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Headlines from August 2017

• Dow and DuPont have successfully completed their merger, effective 31 August

• Syngenta has received US EPA registration for Force Evo (tefluthrin)

• AMVAC Mexico has completed the acquisition of certain selective herbicides and contact fungicides sold in the Mexican agricultural market from Syngenta

• BASF has submitted the regulatory dossier for its fungicide active Revysol (mefentrifluconazole) to registration authorities in the US, Canada and Mexico

• Stockton (STK),  has received registration in Spain for its biofungicide Timorex Gold

• A survey carried out by the University of Missouri has shown that by mid-August dicamba complaints had been recorded in 21 US states and as far north as North Dakota

• Enigma Marketing Research  has launched a  database which identifies Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) for agrochemicals

• Monsanto and Valent USA have expanded their Roundup Ready Plus Crop Management Solutions platform for 2018

• Stockton  has signed a commercialisation and distribution agreement with Syngenta for Timorex Gold  to be used in edible crops in Australia and New Zealand

• Sales of crop protection products in Germany in 2016  at wholesale level dropped by 11.1% to €1,415 million

• Platform Specialty Products has announced its intention to separate its Agricultural Solutions and Performance Solutions segments

• The European Commission has announced that it has opened an in-depth investigation to assess the proposed acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer

• Reuter has reported that the US-based Albaugh is exploring a sale that could value the company at more than $1.5 billion including debt

• Monsanto is offering its NemaStrike Technology (tioxafen) by Acceleron Seed Applied Solutions in the US for 2018

• Adama has reported that its sales revenues grew by 2.8% in the second quarter 2017 and by 0.7% in the half year period compared to 2016

• The European Commission has initiated plans to hold an extraordinary meeting in late September following reports that eggs from The Netherlands have been contaminated with the insecticide fipronil

• The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) is funding an initial four-year research project to breed blast resistant wheat varieties

• CABI has reported that fall armyworm has been confirmed in 28 African countries, following the pest’s arrival in Africa in 2016

• DuPont Crop Protection has introduced the herbicide EverpreX (S-metolachlor) in the US

• Dow AgroSciences has received approval in Ireland for its new insecticide based on Isoclast active 

Headlines from July 2017

• Koppert sells Trianum, new biofungicide, in Spain

• BASF reports that its Agricultural Solutions segment sales in Q2 increased by 5% to €1.5 billion

• DuPont Pioneer and Evogene Ltd have entered into a multiyear collaboration that includes the research and development of microbiome-based seed treatments in corn

• DuPont’s agriculture sales increased 5% in Q2

• Some US states ban dicamba use

• Bayer AG’s CEO Werner Baumann  expects the company’s $66 billion combination with Monsanto to close by the end of the year

• Arysta LifeScience has introduced a new systemic fungicide based on fluoxastrobin in its Kenyan and Tanzanian markets

• BASF and Kaiima Bio-Agritech are collaborating on the discovery of novel herbicide resistance traits

• Syngenta has reported that sales for the first half of 2017 were down 2% at constant exchange rates to $6.9 billion

• Monsanto responds to dicamba drift damage

• Coffee growers in parts of Brazil are having to deal with the worst beetle infestation in recent memory due to  a ban on endosulfan

• Bayer and Rothamsted Research, UK, have entered into an agreement to improve collaborations  that will support the development of more customised agronomic solutions

• Second-quarter sales of Bayer’s agricultural business (Crop Science) fell by 15.8% (Fx & portfolio adj) to €2,163 million)

• Dow Agricultural Sciences has reported second quarter sales of $1.6 billion, up 3% year-over-year

• American Vanguard Corporation reports revenue increases of 7% for the second quarter and 4% for the first half of the year

• FMC Agricultural Solutions reported second quarter revenue of $583 million and segment earnings of $96 million.

• Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) has shipped its biofungicide, Reysana, to Morocco

• Dow AgroSciences is to divest a portion of its corn seed business in Brazil for $1.1 billion

• Research scientists at Australia's CSIRO have successfully mapped the complete genome of the economically important pests, cotton bollworm and corn earworm

• Gowan Crop Protection has acquired Agrotechnology (AGT) in Chile

Headlines from June 2017

• Dow AgroSciences UK expects that its cereal fungicide Inatreq will receive active substance approval in 2018 for first use in 2019-2020

• Luxembourg’s parliament has voted unanimously in favour of a resolution which calls for a ban on cultivating GM maize

• Adama Agricultural Solutions has announced the acquisition of a number of crop protection products in the US from Syngenta

• A jury has ordered Syngenta to pay $217.7million in compensatory damages to Kansas farmers over its decision to sell GM corn not approved in China

• Monsanto and  Atomwise have formed a  research collaboration to increase the speed and probability of discovering new crop protection products using artificial intelligence

• The US EPA has recently registered four products containing an  innovative plant-incorporated protectant (PIP) called Smartstax Pro

• Evogene has advanced a number of insect control traits

• The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture has announced that it is permitting the importation of 16 varieties of GM crops from mid-June 2017 onwards

• Experts from the EU member states have approved a proposed list of criteria to identify endocrine disruptors in plant protection products

• A recent survey commissioned by environmental groups and conducted by market researchers GFS Zurich, shows strong support for cuts in pesticide use in Switzerland

• Dow AgoSciences will launch Enlist corn in the US and Canada for  2018. This follows the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture's decision to approve the import of grain produced from corn containing the Enlist trait

• Bayer and Sumitomo Chemical Company have reached a new agreement on fungicidal mixture products in Brazil

• The newly elected French government will not repeal a ban on the neonicotinoids

• Syngenta has registered its insecticide Cruiser 600 FS  for seed treatment use in Brazil

• Eden Research recently announced that it has agreed new terms covering its terpene licence agreement with UMMS

• Bayer AgroSciences expects negative earnings for 2017 from its business in Brazil

• Adama Agricultural Solutions and RiceTec have entered into a global collaboration aiming to deliver new rice hybrids and weed control solutions to farmers worldwide

• DLF Seeds is acquiring Syngenta’s global sugar beet seeds business

Headlines from May 2017

• Agri-Star and Marrone Bio Innovations sign exclusive distribution agreement to distribute Grandevo and Venerate bioinsecticides for Mexico

• Syngenta has announced the name of its new herbicide containing S-metolachlor and dicamba. The product will be marketed as Tavium plus VaporGrip Technology

• Arysta LifeScience has introduced  new biostimulant and seed treatment products for the UK and Irish markets

• Reports suggest that the European Commission is discussing  with member states  the possible renewal of glyphosate for a 10 year period rather than the normal 15 years

• Vive Crop Protection and SipcamRotam have recently entered a partnership to bring to market new products containing Vive’s Allosperse Delivery System

• Syngenta’s insecticide seed treatment  Fortenza has received registration from the US EPA for use on corn and cotton

• Nufarm has announced the launch of a systemic insecticide seed treatment Maestro FS  in Brazil.

• FMC has registered the microbiological nematicide Presence (Bacillus subtilis + Bacillus licheniformis) in Brazil

• The Climate Corporation has integrated the aerial imagery technology of its partners Ceres Imaging, TerrAvion and Agribotix into its Climate FieldView digital agriculture platform

• Adama's sales revenue was down by 0.6% in constant currency terms in the first quarter of 2017

• The Colorado Wheat Research Foundation (CWRF), Albaugh LLC, North America and wheat breeder Limagrain Cereal Seeds have collaborated to create the herbicide-tolerant CoAxium Wheat Production System

• Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) has entered into a  distribution agreement with Jet Harvest Solutions for the product Jet-Ag

• AMVAC Chemical Corporation has completed the acquisition of three crop protection product lines from Adama

• The UK's AHDB Horticulture has launched SCEPTREplus, a new £1.4 million four-year programme of crop protection product trials targeting high-priority diseases, pests and weeds

Headlines from April 2017

• China National Chemical Corporation has won enough support from Syngenta shareholders to clinch the takeover of the Swiss company

•  Belchim Crop Protection has agreed to acquire the American agrochemical company Engage Agro USA

• The new US EPA administrator,  has signed an order denying a petition that sought to ban Dow’s insecticide chlorpyrifos in the US

• Summit Agro USA has launched the fungicide Prolivo 300SC  for use in  grapes

• Sales by Bayer’s agriculture business increased by 3.2% (Fx & portfolio adj) to €3,120 million during the first quarter
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• KNE Certis has taken over responsibility for the exclusive distribution of certain Nufarm products in Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Albania for a five year period

• After a re-evaluation Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency is granting continued registration of products containing glyphosate for sale and use in Canada

• Du Pont’s first quarter net sales for its Agriculture segment increased by 4% to $3,928 million

• Syngenta is launching a new generation cereal seed treatment Vibrance Duo in the UK for use in autumn 2017

• Bayer has agreed to sell its Liberty herbicide and LibertyLink-branded seeds businesses to win antitrust approval for its acquisition of Monsanto

• BASF’s Agricultural Solutions segment reported a 4.2% year-on-year increase in sales to €1,855 million in the first quarter

• EFSA found 97% of food samples collected in 2015 were within legal limits

• Dow Agrosciences reported first quarter sales of $1.6 billion, down 5%

• Monsanto has received US EPA approval for its nematicide NemaStrike Technology

• Syngenta group sales of $3.7 billion were 1% lower compared with the first quarter of 2016

• Isagro USA is expanding its bio-solutions portfolio BASF has signed an agreement to acquire ZedX  a leader in the development of digital agricultural intelligence

• The John Innes Centre, Norwich, the UK’s leading plant science and food research institute has been awarded £77.9 million in a series of new strategic programme investments by the UK's BBSRC

• Belchim Crop Protection is expanding its agrochemical business in Germany by acquiring a 100% shareholding in Proagro

Headlines from March 2017

• FMC will acquire part of DuPont's Crop Protection business that it must divest to comply with the European Commission ruling related to its merger with Dow Chemical Company

• Summit Agro International has acquired from BASF the right to market the active ingredient chloridazon in Japan

•  MBI will advance novel bacteria and related proteins from Evogene into its bioinsecticide product development pipeline

• FMC has  launched  Quetzo, a biological product for the control of nematodes on several crops in Brazil

• Australian grain growers are being advised to implement effective integrated disease management strategies following the discovery of resistance to strobilurin fungicides in wheat powdery mildew

• Adama has reported that sales revenues increased by 3.2% in 2016

• Bayer’s biological nematicide BioAct Prime DC has been granted regulatory approval in Greece

• Eden Research has received a Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) from the Patent Office in Greece for  3AEY

• ChemChina has won conditional EU antitrust approval for its $43 billion bid for Syngenta

• BASF has invested more than $270 million in diamba production

• The ECHA Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) says glyphosate is not carcinogenic

• Syngenta Canada has launched a fungicide Aprovia Top  for use on potatoes

• Nichino America is to market pyraclonil in the US

• Canada-based Premier Tech is to take the lead on bioherbicide development

• Monsanto’s net sales for its Q2 increased to approximately $5.1 billion and for the first six months increased to $7.7 billion

• Dow AgroSciences has launched a new cereal herbicide Zypar for UK growers

• BASF has launched Enervin Top fungicide in Spain for the control of downy mildew in vineyards

• ChemChina has received US antitrust approval fo its acquisition of Syngenta on the condition that it divests the generic production of  paraquat, abamectin and  chlorothalonil

Headlines from February 2017

• MEPs have adopted a resolution calling on the European Commission to fast-track the  registration of low risk pesticides

• The US EPA has approved Syngenta’s insecticide Minecto Pro for use in speciality and vegetable crops

• Syngenta reported sales of $12.8 billion in 2016, 2% lower at constant exchange than in 2015

• RiceTec and Adama have  announced they are collaborating on the development of new herbicide tolerance systems for rice

• Nufarm America has received registration for its herbicide Panther Pro for broad spectrum weed control in soybean

• The Competition Bureau, the Canadian antitrust watchdog, has ruled that Canada’s farmers are not likely to see less competition if ChemChina buys Syngenta

• Summit Agro has negotiated with Bayer the right to manufacture and distribute the fungicide metominostrobin in all markets worldwide including Japan

• Wheat blast, a devastating fungal disease that appeared in South Asia for the first time in 2016, was the focus of a surveillance workshop in Bangladesh

• The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) proposes to approve a Crusader herbicide that contains a new active constituent from Dow Agrosciences

• Exosect has announced the development of a sprayable formulation of a systemic herbicide based on the company’s Entostat technology

• DuPont and Dow Chemical are on track to win EU approval for their $74 billion tie-up  after tweaking concessions to allay antitrust concerns

• BASF's full year sales for 2016 fell by 4% to $5.9 billion as a result of lower sales volumes and negative currency effects

• Arysta LifeScience says it has increased the value of its research and development pipeline with the addition of seven active substances

• Stockton has signed a long term non-exclusive distribution agreement for Timorex Gold with Chongqing Shurong Crop Science  in China

• New market report projects biopesticides market will reach $7.7 billion by 2021

• Trana Discovery has announced a collaboration agreement with Bayer to discover and validate new fungicides

• Bayer CropScience has posted sales of €9,915 million (Fx & portfolio adj) for 2016 up just 0.1%.

