems of potatoes. Cruiser Maxx vibration can also prevent and control potato Y virus and soil borne diseases, and help to improve the growth of potatoes and obtain large yield. "

Syngenta has always been a market pioneer, from the listing of avicta, a nematode killing seed treatment product, to the listing of vibration (gensuibao ®), which marks that the company has created a new category in the field of root health care. Vibration has a new mechanism of action, which can protect plant roots from soil, air and seed borne pathogens.

Syngenta's seed processing business consists of three pillar solutions (product coating processing service), which can ensure that the company can achieve the value creation of "alternative care, not just seeds". Relying on its global seed Protection Institute, the company not only provides customers with industrial product solutions, gives them in-depth coating processing guidance, but also ensures customers to use relevant products safely and efficiently.

Syngenta's seed treatment products are mainly composed of Difenoconazole, pyrrolidonitrile, azoxystrobin, thiamethoxam, metalaxyl and other ingredients, and the main representative products are manshijin, Ruisheng and grass, which are mainly promoted by wheat at present. Maxim (shile ®, manshijin ®) product family all contain pyrrolidine, which belongs to a new type of benzopyrrole compound used for seed treatment, suitable for a variety of crops including corn, soybean, potato, cotton, etc. Pyrrolidonitrile is a kind of protective fungicide, which can form a protective circle on the seed surface and around, and realize long-term protection in the seedling stage of crops.

At present, Syngenta also has seed coating agent comprehensive solution potential shield ™。 Potential shield can make the seeds of growers healthier and achieve more output. Potential shield Gamma It is Syngenta's comprehensive solution brand of seed coating agent, rather than a single product. Potential shield of Syngenta ™” It is based on the characteristics of crop varieties, aiming at the pests and adversity in the planting area, relying on Syngenta's powerful R & D product line and the comprehensive solution of seed coating agent certified by Syngenta seed Protection Institute, to provide the seeds with the highest quality and strong protection, to ensure that the seedlings are all planted and all seedlings are strong, so as to give full play to the potential of variety yield.

The innovative combination of seed treatment products will become a strong growth point in the future

With the growth of seed treatment related research and development, many excellent products will enter the market in the next five years. The producers of seed treatment products put forward innovative combination of products, which may be extremely beneficial to crop yield and quality.

For example, a multi-component product launched on the market, BASF's vault ®, was registered with the US EPA in December 2018 and officially entered the market in September 2019. With vault, BASF set a new standard for seed inoculation and protection. The product combines inoculated bacteria and biocide ingredients registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Justin Clark, technical marketing manager of BASF, said: "vault can promote the formation of root nodules and enhance the efficacy of plant protection. Efficient rhizobia will have new proliferation every year, increase the number of nodules, and maximize the potential of nitrogen fixation. Soybean growers can benefit from this product. " With more nodules and enhanced plant protection, vault seed treatment agent can make the root system grow more vigorously, improve the absorption of nutrients, and improve the health status and yield of crops. Martin Horrocks, head of BASF North America seed solutions, said: "BASF seed solutions includes a series of innovative seed treatment agents that can improve the potential of seed growth and development. With vault, we are able to provide growers with a more comprehensive portfolio of products, allowing growers to get a better start in growing their crops. "

These combinations of chemical and biological, biological and biological ingredients can be sold to farmers in a customized way based on the harvested crops and soil conditions. Producers such as BASF, Bayer and Syngenta have been developing bio seed treatment products based on crop growth at the regional level. It is expected that such customized services will make the commercial seed market develop vigorously in the next five years.