Recently, Syngenta and Taranis declared their AI-backed partnership a winner as it combined their respective prowess in leading crop protection and AI crop intelligence for retailers and farmers in the Midwest.
Syngenta’s leadership pointed to AI as agriculture’s next major breakthrough, with early results from the 2025 collaboration demonstrating how pairing Taranis’ leaf-level AI Crop Intelligence with Syngenta’s portfolio helped create value for retailers and growers—momentum that the partnership is now positioned to scale.
“Over the past two years, we’ve been intentional about keeping a pulse on growers’ pain points and making practical improvements to enhance their experience,” says Paul Backman, Syngenta’s Head of North America Crop Protection Digital Agriculture & Sustainable Solutions. “With the help of AI, technical expertise, and strong partnerships, we are enabling growers to spot issues and respond with solutions faster than they have before.”
Ag Retailers: At the Frontline Connecting Growers to Solutions
As the new growing season kicks off for the Midwest, Syngenta’s teams say they are taking off the training wheels and anticipating the program’s success in the retail sector to be the foundation for its growth.
“We believe ag retailers play a critical role in bringing conservation solutions together for growers,” says Backman. “The powerful capabilities brought together through our partnership with Taranis put us in an excellent position to collaborate with retailers and create value for them as we deliver on this vision.”
Early insights from the field signal momentum. Retailer enrollment continues to accelerate, with participating acres expanding rapidly throughout the Midwest.
“We’ve worked to scale the partnership more broadly in our second year – this means connecting AI Crop Intelligence with our Crop Protection portfolio and bringing these solutions to more retailers,” he says. “The results from our first year together demonstrated a clear benefit for growers to be more targeted and to address field issues earlier – helping growers and retailers be more efficient in pinpointing challenges and the right solutions to address them.”
Now, the company says that the program is optimized with data-backed intelligence for corn and soybean producers, and in the early stages of exploring its applications in potato production as well.
A Win-Win to Unlock Conservation Opportunity
Geography and crops are not the only expansion on the table for 2026, Backman says. The partnership is working to help growers enhance profitability and access to conservation funding and technical assistance by matching farmers with public conservation programs and working collaboratively through the enrollment process.
“We know that turning a profit and having the funds to invest in new practices can be one of the biggest barriers growers face when deciding whether to adopt a new practice,” Backman says. “This, in essence, is what makes Syngenta’s partnership with Taranis a real game changer.”
Through the partnership, Taranis Technical Service Providers will identify opportunities to access funding through popular federal mechanisms like the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). “The Taranis Conservation Partnership solution is designed to help growers access USDA conservation funding and implement sustainable farming practices on their farms with minimum effort,” he says.
Backman also notes that smooth enrollment isn’t just a convenience – it’s key to enabling growers to access resources to invest in their operations and experiment with new practices that might otherwise be out of reach.
“We see it as a win-win for all parties involved,” he says.
Sustainability, Driven by Digital Tools
AI-powered intelligence from Taranis is the latest capability offered alongside Syngenta’s suite of digital tools that underpin its corporate sustainability strategy.
“Syngenta has a long history of supporting growers to help increase yields, and today we’re leaning into a broad portfolio of digital tools to meet that mission,” Backman says. “Over time, we’ve learned that leveraging crop protection and advancing sustainability can go forward together.”
This AI-backed partnership, along with digital sustainability tools such as the CropWise™ Sustainability App, are critical levers to achieving Syngenta’s overall sustainability goals – one of several reasons the company combined the two into a new Digital and Sustainable Solutions team.
Backman’s team is charged with finding solutions that work at the farmgate, but also help to manage productivity, profitability, and stewardship.
“A key to meeting these goals and scaling sustainable practices starts with solutions that truly work for farmers, which is why we’re embedding sustainability into our business strategy and operations and equipping our field teams with resources to communicate how our solutions support those efforts,” he says. “While technology has long helped farmers increase yields, today we’re combining it with sustainable practices to help achieve higher yields with lower impact.
“By improving soil health, protecting biodiversity and conserving natural resources, we can help create lasting value – ensuring that growers succeed today, and well into the future.”