• US EPA has approved DuPont's Fexapan dicamba herbicide

• SipcamRotam is launching two new mesotrione-based premixes into the US corn market

• Adama has received full US EPA approval for its new insecticide Cormoran

• Mitsui Chemicals Agro has acquired a 10% shareholding position in Belchim Crop Protection

Headlines from January 2017

• Mitsui & Co has acquired all the assets related to Monsanto’s Latitude  business

• Monsanto has begun marketing its third generation genetically modified cotton product Bollgard 3

• Nufarm is to be the exclusive distributor for MBI’s bioinsecticide Grandevo in Australia and New Zealand

• The Climate Corporation has unveiled  more than 35 projects in its research and development pipeline

• The fall armyworm moth is threatening crops in West Africa

• BASF is entering the Indian crop protection market for rice with a range of new solutions

• Dow Agrosciences has reported fourth quarter sales of $1.7 billion, up from $1.6 billion

• Syngenta is to launch new SDHI ceeral fungicide in Ireland

• MarketsandMarkets has produced a recent report that updates developments in the global dicamba market

• DuPont has indicated recently that its $130 billion merger with Dow Chemical will take longer to wrap up than previously expected as the companies await regulatory approvals

• Eden Research has received authorisation in France for its first product, 3AEY, for use on table and wine grapes

• A new biopesticide developed in Israel is showing promise for the control of the root-knot nematode

• The Indian government has announced its intention to ban the use of 18 pesticides

• Adama Agricultural Solutions is partnering with AgroWebLab to introduce innovative decision support systems

• Monsanto and the US-based 2Blades Foundation  are collaborating to discover novel sources of genetic resistance to corn diseases

• Isagro USA has signed an agreement to exclusively distribute BioAg Alliance’s biofungicide Taegro 2 in the US and Canada

• The UK’s Rothamsted Research has been granted permission by Defra to carry out a field trial with GM wheat plants

• EFSA has delayed publication of its updated assessment of three neonicotinoid pesticides

Headlines from December 2016

• Rothamsted Research, UK has launched an innovative crop protection network comprising a website and phone apps

• Syngenta’s cereal herbicide Talinor has received federal registration from the US EPA

• Rotam CropSciences, has announced that its Korean operations will  become a wholly owned company directly servicing dealers

• Syngenta and DuPont Crop Protection have published a joint patent focused on the development of a new herbicide chemistry class

• A genome study of whitefly has been carried out by an international team of researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute

• CIMMYT is collaborating with 2Blades Foundation to offer resistance to wheat rust

• The New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) has approved Timorex Gold for use in grape against powdery mildew

• The EU Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed met in December to vote on  proposed endocrine disruptors criteria but no agreement was reached

• Adama Agricultural Solutions is expanding its collaboration with SwarmFarm Robotics globally

• Eastman is to develop and market Eden's nematicide

• Researchers at the James Hutton Institute have announced new risk criteria for potato blight that are named after the institute

• Argentine soybean farmers and the companies that sell them GM seeds could be close to a breakthrough in negotiations over royalty payments

• Monsanto has been granted a worldwide non-exclusive license by Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard for the use of the novel CRISPR-Cpf1 genome editing technology in agriculture

• Glyphosate study projects $8.8 billion sales by the end of 2019

• Biobest, a global player in pollination and biological pest control, has acquired Real IPM

• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded AgBiome a multi-year grant

• A USDA report has recorded that over 136,000 hectares of GM corn were planted in the EU in 2016

• The US EPA has approved BASF’s dicamba herbicide Engenia

• Syngenta's Orondis Opti fungicide is to be sold as a premix

• The US EPA has recently approved DuPont’s fungicide seed treatment Lumisena for soybeans and sunflowers

Headlines from November 2016

• The European Parliament passes a resolution calling for the re-authorisation for bentazone to be cancelled

• Bayer has launched the nematicide Velum Prime in Canada

• Bayer UK has launched a new wheat flag leaf fungicide Ascra Xpro

• The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto Company, has announced the acquisition of VitalFields

• Adama has reported that its sales increased by 6.5% in the third quarter, in US dollar terms, with growth across all regions

• The first variety of transgenic sugar cane being developed by Brazi’s Cane Technology Center (CTC), is scheduled for launch on a commercial scale in 2018

•  ECPA appoints new president

• US scientists have isolated and cloned a gene that provides resistance to Fusarium head blight

• SynTech has announced a merger with CAC SMART based in Santiago, Chile

• EFSA has launches a multi-year project that will look at  the risks to humans and the environment from exposure to multiple chemicals in the food chain

• Miravis Duo, a combination of Adepidyn and difenoconazole, has been recently approved by SENASA, the regulatory authority in Argentina

• Syngenta’s fungicide Solatenol  is expected to receive approval in the UK in the early part of 2017

• Biocontrol Technologies, has appointed Biobest as its exclusive distributor for the ‘Trichoderma asperellum T34 in Belgium, The Netherlands and France

• Sumitomo Chemical has opened its first research and development base in Latin America

• Syngenta has announced that products based on its new fungicide active ingredient Adepidyn will be branded as Miravis

• BASF and FMC have established an agreement that will bring novel in-furrow crop protection products to the US corn market

• MBI has received registration for a biofumigant, from the US EPA

• US EPA has approved Monsanto's XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology, a low-volatility dicamba herbicide

• Bioline AgroSciences has agreed to acquire the product Certirol, relevant intellectual property (IP) and manufacturing rights from Certis Europe

• Purdue University and Sumitomo Chemical are to expand the scope of their existing joint research

• Bayer and FaunaPhotonics have entered into a three-year research cooperation to develop new sensor solutions

Headlines from October 2016

• Bayer to expand its biological capability by  investing €16 million in Germany

• Dow AgroSciences UK moves to new headquarters in Cambridge

• UK scientists share their research at New Frontiers in Crop Research conference

• Incotec invests $4 million in its North American business

• Monsanto opens new greenhouse complex in the US

• Bayer and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) sign research agreement

• US EPA postpones glyphosate scientific review meeting

• Vive Crop Protection raises financing for commercial expansion in 2017

• AMVAc sales up by 13.8% in third quarter of 2016

• Sulfoxaflor registered on US crops unattractive to pollinators

• Syngenta sales are down 3% at constant exchange rate in third quarter of 2016

• Eurpean Commission wishes to forbid use of pesticides in ecological focus areas (EFAs)

• New UK laboratory to develop novel fungicides

• FMC to register bixafen in North America

• Nufarm to focus on seed treatment portfolio

• Scientists show that RNA sprays could control barley disease

• BASF launches new soybean herbicide in the US

• The organic sector experiences a prolonged period of growth

• Bayer CropScience sales decline 1.2% in the third quarter of 2016

• FMC sets up new distributor network in Argentina

• High yield and resistance to Septoria are incompatible say scientists at the John Innes Institute

• BASF to invest in its biological crop protection business in Australia

Headlines from September 2016

• Syngenta opens its first production unit in Latin America for the pepite (WDG) formulation of Elatus

• Koppert is acquiring Lantmännen BioAgri’s microbial products, registrations and intellectual property

• Syngenta has announced the completion of three capacity expansion projects at key sites in Brazil and Switzerland

• Phyllom BioProducts and Vestaron are to extend their research collaboration

• Bayer CropScience has decided to drop any further attempts to challenge the cancellation of its registration for the insecticide flubendiamide in the US

• Nufarm’s crop protection business grew by 3% to $2.65 billion in 2016

• BASF has recently opened a new Application Technology Centre at its Crop Protection division headquarters in Germany

• Brazilian research service Embrapa has announced that it has found a wild soybean variety that is resistant to soybean rust

• Bayer India has recently inaugurated a new Global Formulation Technology Laboratory at its production site in Vapi, India

• BASF is planning to release a new dicamba formulation in the US later this year that will help prevent drift and crop damage

• Jean-Philippe Azoulay, previously with Dupont, and a former president of the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA), has taken over as director general of the association

• De Sangosse has acquired a majority stake in the Spanish company Servalesa

• Bayer and Monsanto have signed a definitive merger agreement that enables Bayer to acquire Monsanto for $128 per share in an all-cash transaction

• Agrisure 3120 E-Z Refuge, Syngenta's new trait stack for corn has received approval from the US EPA

• Syngenta has opened a new Seedcare Institute in Stanton, Minnesota

• Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences have reached a non-exclusive global option and licensing agreement on Dow's Exact Precision Technology Platform

• DuPont Pioneer and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) have entered into an agreement to jointly develop improved crops using CRISPR-Cas plant breeding technology

• Certis USA has introduced Carb-O-Nator, a broad spectrum foliar fungicide

• Monsanto reports net sales down for 2016

• The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has concluded that based on currently available data glyphosate is ‘not likely to be carcinogenic to humans’

• Syngenta has appointed Jeff Rowe to the new role of president Global Seeds and North America

• Adama Agricultural Solutions has announced that the framework for its combination with Sanonda, a leading Chinese agrochemical producer, has been submitted to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange

• Helm  has transferred its sales of plant protection products in Germany to Belchim Crop Protection

Headlines from August 2016

• Gowan  has opened a new office at Rothamsted Research in the UK to manage its growing business

• Vestaron has signed  a multi-year manufacturing agreement with Capua Bioservices for the production of the Spear  family of products

• DuPont is to introduce a new insecticide  Pyraxalt in China

• Bayer’s new, safened dicamba premix DiFlexx Duo has been approved by the US EPA as a corn herbicide

• Valent USA has received  US EPA registration for Zeal SC, a miticide for soybeans

• Syngenta Seedcare has recently launched two new online tools to support its fungicide seed treatment Vibrance

• The Glyphosate Task Force (GTF) is facilitating public access to 71 proprietary toxicological studies

• Certis Europe’s fungicide  Takumi SC  has been granted an ‘Extension of Authorisation for Minor Use’ (EAMU) to allow applications to be made on strawberry crops in the UK

• Adama has reported sales growth in the first half of 2016 of 3.5% at constant exchange rates 

• Certis Europe and K&N Efthymiadis have created a joint venture which will market and distribute of crop protection products in south eastern Europe

• Bayer CropScience plans to introduce a second-generation version of its insecticidal/nematicidal seed treatment, Poncho/Votivo  in the US in time for the 2019 planting season

• Albaugh and MBI have signed an exclusive agreement to develop and market one of MBI’s microbial products  for seed treatment applications

•  Albaugh is to invest $300 million to expand its operations in Brazil

• Bayer CropScience has launched a new herbicide for black-grass  control in the UK

• Exosect Ltd has  made a breakthrough in the systemic delivery of acetamiprid, a neonicotinoid that exhibits very low toxicity to bees

• Since late July a total of four GM soybean crops have been cleared by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)

• India’s top seed and seed technology companies have launched a new industry body, the Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII)

Headlines from July 2016

• Exosect has been awarded funding to develop a novel formulation of an insect virus as a biopesticide

• Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency has approved MBI's biofungicide Regalia Rx for use on wheat and soybean in Canada

• Indian crop protection market will grow at 7.5% per annum to reach $6.3 billion by 2019-20

• AMVAC joined with Chinese-based Huifeng Agrochemical Company to form an R&D focused joint venture in Hong Kong

• Adama Agricultural Solutions has reported that its merger with Chinese company Sanonda could be completed in the first half of 2017

• Spain is seeking European funding to deal with a contamination problem caused by lindane

• Syngenta’s crop protection sales were down by 7% to $2,640 million in the second quarter ended on 30 June, and seed business dropped by 11% to 565 million

• USDA has confirmed the discovery by a farmer of  genetically modified wheat plants growing in an unplanted agricultural field

• In the second quarter of 2016, Bayer CropScience posted sales of €2,518 million, down 4.5% (Fx & portfolio adj +0.4%)

• Monsanto has now turned down a second improved acquisition offer from Bayer

• AgBiome has been awarded a multi-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to discover biological insect control for smallholder farmers in Africa

• Bayer CropScience is to cease selling its insecticide flubendiamide in the US

• The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) has recently funded a series of herbicide resistance surveys to be conducted in Queensland, Australia

• Dow AgroSciences’ new herbicide Quelex has been approved by the US EPA

• Indian agrochemical company Crystal Crop Protection has acquired the fungicide brand Bavistin from BASF

• BASF Agricultural Solutions segment’s sales decreased by 13.1% to €1,459 million in the second quarter of 2016 year-on-year

• MBI has received approval for the sale both of the company’s bioinsecticides, Grandevo and Venerate in Mexico

•  The European Commission (EC) has commenced talks with member states with the objective of authorising two new GM maize crops for cultivation in the EU

• Eurofins Agroscience Services (EAS) acquires UK-based NDSM Limited

• The European Commission (EC) has published the proposed criteria for the definition of an endocrine disruptor

• Eden Research has together with its commercialisation partners i  been granted label extensions for the use of 3AEY in Spain and Greece

• US-based Precision Laboratories has announced the launch of Intact Xtra, an adjuvant designed to maximise activity of glyphosate and dicamba-based herbicides

• Monsanto’s third-quarter profit fell sharply from a year ago, impacted by lower corn and soybean seed and crop protection sales

• The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) in Canada has granted approval for registration of DuPont’s insecticide seed treatment Lumivia

• Gowan has launched a new fungicide for potato blight control in the UK

• The European Commission extend the EU glyphosate license for 18 months

• Bayer has developed a new cap seal to protect users against counterfeit crop protection products

• SynTech Research has acquired the field and laboratory GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) residue study functions of Syngenta Protecão de Cultivos LTDA in  Brazil

• Syngenta’s Defy 3D Nozzle has won an international sprayer award

• Syngenta to market Stocktons biofungicide technology

• UK agrochemical company Redag Crop Protection doubles the size of its team after successfully raising funds of $2 million

• Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) and Groundwork BioAg (GBA) have announced a collaboration to create the world’s first all-biological comprehensive seed treatment

• Monsanto has obtained rights to apply Nomad’s proprietary technology to its genome-editing projects aimed at the enhancement of agricultural crops

• Monsanto and Sumitomo Chemical have a new global agreement that will focus on developing  next-generation weed control solutions

• Bayer has opened a new wheat plant breeding station in Canada

• Monsanto and Argentina have  reached an agreement for the collection of royalties for genetically modified soybeans, ending years of dispute

• Monsanto and DuPont have announced a multi-year dicamba supply agreement for the US and Canada

• Dow AgroSciences has collaborated with the University of Warwick, UK to discover the unique attributes of synthetic auxin herbicide

• US-based Brandt, a leading agriculture retailer and manufacturer of speciality agriculture products, has acquired the assets of Tratamientos Guadalquivir (Tragusa) in  Spain

• Bayer makes $62 billon offer to acquire Monsanto

• Arysta to move global HQ to Research Triangle Park

• Monsanto announces investment in its US research facility in Chesterfield, Missouri

• US study on GM crops dispels health and environmental fears

• Syngenta launches new seed treatment range Epivo

• Syngenta appoints new CEO

• Evogen and MBI meet collaboration milestones

• Adama's first quarter sales increase by 6.9%

• SPM Developpement acquires Bayer's Garden business in Europe and North America

• UK's Defra rejects emergency use of neonicotinoids

• ECPA commissioned survey of European consumers confirms lack of understanding of the need for increased global food production

• EU rules for chemical use in organic farming are amended

• Koch secures rights to Regalia products in US and Canada

• Monsanto to suspend soybean technologies in Argentina

• US public interest groups urge US Department of Justice to block Dow-DuPont merger

• US EPA registers BASF's herbicide Varisto

• Monsanto rejects Bayer's offer as inadequate

• Monsanto to expand dicamba production

• United Phosphorus to establish new US production facility

• Bt trait shows promise for control of thrips in cotton

• BASF submits US regulatory dossier for its insecticide Inscalis

• New centre for crop health and protection launched in the UK

• UK farmers apply for emergency use of neonicotinoids on oilseed rape

• VBC cooperates with Rizobacter

• US EPA invites comment on dicamba use on cotton and soybeans

• Valent USA to expand its bioassay screening

• Adama forms partnership with SwarmFarm Robotics

• AMVAC to establish new operation in Singapore

• Kynetec collaboration to establish tracking studies in Russia

• Belchim acquires minority stake in Engage Agro

• Bayer obtains new approvals for Infinito in Brazil

• BASF to set up new R&D centre in Germany

• Belchim buys French company Jade

• VBC relocates its research facility to Illinois, US

Headlines from March 2016

• Best Agro acquires Arysta manufacturing facility in India

• Stapyte acquires Peracto

• BASF submits regulatory dossier to EU for new triazole

• EU decision on glyphosate re-approval is delayed

• FRAC assigns Fracture to new fungicide group

• MBI to distribute Isagro's biofungicide

• US opposition to Syngenta-ChemChina deal grows

• Biocomes undercovers new biocontrol products

• Valent to develop Lidochem's biocontrol technology

• Nufarm reports flat sales for first half of 2016

• Arysta accesses protein technology from China

• BASF launches a new online crop management platform

• Syngenta launches new foliar fungicide Trivapro in Canada

• Certis USA appoints UAP Canada to distribute biofungicide

• US EPA moves to cancel Bayer's flubendiamide registration

• US researchers are developing herbicide-tolerant wheat

• France prepares to introduce full ban on neonicotinoids

• EU criteria for endocrine disruptors to be announced during summer 2016

• MBI appoints former US Deputy Secretary of Agriculture to its board of directors

• Syngenta names its newest corn herbicide Force Evo

• Mexico allows cultivation of GM corn for testing purposes

• Adama licenses StarPharma's dendrimer technology

Headlines from February 2016

• The yellow rust race Kranich has been detected in the UK for the first time in winter wheat

• Rotam North America and SipcamAdvan have entered into a joint venture as SipcamRotam

• Bayer opens its West Sacramento greenhouse site that will support the CropScience division’s growing Biologics and Vegetable Seeds businesses

• BASF is adding two new fungicide products to its AgCelence  portfolio

• GRDC has appointed de Bruin Engineering as an exclusive Australian licensee to develop and commercialise its integrated weed seed destruction (IWSD) technology

• BioProtection Global (BPG) is the new name that has been adopted by the federation of the world's leading Biocontrol and Biopesticide Associations

• Bayer submits license application for GM cotton in Australia

• French company InVivo acquires Syngenta’s subsidiary Bioline

• Dow AgroSciences and US-based Radiant Genomics have  expanded their research agreement

• THE UK's East Malling Research (EMR) has become part of the NIAB (National Institute of Agricultural Botany) group

• DuPont and Dow have announced the US structure for the global agricultural business they intend to create

• Bayer encourages researchers to take part in its Grant4Target initiative

• Adama Agricultural Solutions has appointed Walter Costa to its management team as vice president for marketing and product strategy

• BASF has introduced a new traceability technology Supply Chain Track and Trace (SCTT) for its crop protection products filling lines

• AMVAC has become an investor in Belgium-based Biological Products for Agriculture

• New pesticide guidance has been finalised for the OECD that harmonises the way terrestrial field dissipation studies  are conducted in different regions of the world

• Bayer acquires digital farming software

• State-owned ChemChina has bid $43 billion for Syngenta which its board of directors has unanimously recommended to shareholders

• FMC is launching the insecticide Capture LFR together with VGR Soil Amendment for in-furrow applications in corn

• Syngenta is expanding its North America Seedcare Institute in Stanton, Minnesota

• Global research collaboration identifies wheat disease-resistance gene

• Dow AgroSciences has announced that its new weed control product in rice will be called Loyant

• MBI has announced the launch and commercial availability of a new formulation of its Regalia biofungicide

• The European Ombudsman has ruled that future authorisation applications for GM food and feed for import and processing must be dealt with inside the statutory three month period

• Dow AgroSciences reports fourth quarter sales in 2015 of $1.6 billion, down from $1.9 billion in 2014

• Two sugar beet varieties with a natural tolerance to herbicide that cannot otherwise be used in the crop have been entered into official trials in the UK

• Syngenta’s  fungicide Solatenol has been approved by the EU

• Marrone Bio Innovations  has announced that it has made its first sales of the bionematicide Majestene

• Valent BioSciences Corporation  has reached an agreement with The BioAg Alliance to distribute certain Actinovate products

• Syngenta Canada has launched Orondis Ultra, a new fungicide for the control of oomycete diseases

• Monsanto's Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans have been approved by China for import

• Health Canada has announced that it intends to stop granting new conditional registrations of pesticides

• Syngenta has reported sales revenues of $13.4 billion in 2015 up by 1% at constant exchange rates 

• Aldi Süd,has become the first major European food retailer to prohibit sales of fruit and vegetables that have been treated with neonicotinoids

• BASF’s Systiva XS seed treatment fungicide will be available to US sugar beet growers for the 2016 season

Headlines from December 2015

• Dow and DuPont to merge

• Albaugh, is to open a new seed treatment technology centre in Memphis, Tennessee

• Vive Crop Protection and Arysta LifeScience North America have entered into an agreement that will to bring to market Vive’s patented technology combined with Arysta’s key active ingredients

• Nimbus and Monsanto reach second milestone in R&D collaboration

• Koppert Biological Systems constructs a new R&D centre in Vicar, Spain

• The French Ministry of Agriculture has published the second version of its National Action Plan which confirms the intention to cut pesticide use nationally by 50% over the course of the next decade

•  Chinese Research scientists  have identified five chemicals that trigger rice plants to repel the white-backed planthopper

• European agencies have discovered  190 tonnes of illegal or counterfeit pesticides

• Adama Agricultural Solutions is to become the exclusive domestic sales platform for ChemChina's formulated crop protection products in China

• Syngenta and Mitsui invest in Phytech's Plantbeat service

• Paine & Partnerst has made a strategic investment in AgBiTech, a global leader in biological pest control

• Evogene Ltd, has signed a herbicide development agreement with BASF

• Nufarm’s new horticultural fungicide Prolectus  has received UK registration

•  US EPA has granted federal registration to the fungicide active ingredients Solatenol  and oxathiapiprolin

•  Prosecutors halt authorised destruction of olive trees in Italy

Headlines from November 2015

• Croda International has acquired the Incotec Group

• Adama Agricultural Solutions reports sales decreased 8.6%  in the third quarter of 2015

• FMC is launching an integrated in-furrow product for insect and disease control in corn

• Syngenta and DSM have entered an R&D partnership to develop microbials

• Dow Chemical Co expects environmental safety concerns about its new herbicide Enlist Duo to be resolved

• The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences  and the UK's  John Innes Centre (JIC), have signed a memorandum of understanding to work on research that will address food security

• Eden Research has received its first commercial order for its biofungicide, 3AEY, in Kenya

• Gowan Company is acquiring the entire global dinitroaniline (DNA) herbicide portfolio from Dow AgroSciences

• Nutrichem is to purchase Dow AgroSciences’ oxyfluorfen herbicide business

• EFSA says glyphosate is unlikely to be carcinogenic

• Agrovista UK has joined the EURO-A-PRO organisation

• Nufarm Limited is to close its manufacturing operations at Calgary in Canada

• FAO launches updated pesticide guidelines

• Monsanto and Novozymes have announced a 2025 acreage target that will guide the companies’ microbials business

• Arcadia Biosciences and Dow AgroSciences have announced a strategic collaboration to develop and commercialise new yield traits and trait stacks in corn

• Plant Health Care and Arysta LifeScience have agreed to terminate the agreement that allows Harpin 𝜶β protein technology to be combined with Arysta's crop protection products in the US row crop market

• The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority has proposed approval for the new fungicide oxathiapiprolin

Headlines from October 2015

• The chief executive of Syngenta, Mike Mack, has resigned and been replaced by an interim CEO

• Marrone Bio Innovations has received approval for its bionematicide in the US

• Bayer CropScience says it has developed a seed treatment  for wireworm control in maize for the French and UK markets

• BioConsortia has been granted a US patent for its Advanced Microbial Selection (AMS) process

• Arysta LifeScience has announced several organisational changes that will more fully integrate the French company Goëmar

• Syngenta says that third quarter group sales, including Lawn and Garden, were unchanged at constant exchange rates

• FMC has announced that it will expand and accelerate the Cheminova integration, reorganise the company's operations in Brazil, and increase cost savings targets in order to reduce operating costs

• CEO of Platform Specialty Products announced his departure days after a second profits warning

• Monsanto is to close three research and development centres in the US in 2016

• MEPs have rejected the European Commission proposal on the regulation of GM feed

• Personal injury law firms around the US are lining up plaintiffs for actions against Monsanto regarding the use of glyphosate

• Sales of Bayer’s CropScience business increased by 9.5% (Fx & portfolio adj 1.6%)  in the third quarter

• Amvac has licensed imazaquin-based herbicide products from BASF for use in the US

• DuPont reports that sales revenue for its Agriculture segment was down 30% in the third quarter and 14% for the first nine months of 2015

Headlines from September 2015

• Syngenta has revealed that its R&D pipeline  includes nine new active ingredients with combined peak sales potential of over $3.6 billion

• The Brazilian subsidiary of Albaugh  has signed an agreement with FMC Corporation to acquire Consagro

• Eden Research has  signed a collaboration and license agreement with Intellectual Ventures 

• Bayer CropScience has invested €15 million in a state-of-the-art seed processing centre in Monheim

• Dow AgroSciences  has given details about its plans to launch an innovative new fungicide for cereal crops

• Syngenta UK launches new fungicide for carrots

• Monsanto and Albaugh have entered into a license agreement that allows Albaugh to make and sell specific glyphosate formulations

• Promip, based in Sao Paulo, Brazil has received registration for a new biological product  containing the wasp Trichogramm galloi for the management of the sugar cane borer

• LG Chem and CJ Cheiljedang are among several companies who have submitted preliminary bids to buy Dongbu Farm Hannong

• Bayer CropScience is expanding its European Wheat Breeding Centre in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany

• Syngenta has received US EPA approval for its fungicide Orondis

• The US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service  is making proposals  to strengthen oversight of GM wheat field trials

• Monsanto has reported net sales of  $15 billion (down 5%) for the 2015 full fiscal year

• BASF is strengthening its biological solutions  production site at Littlehampton, UK

• Nufarm has reported a 14.6% rise in full year net profit

• Certis Europe sells its  beneficials business in the UK, France and Italy to Koppert

• Nufarm has reported a rise in full year profit

• The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is funding investigations into plant immunity in the US and Europe

• Sumi Agro Europe and Sipcam have exchanged a further 10% shareholding which increases the capital alliance between them to 20%

• Beta Tech Hop Products  has received US EPA approval for a new biochemical miticide

• CropLife International has released its Policy Perspective on Endocrine Disruptors

Headlines from August 2015

• Terpenoid Blend QRD 460, the active ingredient in Bayer’s biofungicide Requiem, has recently been approved by the European Commission

• Scotland to introduce a ban on all GM crops

• Staphyt and Ambrosi Scientific Consulting have merged their registration businesses

• Bayer CropScience has opened a Seeds Innovation Centre in Lubbock, Texas

• Syngenta has received registration from the US EPA for  benzovindiflupyr 

• Adama revenues, in constant currency terms, grew by 3.6% in the second quarter of 2015 to $851.3

• Dow AgroSciences has recently signed a collaboration agreement with the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (ICS-CAAS) to develop rice products

• Australian researchers have unraveled the mystery cause of the emerging wheat disease White Grain Disorder

• BASF and Embrapa have  launched the Cultivance Production System  in Brazil

• DuPont has received registration approval from the US EPA for the fungicide Zorvec

• Syngenta is expanding its North America Seedcare Institute in Stanton, Minnesota

• Sumitomo Chemical is to establish a crop protection research centre in São Paulo, Brazil

• Valent USA has received EPA registration fo its all-in-one formulation of Integro Suite Soybeans

• Adama  is exploring a potential combination with Hubei Sanonda

• Syngenta is to divest its flowers seeds business from its Lawn and Garden operating unit

• Bayer CropScience has expanded its Liberty production facilities

• Cibus and  Rotam have announced a new agreement to cooperate in the development of herbicide-tolerant rapeseed in China

• Intrexon is to acquire Oxitec Ltd

• Monsanto's new takeover offer to Syngenta was rejected and later withdrawn

• Bayer CropScience has announced a licensing agreement with Elemental Enzymes

• Researchers in Flanders and The Netherlands have demonstrated that gene stacking is necessary for a strong and lasting resistance to Phytophthora blight

• Neonictinoids have received emergency approval in the UK

• Syngenta’s Vibrance seed treatment fungicide is now registered by the US EPA for use in sugar beet

•  Syngenta has reported that its first half sales in 2015 increased at constant exchange rates by 3% to $7.6 billion

• A new Canadian study suggests that climate change is the main factor behind the decline in bumblebee numbers in North America and Europe

• FMC is to establish a European regional headquarters and research facility in Copenhagen

• The IARC has published a Glyphosate Monograph

• ADAMA Agricultural Solutions has achieved Israeli regulatory approval to market Nimitz

• Eurofins Agroscience Services has acquired De Bredelaar BV, based in  The Netherlands 

• Exosect has received approval to import an isolate of the entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana, into the US

• Second quarter revenue for FMC Agricultural Solutions was $626 million, an increase of 18% versus the prior-year quarter

• Dow AgroSciences is currently developing three herbicides to market in the UK based on Arylex

• Dow AgroScience's sales were down by 8.3% to $1.75 billion in the second quarter

• Certis UK has launched two new herbicides containing a solo formulation of flufenacet

• UPL has acquired a 40% stake in the Brazilian company SinAgro

• SynTech Research and New Jersey's Symbiotic Research  have announced an exclusive strategic alliance agreement 

• Sales by BASF Agricultural Solutions increased slightly by 0.7% to €1,678 million in the second quarter of 2015

• SGS is investing to expand and strengthen the services and geographic reach of its Brazilian operation

• The EU's ENVI committee has rejected plans to allow member states to impose their own bans on GM crop imports

• Bayer CropScience has increased its second quarter sales by 10.2% to €2,723 million

• Dow CEO Andrew Liveris has revealed that his company would be interested in Syngenta’s seed business if Monsanto were to acquire the Swiss company

Headlines from June 2015

• Syngenta receives a second offer from Monsanto

• UK researchers to develop yellow rust diagnostic tool

• Syngenta Canada has introduced a new biological seed treatment Clariva pn to help growers manage soybean cyst nematode

• Pace International has announced it will merge its Chile Business with Valent BioSciences Chile

• Canadian researchers identify soil borne bacterial strains that show promise against late blight in potatoes

• FMC adds Rhyme to its vine fungicide range in California and Arizona

• Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) and Harlan Laboratories have recently announced that the combined company will be called Envigo

• Adama Agricultural Solutions and Phytech have entered into a commercial collaboration that establishes Adama as the preferred business partner for the  commercialisation of Phytech's PlantBeat System

• Nufarm has created two executive positions to reflect the growing  importance of its Nuseed business and the increased focus on strengthening its product portfolio and marketing capabilities

• Monsanto has reported that its net sales for the third quarter of fiscal year 2015 increased over the prior year’s third quarter to $4.6 billion

• Eurofins Agroscience Services (EAS) has acquired Trialcamp a Spanish contract research organisation

• AgBiome, and Genectiv have entered a strategic partnership to accelerate the discovery of new generations of insect control traits

• Bayer CropScience has announced it is joining forces with the University of Western Australia (UWA) to combat herbicide resistant annual ryegrass

• The Chinese Hebang Group has acquired a 51% stake in the Israeli Stockton Group

• Monsanto has announced plans that could see a considerable investment in a production facility for the herbicide dicamba at its St Charles Parish operations in Luling, US

• Dow AgroSciences has developed highly sensitive and specific molecular forensic technology to ensure the integrity of its spinosyn insecticide products

• United Suppliers and Land O’Lakes have announced their intent to merge their companies’ crop input businesses

• The Certis biofungicide Botanigard, based on the fungus Beauveria bassiana, has been granted approval by the UK regulatory authority CRD

• Rotam Chile is expanding its market offer with the acquisition of 15 products registrations bought from a local company Mabruk

• The takeover talks between Monsanto and Syngenta that collapsed in May 2014 have resumed

• The first of the succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor (SDHI)-based fungicide seed treatments for cereals is set to be launched next year in the UK by Syngenta

• Monsanto’s herbicide Warrant Ultra has been approved by the US EPA

• ADAMA Agricultural Solutions posted a decrease of 4.7% in sales  for the first quarter of 2015

• Bayer CropScience is to acquire SeedWorks India

• Nufarm UK has secured distribution rights for the Sumitomo Chemical Company range of crop protection products in the UK and Ireland

• Bayer CropScience has entered a strategic innovation partnership with US-based Flagship Ventures

• Eden Research has signed a new agreement with Sipcam to evaluate two new products

• A new sugar beet fungicide, Armure, has been introduced by Syngenta in the UK

• Crop spraying from  a drone, has been approved by federal authorities in the US

• Monsanto has announced the six recipients who will be awarded research grants as part of the Insect Management Knowledge Programme

• BASF has opened a new agricultural research station in India

• Nufarm has appointed Greg Hunt as its  managing director and CEO

• Monsanto and Scotts Miracle-Gro have extended their partnership in the lawn and garden consumer market

• Arysta LifeScience has set up a new organisational structure  in Europe

• The UK’s National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has submitted an emergency use application to allow farmers to use neonicotinoid seed treatments in rapeseed this autumn

• Hungary could be the first  to introduce the new EU regulations allowing countries to ban the cultivation of GM crops

• AlphaBio Control  has just received funding of up to £225,000 from the UK Government  to discover natural products

• American Vanguard has acquired Adama's  European Nemacur insecticide/nematicide business assets

• DuPont  has agreed to acquire Taxon Biosciences

• UK scientists are to develop a genetically modified potato free of fungal diseases and other pest problems

• Dow AgroSciences has reported first-quarter sales down 12% versus the same period in 2015

•  Sales of Bayer’s agriculture business Bayer  increased by 6.6%  in the first quarter of 2015

• The Dow Chemical Company is selling AgroFresh, its post-harvest specialty chemical business

• Dow AgroSciences, Arcadia Biosciences and Bioceres are to work together to develop and commercialise innovative traits in soybeans.

• The bacterial disease Xylella fastidiosa is reported to be ravaging olive groves in the southern Italian region of Lecce

• Syngenta has received US EPA approval for its corn herbicide Acuron

• Bayer CropScience and Farm Frites have started a Food Chain Partnership initiative  to implement sustainable agricultural practices in potato cultivation

• The EU has announced plans to simplify the import approval process for GM foods and animal feed, allowing member states to decide whether to admit them or not

• FMC has completed the closing of its acquisition of Cheminova

• The US EPA has approved the herbicide Enlist Duo for use in additional states

• Rotam Global AgroSciences  reports that its sales increased by 21% to  in 2014

• BASF'S first quarter sales in the company’s Agricultural Solutions segment rose by 15%

• Syngenta has reported that its first quarter group sales  were unchanged at constant exchange rates compared with the first quarter of 2014

•  Engage Agro  will exclusively market and distribute Stockton's Timorex Gold biofungicide in Canada for fruit, vegetable and speciality crops

• BASF is  investing in new anti-fake technology in China

• AMVAC  has acquired the DuPont global Bromacil business assets

• NEMguard, the garlic extract-based product, has been granted emergency approval in the UK for control of potato cyst nematodes  and free-living nematodes

• Syngenta to sue Willowood over azoxystrobin

• USDA to provide funds for research on citrus greening disease

• EPA requires new bee data for neonicotinoids

• Rotam expands its presence in Asia Pacific

• Sumitomo Chemical to integrate its agchem and biorational activities

• Scientists identify aggressive strain of potato blight in Spain

• Syngenta to market Timorex Gold in Argentina

• US EPA calls for comments on new restrictions proposed for Bt corn

• Syngenta names its newest fungicide

• Dow to collaborate with CAAS in China

• Adama achieves record sales and EBITDA in 2014

• US EPA publishes proposals to combat the onset of resistance in corn rootworm

• BASF launches new rice fungicide in Indonesia

• Nufarm plans for 5% market share in Europe by 2020

• EFSA reports declining pesticide residue levels in EU food

• Dow and Radiant Genomics announce R&D collaboration for discovery of novel natural products

• UK government calls for science-led approach to EU pesticide regulations

• New study delivers maps of insecticide run off into water courses

• Bayer supports campaign to raise awareness of citrus greening disease

• Syngenta publishes update on its Good Growth Plan

Headlines from February 2015

• Cheminova develops new herbicide based on pethoxamid

• DuPont has received approval in the US for a new corn herbicide

• FMC is launching a new broad spectrum biofungicide for use on almonds, grapes, strawberries and tomatoes

• Plant Impact signs soybean agreement with Bayer

• American Vanguard's decline in sales will result in workforce reductions

• BASF to introduce 45 new products by 2019

• Huntingdon and Harlan are to integrate under a new brand

• Dow is reorganising its Europe, Middle East and Africa business

• The Danish government has announced plans to double the area of organic farmland by 2020

• Exosect is granted patent for novel seed treatment for use on oilseeds

• Platform completes its acquisition of Arysta

• Syngenta hopes to maintain revenue growth of 20% in India

• The CRO Syntech is expanding its facilities in Central Europe for the 2015 season

• BASF Agricultural Solutions grow by 4% in 2014

• DuPont's fungicide picoxystrobin is recommended for approval in Canada

• Monanto to launch Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans

• Bayer reports increased sales for 2014

• Syngenta offers downy mildew tolerant sunflower seed

• Bayer receives approval for its insecticide/nematicide combination Velum Total

• TKI acquires norflurazon from Syngenta

• Dow announces brand name for new rice herbicide

• Rotam has received registration for nicosulfuron in France

• Irish researchers have used fungal endophytes to suppress disease in barley

• Sipcam and Nihon Nohyaku form alliance in Brazil

• Evogene introduces biology driven platform for discovery of agrochemicals

Headlines from January 2015

• Nufarm have appointed a new acting CEO after Doug Rathbone stepped down from the role of  managing director and CEO

• New legislation will allow EU member states to restrict or ban the cultivation of crops containing GMOs on their own territory, even if they are approved  at EU level

• French government has delayed its target to halve pesticide use from 2018 to 2025

• Dow AgroSciences has completed the acquisition of the Brazilian company Coodetec’s seed business

• The US Department of Agriculture has approved Monsanto’s dicamba-tolerant trait technologies Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans and Bollgard II XtendFlex cotton

• Syngenta has reported that its sales in 2014 rose by 5% at constant exchange rates

•  The European Seed Association’s quality assurance scheme for seed treatment and treated seed ESTA is expanding with the inclusion of the Polish Seed Trade Association (PIN)

• Colorado Wheat Research Foundation, Albaugh, and Group Limagrain have announced their intention to create a  collaboration to deliver innovative solutions for cereals

• A new potato stewardship group has been launched in the UK to help growers with granular nematicide applications

• Certis USA will distribute  Kocide 3000 and ManKocide exclusively in the US

• FMC Corporation has acquired all the global rights to a novel, proprietary herbicide from Kumiai and Ihara

• Dow AgroSciences has set quality standards for glyphosate trait stacking with Enlist

• The FAO is calling for a global effort to prevent the rapid spread of Fusarium wilt disease in bananas

• Marrone Bio Innovations has received approval for REGALIA MAXX for new uses in Canada

• Bayer CropScience has received approval for its new insecticide Sivanto from the US EPA

• A European Commission proposal to establish an EU list of 77 candidates for substitution has been endorsed by EU Member State experts

• A recent report estimates the 2014 biostimulants market to have been worth $1.4 billion

• Monsanto reports a 8.7% decrease in sales revenue to $2,870 million in the first quarter of its financial year 2015

Headlines from December 2014

• Martin Dawkins of Bayer CropScience has taken over as the ECPA president

• Bayer receives an import certificate from China for its LL55 Liberty Link variety and plans a full commercial US launch for 2015

• Syngenta has received import approval  for its Agrisure Viptera trait in China

• EFSA has published its annual report on pesticide residues in food for 2012

• DuPont and Monsanto have announced that they have agreed to settle and dismiss their respective patent infringement lawsuits pending in the US District Court in St Louis

• FMC appoints new director for Asia and president of FMC

• Dow AgroSciences has announced that Conkesta will be the brand name for its novel insect-resistant trait for soybeans

• The Polish Crop Protection Association  has launched another educational campaign  to promote their container management programme

• ADAMA plans to invest at least $50 million in India over the next three years

•  Gowan USA has become the distributor of the  fungicide Domark 230ME  for use on corn and soybeans

• Monsanto has introduced Roundup ControlMax in Argentina

• Marrone Bio Innovations  has received a product registration from Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA) for its biofungicide Regalia Maxx

• The US EPA has approved ILeVO,a soybean seed treatment that also protects against infections caused by the Sudden Death Syndrome fungus

Headlines from November 2014

• BASF launches a new oilseed rape fungicide Pictor  in the UK

• Dow AgroSciences is to launch its innovative herbicide Enlist Duo for the 2015 crop season

• Syngenta is implementing a savings programme of $265 million in 2015 that will result in job reductions and relocations totaling around 1,800 across the company

• BayerCropScience has opened its Weed Resistance Competence Centre (WRCC) in Frankfurt

• Verdesian Life Sciences has launched a new biological herbicide that will give US growers suppression of downy brome

• Adama has developed a metamitron-based thinning agent

• Valent USA is expanding in order to enhance the sales and technical support it gives to customers of its growing speciality and row crop portfolio

• Syngenta has expanded its Brits Formulation, Fill & Packaging Plant (FF&P) in the South African North-West Province

• Rotam and Cibus have launched a non-transgenic SU Canola (sulfonylurea tolerant) in the US

• Plant Health Care (PHC) has entered into development and distribution agreements with both Sipcam and Arysta LifeScience

• ADAMA Agricultural Solutions Ltd has reported that its business grew by 4.3% and 6.1% in the third quarter and the first nine months of 2014, respectively

• Mitsui & Co has reached agreement with DuPont to acquire its global Kocide and ManKocide copper fungicide business assets

• Sumitomo Chemical has acquired the DuPont Asana insecticide business in the US

• AgBiome has announced a research partnership with Syngenta Biotechnology

• Monsanto has entered into a settlement agreement with US wheat growers in the Pacific Northwest that resolves a number of lawsuits related to the May 2013 discovery of GM wheat on a farm in Eastern Oregon

Headlines from October 2014

• Bayer CropScience will introduce 21 new products into China before 2020 

• Agform receives UK approval for isoproturon mixtures

• GM wheat developed by Monsanto is identified in Montana, US

• Platform Specialty Products is to acquire Arysta LifeScience

•  Dow to invest heavily in Africa

•  Bayer CropScience holds Corn and Soybean Future Forum in Frankfurt

• Third quarter revenue for FMC Agricultural Solutions was $548.8 million, an increase of 4% versus the prior year quarter

• Makhteshim Agan UK becomes Adama Agricultural Solutions UK and launches two distinct product ranges - Essential and Advanced

• Syngenta has reported that group sales, including Lawn and Garden, increased by 2% at constant exchange rates in the third quarter of 2014 to $2.975 billion

• Valent to market MGK insect products

• BASF reports that third quarter sales in the Agricultural Solutions segment were down 3% to €1.018 billion

• Bayer CropScience is purchasing certain  Crop Protection Land Management assets from DuPont

• BASF and MAUK join forces to promote a metazachlor stewardship programme

• Bayer CropScience calls on farmers to respond to the EU consultaion regarding endocrine disruptors

• Evogene has expanded its crop protection activities with the completion of dedicated facilities to support future R&D

• The French government adopts the ‘Future Food Law’

• Koppert Biological Systems is constructing a new international R&D centre in the Netherlands

• Rotam Global AgroSciences has first half year sales of $158.5 million, up by 33% compared to 2013

• The US EPA is introducing a new Drift Reduction Technology programme to encourage the safe use of pesticides

• Bayer CropScience sales increased in the third quarter by 12.7%  to €1.929 billion

• MBI introduces organisational changes, a reduction in headcount and appoints a new vice president for sales

• Bayer CropScience has launched a national helpline to provide farmers across India with free technical support

• Monsanto has reported full fiscal year sales for 2014 of approximately $15.9 billion, a 7% increase over 2013

Headlines from September 2014

• Bayer CropScience has acquired the sole European distribution rights for the biological fungicide Contans

• The De Sangosse Group has acquired the Geneva-based Lance Limk Group's Turkish agricultural supply business

• ADAMA has received federal registration from the US EPA for Nimitz, a novel, non-fumigant nematicide

• Bayer CropScience’s insecticide Biscaya  has gained an extension of use in the UK for the control of peach–potato aphid, the main vector of turnip yellows virus (TuYV), in oilseed rape

• Nufarm has reported that its crop protection business grew sales by 16% to $2.48 billion in the 12 months ending 31 July 2014

• Bayer CropScience is expanding  production at its Muttenz site in Switzerland

• Nufarm Australia and Israel-based technology firm Phytech have made an exclusive agreement to jointly develop a proprietary plant monitoring  system in Australia and New Zealand

• Bayer expects the worldwide market for crop protection products, seeds and traits to grow to around €100 billion by 2020

• Bayer CropScience has entered into an agreement to purchase the seed business of Granar, based in Paraguay

• Monsanto is expanding its Corn Rootworm Knowledge Programme to include projects on other insect pests on row crops

• Syngenta has announced the appointment of Jon Parr as chief operating officer

• Elanco and Dow AgroSciences have entered a strategic R&D agreement that will focus on developing integrated solutions to enable livestock producers to increase meat and milk production

• Adama  and the China National Agrochemical Corporation (CNAC) have agreed to acquire the control of a number of businesses in China with 2013 sales of around $850 million

• Cheminova has launched a new selective herbicide, Harrow,  for use in field corn in the US

• US-based Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) has received a patent for the use of Chromobacterium for the control of corn rootworm larvae infestation

Headlines from August 2014

• Eden Research signs exclusive evaluation agreement with Taminco for nematicide product

• Adama agchem sales up 9% in Q2 2014

• DuPont Pioneer to open three new research facilities

• Adama (Makhteshim Agan) brings back chlortoluron

• BASF Crop Protection has opened its first formulation and packaging plant in  China

• Bayer CropScience is to launch a new broadleaf corn herbicide, DiFlexx

• FMC to access turf and ornamental products from Arysta for sale in North America

• Mitsui is to acquire DuPont Crop Protection’s global copper fungicide trademarks

• American Vanguard's sales fell by 21.3% to $68.3 million in the second quarter of 2014

• Enigma Marketing Research  is now offering its new Off-Patent/Generic Agrochemicals – Post 2015 report

• EFSA rejects French move to ban GM crops in Europe

• DuPont to introduce preplant herbicide Afforia in the US

• Marrone Bio Innovations  has received registration for its bioinsecticide Venerate in California

• US-based Phyllom BioProducts and Vestaron have entered into a research and development collaboration to develop novel bioinsecticides

• Greenpeace India has published a report which claims that tea samples contain pesticide residues well above the MRL

• Exeter University study warns of increased spread of crop pests

• Platform Specialty Products to acquire Agriphar

• Exosect to develop biological admix technology for control of grain pests

Headlines from July 2014

• Exosect has received $4 million funding

• France's Senate has backed tougher rules on pesticide

• The Chinese company Huapont-Nutrichem intends to invest in Albaugh

• Bayer CropScience introducea a disease resistant rootstock  for planting tomatoes in open fields in Brazil

• DuPont has launched Dermacor (chlorantraniliprole) in Brazil to control the caterpillar of Helicoverpa armigera on cotton or soybeans

• .Arysta LifeScience has received registration for the corn herbicide Dinamic 70WG in China

• Nichino America has acquired sole US distribution rights to the Strada rice herbicide portfolio

• DuPont has reported agriculture segment sales of $3,615 million at the end of the second quarter  2014 down 1% from the same period in 2013

• New report  estimates global seed treatment market to be worth $2.8 billion in 2014 and  projects it will reach $4.6 billion by 2019

•  Sales by Bayer CropScience increased by 3.3% (Fx & portfolio adj 10.5%) to € 2,470 million in the second quarter.

• Dow AgroSciences achieved record second quarter sales of $1.9 billion, up 3% versus the same period in 2013

1. Syngenta has announced plans to broaden and scale up its Plene platform of integrated sugar cane solutions

2. Bayer CropScience has launched Sivanto Prime (flupyradifurone), an insecticide aimed to protect vegetable crops in Honduras and Guatemala

3. GEP accreditation has been granted to SynTech’s operations in Germany by the Recognising Authority

4. Ceres has licensed its Persephone genome visualisation application to Bayer CropScience

5. Evogene Ltd and Marrone Bio Innovations  are to collaborate on the discovery of novel bio-insecticides

6. BASF has reported that sales by its Agricultural Solutions segment declined by 3.5% to €1,666 million compared with the second quarter of 2013

7.  John Deere and BASF have signed an agreement which covers the joint development of integrated precision farming solutions

8. Syngenta has reported that group sales in the first half of 2014 increased by 1% to $8.5 billion, 4% at constant exchange rates.

9. Valent has launched the Intego Suite System for soybeans in the US

10. DuPont Pioneer has announced that Dr Neal Gutterson has joined the business as vice president of Agricultural Biotechnology

11. Dow AgroSciences has received an R&D 100 award  from the US R&D Magazine for its insecticides Transform and Closer

Headlines from June 2014

• SESVanderHave has developed a novel herbicide tolerance trait for sugar beet

• Syngenta is to acquire the German and Polish winter wheat and winter oilseed rape breeding and business operations of Lantmännen

• BASF has developed a new herbicide tolerant rice system called Provisia

• BCPC has launched a new edition of the Manual of Biocontrol Agents

• Monsanto has launched a new dry formulation of glyphosate in the UK

• Exosect has received a US patent for its Entomag delivery platform

• Bayer CropScience has recently opened a new SeedGrowth Centre in Vietnam

• Syngenta has unveiled plans for the introduction of benzovindiflupyr in the US

• Monsanto has reported that its sales were flat at $4,250 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2014

• Mitsui Chemicals Agro and BASF have recently announced that they have signed an exclusive global development and license agreement for a new insecticide

• Arysta LifeScience Japan recently launched its latest microbial insecticide, Pirates GR, to control thrips

• Dr Adrian Percy, currently senior vice president of Global Regulatory Affairs within Bayer CropScience will take over  as head of Global Research & Development

• Bayer CropScience has announced its intention to invest in wheat breeding in the UK

• BASF plans to invest more than €200 million to expand production capacity for the herbicides dicamba and dimethenamid at its Beaumont, Texas site

• Gowan Company has received US federal registration for Captiva, a natural repellent bioinsecticide

• EU has finally reached political agreement on a compromise approach to the cultivation of GM crops

• German agrochemicals sales rose by 7.5% to €1,506 million in 2013

• Euroblight researchers has been able to spatially plot the distribution and diversity of potato blight across Europe

• Valent BioSciences Corporation has opened a new $146 million biorational manufacturing facility in Osage, USA

•  De Sangosse has announced the acquisition of Fine Holdings Limited

• Certis Europe is to further strengthen its management board with the appointment of Steve Kirby as head of Strategic Marketing

• Rotam CropSciences’ Chinese business has been ranked number two for sales value out of the ‘Top 30 Formulators’ by the China Crop Protection Industry Association (CCPIA) for the second consecutive year

• Micron  is to be Arysta LifeScience’s partner in the Applique Bien programme in West Africa

• Syngenta and Anheuser-Busch InBev  have set up a partnership to secure the sourcing of high quality malting barley

Headlines from May 2014

• Arysta LifeScience has received registration for the herbicide Centurion Plus in the Netherlands

• Verdesian Life Sciences  has appointed Nufarm as its exclusive distributor of Bloomtime in the US and Canada

• Summit Agro USA (SAUS) has added the fungicide Ranman 400SC to its product portfolio

• US crop protection sales were up 8% in 2013

• Dow AgroSciences has received Chinese registration for Arylex active

•  Bayer CropScience and Israel-based Kaiima Bio-Agritech Ltd are to collaborate to develop advanced hybrid rice varieties

• Adama Agricultural Solutions Ltd. (formerly Makhteshim Agan Industries) has reported that sales revenues for the first quarter 2014 increased by 2.7%

• Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) has acquired Harlan Laboratories

• The European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) has published a new policy vision document A vision for the future of Europe

• Rob King, business manager Asia and Africa for Cheminova, has been appointed managing director of Makhteshim-Agan UK

• Gowan and Nichino America plan to end the distribution agreement that has allowed Gowan to market two of Nichino’s fungicides

• FMC reports that first quarter sales revenues for its Agricultural Solutions segment were down 6%

• Marrone Bio Innovations  and Valagro have signed an agreement to collaborate in the discovery and development of agricultural products

• Marrone Bio Innovations has submitted its bioinsecticide Venerate for registration in Canada and Mexico

• Bayer CropScience´s rice herbicide Council has been granted its first regulatory approval worldwide in Korea

• Syngenta recently opened its eleventh research and development (R&D) facility in Brits, South Africa

• Bayer CropScience plans to make further investments in innovative nematode control tools

Headlines from April 2014

• Syngenta has acquired Produttori Sementi di Bologna,  a leader in durum wheat breeding and production

• Bayer CropScience and Targenomix  have entered into a five-year research collaboration

• Orgsyntes plans to invest between $100 million and $150 million in building a factory for the production of glyphosate in Russia

• DuPont Crop Protection has introduced Trivence, a preplant or pre-emergence herbicide for soybean

• Marrone Bio Innovations has submitted its biofumigant MBI-601 to the US EPA for registration

• Sales of Bayer’s agriculture business  increased in the first quarter by 4.9%

• Nufarm is to close its manufacturing facility at Otahuhu in New Zealand

• Croda has launched a new range of rheology modifiers

• Syngenta has reported that its integrated sales increased in the first quarter of 2014 by 5%

•  Nunhems is changing its look and will  operate under the Bayer CropScience brand

• Summit Agro Internationalhas acquired the fungicide metominostrobin from Bayer CropScience Japan

• Marrone Bio Innovations has submitted its bioinsecticide Grandevo for registration in Mexico

• Monsanto posts a 6.9% increase in sales to $5,832 million in the second quarter of financial year 2014

• Panama disease threatens the world banana crop

• Chemtura has agreed to sell its agrochemicals business, Chemtura AgroSolutions (CAS), to Platform Specialty Products

• Adama Agricultural Solutions  has begun rolling out its new global branding programme

• Russia has banned the importation of GM food and seeds

Headlines from March 2014

• ADAMA sales increased by 8.5% to $3,076.4 million in 2013

• Bayer CropScience  expands its biopesticide production site in Wismar, Germany

• Marrone Bio Innovations revenues for  2013 totaled $14.5 million, representing growth of 104%

• Arysta LifeScience launches the grass weed herbicide Everest WDG in Russia

• The European Commission adopts a report that concludes  there is a need to create a €350,000 European fund for minor uses of pesticides

• Syngenta has announced that brassica and carrot seed can now be treated with FarMore technology

• Innvictis Crop Care launches its patented EndurX Technology Platform

• Cibus Global has received approval for its SU Canola in Canada

• Dow appoints Tim Hassinger as the new president and chief executive officer of its subsidiary Dow AgroSciences 

• DuPont has opened a new research facility in Delmas, South Africa

• Dow brands halauxifen-methyl its new herbicide active ingredient

• FMC Corporation plans to separate into two independent public companies  New FMC  and FMC Minerals

• Arysta LifeScience Limited has acquired the Goëmar group

•  Monsanto will be awarding six new grants as part of its Corn Rootworm (CRW) Knowledge Research Programme 

• New report from the European Academies' Science Advisory Council (EASAC) highlights potentially devastating plant pests and diseases

• Australia Nufarm Limited is to re-organise its Australian operations

• Study measures the potential impact of the French pesticide reduction scheme on winter wheat production

• Bayer CropScience acquires the  Biagro Group

• Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) has received federal registration from the EPA for its bioinsecticide Venerate

• Marrone Bio Innovations has received a US patent covering applications of products containing anthraquinone derivatives

• BioConsortia has appointed Marcus Meadows-Smith as its CEO

• Monsanto and researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) form new company Preceres

Headlines from February 2014

• Valent BioSciences and Biomar Microbial Technologies enter into long-term strategic alliance

• Syngenta's  new corn herbicide premix containing four active ingredients will be marketed as Acuron when it receives US EPA registration

• The global biotech crop area has grown from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to over 175 million hectares in 2013

• Bayer CropScience is making its new seed lubricant, Fluency Agent, commercially available in the US

• BASF has launched a direct distribution business in Australia

• BASF has received full US EPA approval for its fungicide Sercadis

• Syngenta’s new fungicide Elatus has been approved by the Brazilian authorities for the control of soybean rust

•  Bayer CropScience increased sales revenue by 5.2% to €8.82 billion in 2013

• Nufarm Limited has carried out a partial re-organisation of its executive management team

• Vestaron Corporation has received US EPA approval for the active ingredient in its new bio-insecticide

• Evogene launches target discovery platform for novel herbicides 

• US-based GreenLight Biosciences and Bayer CropScience are setting up a partnership to explore applications of GreenLight’s proprietary cell-free technologies

• Bayer CropScience has submitted a US EPA registration application for ILeVO, the first seed treatment to tackle soybean sudden death syndrome

• Syngenta’s Cruiser Maxx Potato Extreme seed treatment has been registered for use on potato crops in Canada

• Devidayal Sales Limited  acquired by Arysta in March 2011, is to become Arysta LifeScience India Limited

• UK scientists  have boosted resistance of potatoes to late blight without the use of fungicides

• The FAO is co-operating with the EU to dispose of obsolete pesticides and to reduce risks from pesticides

• Koppert has strengthened its position in the Brazilian biological crop protection market by acquiring Manejo Agrícola

• UK research scientists have identified a new way of controlling brown rot, a fungal disease  problem in stone fruits

• BASF Crop Protection is now expecting to reach its previous sales target of €8 billion by 2020

Headlines from January 2014

• Makhteshim Agan Industries (MAI) will adopt a new global brand, ADAMA, starting in April 2014

• EU Member States have voted to withdraw approval for all methiocarb slug pellets

• Mycogen Seeds will feature PowerCore, a new trait technology, in its corn hybrid lineup for the 2015 growing season

• Chen Lichtenstein will be taking up the position of CEO and president at ADAMA, replacing Erez Vigodman

• Makhteshim Agan North America (MANA) has introduced Custodia, a premix fungicide for use on corn, soybeans and wheat

• Arysta LifeScience North America has unveiled a new chemistry, aβpro Yield Enhancer, that uses alpha beta proteins to stimulate plants’ natural growth responses

• Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) has secured a license to a plant health active ingredient from Kao Corporation

• SynTech Research is setting up a Bee Health Unit based at its HQ site in the US

• Syngenta has reported a decline in its 2013 profit.  EBITDA was 7% lower and the EBITDA margin dropped from 21.9% to 19.7%

• The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) will receive approximately €1 million over the next six months from Bayer CropScience

• The BIOCOMES EU project will focus on the development of at least 11 new biological control products

• Nufarm Limited has reached an agreement with Valent USA to secure marketing and distribution rights to products for the US turf, ornamental and aquatics market

• Bayer CropScience has received the necessary US and international approvals for its TwinLink cotton technology

• Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) and the New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research have signed a collaborative research agreement

• Certis Europe has signed an agreement with Chemtura AgroSolutions that extends its distribution of seed treatment products

• Bayer CropScience has signed two new agreements with US-based Cellectis plant sciences

• New Finnish study says neonictinoid insecticides may not cause harm to bees

• Dow AgriSciences has reported record fourth quarter sales of $1.8 billion, up 13% compared to the previous year 

• Robert Berendes, head of business development, will be leaving Syngenta at the end of the first quarter 2014 to become co-owner and partner of a-connect

Headlines from December 2013

•  A new pilot project for the collection of empty packaging from plant protection products has been launched in  Bulgaria

• EU Court annuls BASF's GM potato authorisation

• Marrone Bio submits biological nematicide for US registration

• Nufarm launches improved copper products

• Syngenta to sell its Dulcinea Farms melon business

• BASF invests in integrated IT tools

• Monsanto and Novozymes form BioAg alliance

• Gowan to distribute Isagro products in the US

• Wet weather impacts on Amvac's sales

• Syngenta expands Paso vegetable seed processing facility

• The European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) has appointed Jean-Charles Bocquet as its new director general

• Syngenta launches new products for sugar cane

• FMC receives new registrations for Regalia Maxx in Latin America

Headlines from November 2013

• Syngenta appoints Karsten Neuffer as new regional director for Latin America

• Makhteshim Agan announces record third quarter sales

•  Dow AgroSciences has received registration for its trait technology Powercore from the US EPA

• Syngenta has received registration for the post-emergence herbicide Callisto GT from the US EPA 

• Syngenta has announced that Karsten Neuffer, who is currently global head of Seed Care, will succeed Antonio Carlos Guimarães as regional director for Latin America

• Bayer CropScience has entered an agreement to purchase the start-up company FN Semillas based in Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Syngenta UK has launched Amphore Plus, a new fungicide that controls two  potato diseases in one treatment

• BASF Crop Protection has developed a new transfer system ezi-connect for crop protection products

• Makhteshim Agan Industries (MAI) presented its new potato blight fungicide Banjo Forte at the recent European Association of Potato Researchers conference

• Isagro gives Arysta exclusive rights to develop mixtures of tetraconazole and fluoxastrobin

• Auriga, the parent company of Cheminova, reports that its revenue increased by 7% to DKK 1,575 million in Q3 and by 6% to DKK 5,096 million for the nine month period

• US crop protection chemical industry is projected to become an $11 billion market at the distributor level during 2013

• Bayer CropScience and Agrotop to launch a closed transfer system for pesticides

• Makhteshim Agan (MAI) has reported that it has reached a regulatory milestone in the registration of Nimitz , a new non-fumigant nematicide

• Dow AgroSciences has won a second lawsuit involving its Enlist technology

• Makhteshim Agan Industries (MAI) has acquired Agrovita, one of the top five distributors of crop protection products in Slovakia

• The Stockton Group has entered into agreements with Syngenta for the supply and distribution of Timorex Gold by Syngenta in Chile and Mexico

• Koppert Biological Systems has acquired the German-based business Welte-Nützlinge

Headlines from October 2013

• Arysta LifeScience recently launched the fungicide Evito T (fluoxastrobin) in Zambia and Mozambique

• Bayer CropScience announced that it is beginning to renovate its North American headquarters.

• Syngenta has received registration in Argentina for Fortenza, a novel seed treatment insecticide

• Dow AgroSciences wins second case brought by Bayer CropScience involving Enlist technology

• FMC Agricultural Solutions’ third-quarter segment revenues of $530.2 million increased 25% versus the prior-year quarter

• FMC forms strategic alliance with Chr. Hansen to compete in  biological crop protection market

• BASF has filed a legal action with the General Court of the European Union challenging the  Commission’s decision to restrict major seed treatment uses of the insecticide fipronil

• ISEM has sold the rights and assets related to its proprietary herbicide orthosulfamuron to Nihon Nohyaku

• Syngenta has launched a new liquid seed treatment, CruiserMaxx Potato Extreme, for the potato industry

• Dow’s Agricultural Sciences recorded an 8.3% increase to $1,410 million in the third quarter

• Evogene is extending and expanding its multi-year research collaboration with DuPont Pioneer for developing soybean varieties displaying resistance to Asian soybean rust

• Dow AgroSciences has announced a food security initiative

• Syngenta and the energy crop company Ceres have extended their joint market development agreement in Brazil

• The Bayer CropScience business increased its sales in the third quarter by 4.3% (Fx & portfolio adj. 12.1%) to €1,712 million

• Makhteshim Agan North America (MANA) has introduced Voxien, its emulsifiable concentrate  formulation technology

• Chief EU scientist supports calls for a rethink on GM crops

• FMC acquires the Centre for Agricultural and Environmental Biosolutions (CAEB) at RTI International

• BASF posted a 4.6% increase in agrochemical sales to €1,054 million in the third quarter

• Syngenta reports a sales increase of 11% in third quarter at constant exchange rates.  Sales for first nine months increased by 5%

• The European Commission  to approve Bayer CropScience’s fungicide penflufen as a potato seed treatment

• Phillips McDougall has been acquired by Informa Business Information

Headlines from September 2013

• BASF has received approval from the Brazilian regulatory authorities for its fungicide Xemium

• Evogene has extended its research collaboration with Syngenta Biotechnology by three years

• Makhteshim Agan acquires Magan Agrochemicals in Serbia

• Monsanto has pledged an additional $3 million to support academic research on corn rootworm

• Nufarm's crop protection business  and grew sales by just over 4% to $2.15 billion in fiscal year 2013

• Syngenta has announced that it has now expanded its production capacity at Kaisten, Switzerland for S-metolachlor

• Syngenta launches its Good Growth Plan

• Research and development for new crop protection products needed by European farmers is in decline, according to a new study

• Sumitomo Chemical opens a new subsidiary of its Brazil business in Argentina

• Makhteshim Agan and Yissum are to develop a novel method for protecting plants using yeast from strawberry leaves

• Arysta LifeScience teams up with Syngenta to market Krista

• Dow wins fight with Bayer over GM crops resistant to 2,4-D

• BASF's  Crop Protection division  expects to achieve sales of more than €6 billion by 2015 and €8 billion by 2020

• Dow AgroSciences has announced the brand name for a new herbicide active ingredient halauxifen-methyl

• Arysta LifeScience India has launched a new acaricide, Pallid-X, in India

• Makhteshim Agan and Yissum  have signed an agreement for the development and commercialisation of a new biocontrol method for protecting a variety of plants

• Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency  has announced that it has proposed new rules to address the problem of neonicotinoid insecticides

• SynTech has set up a new research facility in China

• Jose Luis Collar has been appointed as head of Portfolio Management Europe for Makhteshim Agan

• Monsanto has reported net sales for the full fiscal year of approximately $14.9 billion, a 10% increase over fiscal year 2012

• Isagro USA has received approval from the US EPA for Dominus, a biopesticide and pre-plant soil treatment

• Aduvant market is projected to grow annually by 5% through to 2018

• GfK values Chinese crop protection market at $14 billion at farmer level

Headlines from August 2013

• FMC has acquired rights to develop and sell Belchim patented fungicide in the Americas

• The US EPA has introduced additional rules to protect bees

• Bayer is to invest €2.4 billion to expand capacity

• Dow AgroSciences and Taminco US have entered a strategic supply agreement for choline hydroxide

• Bayer CropScience has opened 10 SeedGrowth Centres around the world

• European Commission is to reconsider rules on organic farming

• Rotam is to expand dicamba use in the US

• Militant farmers destroy GM Golden Rice trials in the Philippines

• UK study shows that global warming is contributing to spread of pests

• AMVAC first half sales up by 21%

• Syngenta and Bayer are taking legal action against the European Commission over its suspension of the use of their neonicotinoid insecticides on bee attractive crops

• CRO Syntech is expanding the facilities at its Stillwell site in the US

• Cheminova is to introduce an azoxystrobin fungicide for use on row and speciality crops in the US

• Tougher rules introduced for metaldehyde use in the UK

• Syngenta to distribute Isagro's copper product Badge

• EU awards €8 million grant for research into bioproducts

• Bayer CropScience is evaluating a new seed treatment lubricant

• Eurofins Scientific has acquired a majority stake in Agrisearch Services

• Makhteshim Agan reports a 2.5% increase for second quarter sales 

Headlines from July 2013

• Monsanto is withdrawing all of its  applications for approval for GM crop cultivation in the EU

• UK-based Exosect has announced the completion of a new round of funding

• Dow AgroSciences has reported sales of $1,850 million for the second quarter up 10.4%

• It has been reported that the UK government’s bee scientist  is set to join Syngenta

• Syngenta is plans to expand its US Innovation Centre in Research Triangle Park 

• FMC Agricultural Solutions' second quarter  revenues increased 12% to $442.6 million

•  Arysta LifeScience Brazil has recently announced the introduction of its new Green Passport product line

• The regulatory authorities in Korea have granted import approval for Syngenta’s Agrisure 3122 trait stack for food or feed use

•  Rotam CropSciences has opened a new office in Jakarta, Indonesia as the headquarters of its new Asia Pacific region

• Sales of BASF’s crop protection segment rose by 17.7% to €1,727 million in the second quarter

• Gowan Group and Isagro have announced a new partnership

• France's top administrative court has recently thrown out a government ban on Monsanto’s MON810

• Rothamsted Research and Syngenta are to form a scientific research partnership focused on wheat

•  Rotam is adding dicamba to its maize herbicide portfolio in Europe

• Sales of DuPont’s agriculture segment  rose by 7.2% to $3,631 million in the second quarter

• Bayer CropScience plans to consolidate and expand its US-based R&D operations for vegetable seeds and biological crop protection products at a new site in California

• Bayer CropScience Brazil and Plant Impact (UK) have signed an agreement to market advanced nutrition technologies for soybeans

• Bayer CropScience has reported that second quarter sales increased by 5.1% to €2,392 million

• Euralis Semences has signed a new global, non-exclusive agreement with BASF for Clearfield Plus herbicide tolerance for sunflowers

• Syngenta’s crop protection sales were up by 2.8% to $2,892 million in the second quarter

• Meiji Seika Pharma and Dow AgroSciences are to co-develop and commercialise a fungicide from a new class of chemistry

• Rotam Europe has received registration for its herbicide Primero in France

Headlines from June 2013

• Arysta LifeScience launches its herbicide Everest 70 WDG in Argentina

• American Vanguard and Monsanto extend crop protection collaboration

• Makhteshim Agan  has established a wholly owned subsidiary in Lithuania

• The European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) has joined a number of other organisations in signing the ‘Every Crumb Counts’ declaration against food wastage

•  Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) has obtained a US patent  for sarmentine, the active ingredient in its new bioherbicide MBI-011

• Cheminova is launching Nero (clomazone + pethoxamid), a new herbicide product for  oilseed rape

• Makhteshim Agan is planning to double the capacity of its Indian manufacturing facility at Dahej

• Monsanto has reported that net sales for the first nine months of its financial year increased by $1.3 billion over the prior year period to approximately $12.7 billion

• Monsanto is to collaborate with Nimbus Discovery on the discovery of novel approaches for previously inaccessible disease targets

• BASF invests more than €50 million to expand its crop protection production capacity in South America

• Bayer CropScience has opened a new Wheat Breeding Station close to Paris

• Bayer CropScience and the International Finance Corporation have announced an innovative partnership to support modernisation of agriculture in Ukraine

• EFSA has published guidance for assessing the potential risks to bees from the use of pesticides

• The US state of Connecticut has become the first to successfully enact a law requiring food containing GM ingredients to be labelled 

• Makhteshim Agan Industries and China National Agrochemical Corporation (CNAC) have  appointed  MAI's Deputy CEO, Chen Lichtenstein, as president and CEO of CNAC

• Syngenta is to acquire MRI Seed Zambia Ltd and MRI Agro Ltd

• Monsanto Australia has increased its shareholding in InterGrain to 26%

• Researchers at the Kansas State University and  University of California-Davis have  identified a gene that gives wheat plants resistance to the wheat stem rust race Ug99

• Makhteshim acquires stake in ChileAgro

• Makhteshim's revenues for the first quarter of 2013 were $885.4 million, a 7% increase 

• Syngenta has opened a new, state of the art plant breeding support facility at its Jealott’s Hill research and development site in the UK

• The James Hutton Institute and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) have launched a new research programme looking into activating plants’ natural defences

• Linde Gases has launched a Crop Science business

• Dow AgroSciences has received approval from the US EPA for the new insecticide active ingredient sulfoxaflor

• Syngenta has officially launched Clariva, a proprietary seed treatment nematicide based on the Pasteuria technology

• Engage Agro Corporation of Canada has reached an agreement with Marrone Bio Innovations to be the exclusive distributor of the bioinsecticide Grandevo

• Dow AgroSciences has announced it has received registration from the US EPA for its in-plant, three-gene insect protection trait in cotton

• Arysta LifeScience has made geographic adjustments to two of its business units

•  De Sangosse has signed a commercial agreement with Biopreparaty for the exclusive development and distribution of Polyversum

•  AgroSavfe has announced that it will receive a €1.9 million grant from the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders

• ECPA has announced a new stewardship and communication initiative to reduce water contamination from pesticides

• USAID has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Syngenta to support agriculture and food security activities in Africa, Asia and Latin America

• Bayer CropScience is to construct a  new glufosinate-ammonium herbicide production plant in the US

• Chemtura AgroSolutions and Arysta LifeScience South Africa have announced that they are extending their cooperation in West Africa

• Isagro’s agrochemicals sales dropped by 22.7% to €30.1 million in the first quarter ending 31 March 2013

• Syngenta and DuPont have entered technology licensing agreements that will broaden each company’s fungicide portfolio

• Monsanto and Bayer enter cross licensing agreement for corn and soybean traits

• Syngenta acquires MayAgro’s greenhouse vegetable breeding programmes

• Syngenta has reported that its first quarter sales for crop protection and seed increased by 8% at constant exchange rates

• Arysta LifeScience Corporation has received registration for its patented, post emergent herbicide Everest  in South Africa

• De Sangosse Group acquires stake in Alpha Biopesticides

• BASF crop protection sales up 17% in Q1 2013

• Syngenta has applied for  approval of the herbicide mesotrione to be used on MGI herbicide-tolerant soybeans in the US and Canada

• DuPont reports that sales by its agriculture business in the first quarter of 2013, including crop protection and seeds, were up 14.4% to $4.7 billion

• FMC agricultural products segment revenues were up by 9% to $495.2 million in the first quarter of 2013

• Bayer CropScience and KeyGene,  have entered into a multi-year agreement to improve traits in a number of major agricultural crops

• Arysta has signed a product development and license agreement for the use of Plant Health Care’s proprietary Harpin alpha beta technology

•  Belchim Crop Protection is to acquire ISEM's fungicide valifenalate

• Monsanto and DuPont have agreed  to dismiss their respective antitrust and first-generation Roundup Ready soybean patent lawsuits

• Dow AgroSciences and Monsanto have cross licensed advanced corn trait technology

• Dow's agricultural sciences sales up 14% in Q1 2013

• Dr Rüdiger Scheitza, currently head of Strategy & Business Management  at Bayer CropScience,  retires end of May 2013

• Nemgenix and SESVanderHave are to collaborate in the development of a novel nematode resistant trait for sugar beet

• EU plans to ban neonicotinoid insecticides from December 2013

• The agrochemical market in Brazil in 2012 increased by over 14%

• Monsanto plans to bring together its St Louis-based research and development team onto one campus at its Chesterfield Village Research Centre at a cost of  more than $400 million

• Bayer reports that the sales of the agriculture business (CropScience) increased in the first quarter of 2013 by 5.9%

• Sales of Dow AgroSciences’ products in the first quarter 2013 were $2.1 billion, up by 14.4%

• DuPont has launched a new SDHI cereal fungicide penthiopyrad in the UK

• Monsanto appoints Sinochem as sole Roundup distributor in Australia and New Zealand

• Makhteshim2012 revenues rose to $2,834.5 million, an increase of 5.3%

• UKs Defra aims to strengthen the rules on the sale, storage and use of pesticides

• BASF’s soybean herbicide Zidua has received US federal approval

• DuPont Pioneer is to invest $26.3 million to expand two of its Indiana seed production facilities

• Bayer CropScience and  Nature Source Genetics have signed an agreement to expand their cooperation

• The Makhteshim Agan Group will be  applying Starpharma’s Priostar dendrimer technology to novel crop protection formulations

• Makhteshim Agan’s 2012 revenues rose to $2.83 billion from $2,69 billion in 2011, up 5.3%

• Nufarm have been notified by Monsanto that exclusive distribution of Roundup branded glyphosate in Australia and New Zealand is to be terminated

• MEPS call for removal of all endocrine disrupting chermicals

• Rothamsted Research has submitted an application to Defra to extend its current GM wheat trials

• Syngenta is to have a new seed treatment product for controlling soybean cyst nematodes in 2014

• Makhteshim Agan has received approval from the EPA for the insecticide/miticide Skyraider

• Monsanto has now completed all regulatory approvals in South American markets for its soybean product INTACTA RR2 PRO

• Roundup Ready canola harvests have more than doubled in Australia

• Isagro’s sales revenues increased in 2012 by 2.8% to €148.3 million

Headlines from February 2013

• Syngenta 2012 sales $14.2 billion, up 7%       (up 10% at constant exchange rates)

• Certis Europe has launched a new fungicide Takumi SC, approved for the control of powdery mildew in cucumber, courgette, melon and summer squash

• The Swiss government is to create a permanently protected area on federal land for experiments with GM crops

• BASF Canada has announced that  its herbicide Optill  has been registered for use on soybeans for the 2013 season

• Valent's  residual herbicide Fierce has received US EPA registration on soybeans

• Nufarm’s wholly owned  subsidiary, Nuseed do Brasil, has acquired 51% of the equity in Atlantica Sementes

• Monsanto has launched Weedsmart, a new industry-wide initiative to deal with herbicide resistance

• BASF’s Agricultural Solutions had another record year in 2012 as sales rose by 12% to €4.7 billion

• GM crops in Brazil  grew by record 6.3 million hectares in 2012 reaching 36.6 million hectares

• BASF’s fungicide Initium (amectoctradin) has been approved in the EU

• Syngenta has asked the European Commission to retract its proposal to restrict the use of neonicotinoid technology

• Syngenta has announced that the USDA has fully deregulated Agrisure Duracade

• Isagro has entered into a regional agreement with Syngenta for the exclusive supply and distribution of their biological fungicide Remedier

• Bayer CropScience increased its sales in 2012 by 15.5% to €8.4 billion

•  Rotam CropSciences has restructured and will now be operating through nine regions instead of six

Headlines from January 2013

• Monsanto has purchased select assets from Agradis

• Monsanto's  first-quarter profits nearly tripled to $339 million

• Exosect-led stored grain project has been  extended to Africa

• Washington state is set to hold ballot on GM food labelling

• Nufarm Americas has acquired Cleary Chemical Corporation

• BASF Canada has received regulatory approval for its fungicide Zampro

• Bayer CropScience has launched a broad-spectrum fungicide Luna Tranquility in Canada

• The Russian authorities have lifted the ban on Monsanto’s glyphosate tolerant maize NK603

• New CEO at BayerCropScience outlines a  five-point plan to propel a Greener Revolution

• BayerCropScience acquires German biocontrol company Prophyta

• Monsanto to introduce Genuity DroughtGard Corn Hybrids developed in collaboration with BASF in 2013

• Monsanto sales  increase 21% over the prior year's first quarter to $2.9 billion 

• 2012 agrochemical sales in Japan continued its growth for the second year,  up by 1.3% to 332,980 million yen

• DuPont's full year agricultural sales rose by 13.7% in 2012

• Dow Agricultural Sciences reported record fourth quarter sales of $1.6 billion in 2012

• BASF has announced that it is to directly distribute its crop protection products to the Australian market commencing 1 March 2014

• US farmers have reported that the area of cropped land infested with weeds resistant to glyphosate herbicides has expanded to 61.2 million acres in 2012

• Monsanto’s subsidiary Delta & Pine Land Seed Ltda  has been granted permission to grow GM in Costa Rica

• FMC and Quimica Agronomica de Mexico in R&D collaboration

• BASF’s pyrethroid insecticide Fastac EC has recently received US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration

• Cheminova has divested its Stähler Switzerland business to the local management team

• Syngenta launches a new innovation platform that broadens the availability of some patented traits and technologies for vegetables

• Incotec opens new centre of excellence for seed technology in India

Headlines from December 2012

• Bayer CropScience is to take back the Serenade bio-fungicide business from BASF in the UK

• The French Ministry of Agriculture has launched a website that brings together information on Integrated Pest Management

• The US EPA has granted approval for DuPont’s fungicide Aproach on corn, soybean and wheat

•  Certis USA has entered into an agreement with Kaken Pharmaceutical Co to introduce a new polyoxin D zinc salt formulation to the US market

• Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a method to determine whether spores from Asian soybean rust are viable

• FMC has announced that its Agricultural Products Group has signed a global licensing agreement with GAT Microencapsulation 

• Arysta LifeScience Corporation and Laboratoires Goëmar  have announced the conclusion of two agreements to develop and distribute biostimulants and biocontrol products in Europe

• Command herbicide is now recommended for use in the Clearfield Production System for rice

• Sumitomo Chemical has taken a majority stake in MGK, a US-based provider of insect control technologies  in North America

• Valent BioSciences Corporation (VBC) has signed an agreement to acquire Pace International

• Makhteshim Agan Industries  has appointed Jean-Marc Dardier as head of global marketing

• Bayer CropScience has held its first Vegetable Future Forum

• The first case of glyphosate resistance in New Zealand has been confirmed in annual ryegrass on a Marlborough vineyard

• Syngenta has received EU approval for its SDHI  fungicide isopyrazam

• The UK Crop Protection Association (CPA) has announced the appointment of a new chief executive

• Syngenta has been granted import approval by the European Commission  for the Agrisure Viptera trait

• Griffin Greenhouse Supplies has signed an agreement to acquire the Syngenta Horticultural Services (SHS) distribution and brokerage business

• BASF has two new products based on its total release technology (TR), the insecticide Pylon TR and the fungicide TrinityTR

• Dow AgroSciences and MS Technologies have announced that the brand name for the industry’s first-ever, three-gene herbicide tolerant soybean will be Enlist E3

• The Court of Justice of the State of Mato Grosso has decided that Monsanto can resume its collection of royalties for Roundup Ready soybeans

• Arysta LifeScience has introduced its herbicide Dinamic to sugar cane growers in Thailand

• Makhteshim Agan has reported that its sales grew by 4.2% and 7.2% in the third quarter and the first nine months respectively

• The EU’s food safety agency, EFSA, has definitively rejected the report from the University of Caen linking genetically modified corn to cancer

• Ceres  and Syngenta have signed a major deal to stimulate sweet sorghum adoption

• Syngenta will acquire Sunfield Seeds a US-based provider of sunflower seeds production and processing services

• Novozymes is to acquire Natural Industries based in Houston, US

• Biopreparáty and Gowan Company have signed a commercial agreement for the exclusive distribution of Polyversum

• Cheminova’s agrochemicals sales increased by 4.6% compared with last year  in the third quarter of 2012. Sales of agrochemical in the first nine months rose by 11.8%

• California has voted by a narrow majority,  to reject the labelling of GM foods

• BASF has completed the acquisition of Becker Underwood for $1.02 billion

• AMVAC has formed a new joint venture with natural life science company TyraTech

• Makhteshim Agan Industries has appointed Dr Anders Harfstrand as president & CEO of its Europe Region

• The European Commission is proposing to cut targets for the use of biofuels  to reduce the negative impact on food production and prices

• The CropScience subgroup raised sales by 19.0% million in Q3 2011

• SynTech Research acquires Bayer CropScience's state-of-the-art US ecotoxicology facility in Kansas

• Californian public to vote on a proposal that requires the labelling of most foods made with genetically modified ingredients

• Syngenta has signed a global, non-exclusive agreement in which BASF will license its Clearfield Plus herbicide tolerance technology for sunflowers to Syngenta

• FMC reports that sales in its Agricultural Products segment were up 10.9% to $423.6 million in the third quarter of 2012

• Technical committee in India proposes 10 year moratorium on Bt trials

• Sterilised fruit flies released in Croatia's tangerine orchards

• Syngenta and Novozymes sign exclusive global marketing and distribution agreement to commercialise Taegro, a fermented biological fungicide

• Brazilian orange juice exports to the US restarts as growers discontinue carbendazim use

• New strain of rice blast found in Australia

• Sales of American Vanguard (AMVAC) increased by 23% in the third quarter of 2012.

• A survey involving 495 international researchers has resulted in a list containing the most important phytopathogenic fungi

• Syngenta reports that sales in the third quarter of 2012 increased by 6% at constant exchange rates

• New CEO  appointed at Bayer CropScience

• Bayer CropSciences’ CEO, Sandra E Peterson, is to leave the business at the end of November

• Syngenta is acquiring Pasteuria Bioscience for aggregate payments of $86 million, with additional deferred payments of up to $27 million

• Syngenta is to invest up to $85 million in the construction of a hybrid seed and crop protection production facility in Russia

• Research at Rothamsted Research suggests that grain aphids in the UK are becoming more resistant to pyrethroid insecticides

• Exports of Indian basmati rice to the US have been suspended due to the presence of excessive levels of pesticide residues

• Syngenta expects the sales for its eight key strategic crops to reach $25 billion by the end of the decade

• Syngenta has bid for the Belgian company Devgen, a global leader in hybrid rice and RNA interference (RNAi) technology

• FMC Corporation has entered into a research and development collaboration agreement for a new proprietary fungicide from Isagro

• Monsanto has reported that net sales for the full fiscal year 2012  were $13.5 billion, a 14% increase over 2011

• BASF is to  acquire Becker Underwood, a producer of seed applied biologicals, for $1.02 billion

• Sumitomo Chemical has developed a new fungicide, Prolectus, for control of diseases  in grapevines, stone fruit trees and vegetables and will launch in Italy

• A study conducted by Nomisma  has shown that the economic relevance of azole fungicides in the EU is considerable

• BASF has received US EPA registration for a new fungicide Zampro

• Monsanto has pledged up to $3 million to support academic research on corn rootworm

• BASF is making an investment of more than €200 million to meet continued demand for several key fungicides

• Dow AgroSciences has introduced a new brand and visual identity

• Monsanto and Complix NV (have entered into a collaboration agreement to evaluate and develop Alphabody protein technology in the field of agriculture

• Nufarm's crop protection business, which accounts for 94% of group revenues, grew by 3% to $2.06 billion in fiscal year 2012

• EU faces challenge over approval to import GM soya

• Bayer acquires new wheat breeding station in France

• FMC has expanded its development and distribution agreement with Kumiai  to extend access to pyroxasulfone

• Dow AgroSciences has launched Powercore in Argentina for the control of major corn pests. It is the first product approved in Argentina with five stacked genes

• The Oregon Court of Appeals has ordered a temporary halt to the state’s plan to allow GM canola to be planted in parts Oregon

• Syngenta is to acquire the DuPont Professional Products insecticide business

• Bayer CropScience and Mendel Biotechnology have announced a new multi-year collaboration to jointly identify herbicides with novel modes of action

• BASF is expanding its greenhouse facility at its Agricultural Centre in Limburgerhof, Germany

• Makhteshim Agan has reported that sales for the second quarter of 2012 totaled $783 million, up 8.4%

• Monsanto Company and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals have formed a strategic alliance to advance biological technologies in agriculture

• France upholds its ban on thiamethoxam

• Syngenta has received UK approval for its residual herbicide Teridox for use in oilseed rape

• Exosect has received approval for its unique pheromone technology for use on Grape Vine Moth  in Turkey

• Cheminova has received approval for the fungicide Authority in Brazil  on several crops

• Marrone Bio Innovations  has acquired a new manufacturing facility in Bangor, Michigan, US

• After a re-evaluation of the herbicide linuron, the Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Authority  is proposing to phase out the sale and use of all linuron products

• Bayer CropScience plans to establish a new breeding centre in  Western Victoria, Australia that will focus on wheat and oilseeds

• Nufarm  have acquired access to  Starpharma’s Priostar dendrimer technology to develop innovative crop protection formulations

• Brett Begemann has been named as Monsanto’s president and chief commercial officer

Headlines from July 2012

• Sumitomo Chemicals to distribute Nufarm's products in Italy

• Incotec to treat brassica seeds with BASF'S  seed treatment fungicide Coronet

• Monsanto has won a patent infringement trial in the US District Court against DuPont Pioneer

• Bayer has successfully enforced its Nativo  trademark against the Vietnamese company Viet Duc

• Dow AgroSciences has recently opened new research facilities in Canada

• Incotec has announced an agreement that will allow the company to treat brassica seeds with a BASF fungicide

• BASF Crop Protection has opened its new technology centre for seed treatment in Santo Antônio de Posse near São Paulo, Brazil

• Bayer CropScience has signed an exclusive license agreement which gives the company worldwide research and development rights to Plant Sensory Systems’ (PSS) proprietary Nitrogen Use Efficiency and Stress Tolerance (NUEST) technology in wheat

• Dow AgroSciences’ Agricultural Sciences segment posted record sales of $1,676 million for the second quarter of 2012

• Syngenta reported that during the first half of 2012 its sales increased by 10%

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be donating a grant of £6.4 million to scientists at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK

• United Phosphorus Limited  is to acquire the Dutch crop protection company Agrichem

• The UK’s Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has issued a draft plan outlining the future of pesticide use in the UK

• Syngenta appeals against thiamethoxam ban in France

• The Irish Environmental Protection Agency  has given approval for a GM blight resistant potato crop to be tested by Teagasc

• The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has issued a certificate of registration for the Certis USA Fungicide Double Nickel 55

• Bayer CropScience, the CSIRO and the Australian Grains Research and Development Corporation have formed a partnership to increase yield in wheat

• Due to the strong season in the northern hemisphere, BASF’s Agricultural Solutions segment posted successful sales results in the second quarter of 2012. Sales were €1,467 million, up by 21.7% compared with the same period of last year.

• FMC’s Agricultural Products segment increased 19.4% to $393.6 million in the second quarter of 2012

• Makhteshim Agan has appointed Ignacio Dominguez, current CEO of MAI Europe, as its chief commercial officer (CCO) and head of the Global Products and Marketing Division

• Arysta and Bayer in fluoxastrobin licensing agreement

•  Bayer CropScience has opened a new European Wheat Breeding Centre in Gatersleben, in Germany

• Bayer acquires the watermelon and melon seed business of US-based Abbot and Cobb

• Monsanto has launched the new glyphosate formulation Roundup Flex in the UK

•  Exosect's Exosex OFM mating disruption technology has received registration for commercial use in Italy

• The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved Syngenta’s seed treatment Vibrance for use on cereals, soybeans and canola in the US

• The Chinese Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals, Ministry of Agriculture (ICAMA) has granted a temporary registration for DuPont’s fungicide picoxystrobin

• DuPont to buy a majority share in South African-based Pannar Seeds

• Monsanto has posted a higher than expected third quarter profit as its net sales revenue grew 17%

• Sun Gro Horticulture will acquire the Fafard peat unit from Syngenta's lawn and garden business

• Bayer CropScience has announced it is to purchase AgraQuest, Inc. for $425 million plus milestone payments

• Dow AgroSciences is now marketing its new blackgrass herbicide in the UK under the trademark Unite.

• Syngenta is to invest $50 million in building a new processing plant for corn and sunflower seeds in Argentina

• SynTech Research has opened new field trials sites in Poland

• BASF Crop Protection has received US federal registration for its herbicide Zidua for the control of small-seeded broadleaf weeds and grasses in corn

• The Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is to reevaluate the environmental risks posed by three neonicotinoid insecticides

• Syngenta is making a significant investment in the modernisation of its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.

• Syngenta has entered into a barley breeding collaboration with InterGrain, an Australia-based crop breeding company

• EPA approve BASF's fungicides Priaxor and Merivon for use in the US

• Zeraim Gedera to market Syngenta's  seeds and crop protection products in Israel

• Dow AgroSciences and Agdia announce agreement to develop and commercialise a new device that automates the analysis of plants and seeds using immunoassay strips

• Cheminova report that sales revenue is by 16% in Q1

• Marrone Bio Innovations has received US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approval for a new, dry formulation of Grandevo, the company’s biological broad-spectrum insecticide/miticide

• Syngenta has  agreed to settle litigation related to the herbicide atrazine

• Nufarm is to establish a new manufacturing facility in Chicago to support growth in its fungicides, insecticides and seed treatment segments

• Monsanto is making a  $50 million commitment over the next 10 years to support sustained African agricultural development and growth

• Marrone Bio Innovations has received US EPA approval for MBI-005, a unique broad-spectrum selective bioherbicide for use on a variety of crops, turf and ornamentals

• Syngenta and long-established local Argentinian wheat breeder Buck Semillas have formed a partnership to develop new, high-performance wheat varieties

• Arysta LifeScience is investing in new projects at its Agricultural Research and Development Centre in São Paulo

• DuPont will invest more than $3 million over the next three years to help smallholder farmers in Ethiopia

• Arysta LifeScience has opened a new suspension concentrate formulation plant in Vietnam

• Cheminova reports that it has had a satisfactory start to 2012 with revenue up 16% in Q1

• MANA Crop Protection has introduced a new miticide/insecticide based on abamectin which is an advanced low volatile organic compound (VOC) formulation

• Isagro USA has announced two separate distribution arrangements for its proprietary Trichoderma biorational fungicide

• Bayer has launched its vine fungicide Flint Max in Portugal

• Monsanto introduces BioDirect Technology

• Syngenta to build a $1 billion business in Africa over the next ten years

• UK Government launches £250 million investment in bioscience research

• Arysta adds new uses to its captan label in France

•  EFSA has ruled that "there is no specific scientific evidence, in terms of risk to human and animal health or the environment" to support a ban on MON 810 corn

• Dow AgroSciences launches Powercore, a GM corn with a five gene stack to control major pests in corn 

• Syngenta Canada has received registration for Endigo, a pre-mix insecticide  for long-lasting control of soybean aphids and bean leaf beetles

•  Koppert Biological Systems has reached an agreement to acquire Itaforte BioProdutos Ltda, pioneers in fungi-based biopesticides in Brazil

• Krishidhan Seeds, an agbiotech and plant breeding company, and  Hokko Chemical Company have signed an agreement to develop insect resistant and herbicide tolerant traits in major crops

• Syngenta and Devgen have announced a six-year global license and research agreement

• Australian wheat-breeding companies have access to several new nematode resistant and tolerant wheat lines released by Agri-Science Queensland

• Two Blades Foundation licenses TAL Code technology to Monsanto and Bayer

• SDS Biotech KK extends exclusive benzobicyclon herbicide evaluation agreement with Gowan Company

• BASF submits its herbicide Engenia for US approval

• Gowan to market Nisso's soybean insecticide Justice in the US

• Plant Health Care  and MANA are to  combine PHC’s Harpin  technology with selected MANA fungicides for corn, soybeans, and dry beans in the US 

• Incotec and Keygene collaborate on SNP technology

• Syngenta will commercialise Novozymes’ technology JumpStart, a seed-applied biological which increases phosphate solubility in the soil

• Dupont forms distribution alliance in India

• Bayer CropScience and KWS SAAT AG co-develop herbicide-tolerant sugar beet

• Monsanto broadens Roundup Ready Plus platform to provide additional post-emergence herbicide options

• Valent USA and Scotts Company enter into a supply agreement

• Bayer CropScience is introducing Titan Emesto, a liquid insecticide and fungicide potato seed treatment for protection against major insect pests and diseases

• Monsanto’s Seminis brand will be offering two new cucumber varieties with improved disease resistance growers in the US and Canada

• Nichino America appoints Engage Agro as distributor for its products in Canada

• DuPont opens a $40 million plant genetics research facility in the US

• Gowan is to market Otsuka's miticide in Canada

• Bayer acquires the germplasm assets of ProSoy Genetics

• Arysta Lifsciences suspends Midas sales in the US

• Valent BioSciences is to open a new biorational facility

• Makhteshim Agan to fund UK led Septoria resistance research

• Dow divests its European Dithane business to Indofil

• Sumitomo and Nufarm have announced new distribution arrangements in Canada and Europe

• Valent BioSciences Corporation has signed a joint testing agreement with Pace International

• The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) has introduced a wheat variety in Bangladesh which is tolerant to the Ug99 strain of stem-rust fungus.

• Rosetta Green  and Bayer CropScience have signed a licensing agreement that has potential to provide drought tolerance and improved yield in cotton

• Monsanto has reported that its net sales increased by 15% for the second quarter of its fiscal year 2012 compared to 2011

• BASF has appointed Dr Raman Ramachandran to lead the company’s Crop Protection division for the Asia Pacific region

• BASF gains approval for Opera on sugarcane in Brazil

• Indofil are to construct new manufacturing facilities

• Syngenta has received approval for its quadruple stacked corn in Argentina

• BASF Plant Science will conduct field trials  this year with GM potatoes that are going through the EU approval process

• Sipcam, Nihon Nohyaku  and Sumitomo Corporation’s subsidiary Sumi Agro Europe  are forming a new strategic alliance in Europe

• BASF has reached an exclusive supply agreement with Monsanto for fungicide seed treatments for cotton and soybeans in North America 

• Syngenta has received registration for its plant growth regulator Palisade 2EC  for use on cereal crops in the US

• Nufarm has reported a net profit after tax of $18 million for the half year of 2012 (ended 31January 2012)

• Marrone Bio Innovation has received Canadian approval for the biofungicide Regalia Maxx for outdoor and greenhouse use

• Research workers at Wageningen University, Netherlands have reported on a meta-study on yield comparisons.  They say that on a global basis yields from crops grown organically were, on average, 20% lower than from crops grown by conventional methods

• Cooperation between Certis Europe and Nichino Europe has seen the development of a 2.5% EC formulation of pyraflufen-ethyl

•  Plant Impact has entered into an exclusive agreement with Gowan for the distribution of  InCa Prim in France

• A French judge has ruled that Monsanto, the suppliers of Lasso (alachlor), did not provide adequate warnings on the product label

• Bayer CropScience has decided to integrate the R&D activities of its three business units Crop Protection, BioScience and Environmental Science

• Arysta LifeScience has acquired 100% of the shares of Devidayal Sales Limited (DSL) in India

• FMC has entered into exclusive technology license and commercialisation agreements with East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) and Shanghai Shengnong Pesticide Co (SSPC)

• The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has received $56 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help  smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

• The EU Agriculture and Rural Development agency has signed an equivalency agreement with the US Department of Agriculture to jointly promote strong organic programmes

• Syngenta has reported that its sales revenue for 2011 increased by 14% to $13.3 billion, up 12% at constant exchange rates (CER)

• Bayer has reported that its CropScience subgroup increased sales by 6.2%  (Fx & portfolio adj)

• Bayer has set up a global ‘Bee Care Programme’ to further promote bee health

• Teagasc is applying for a licence to undertake a series of field studies using GM potatoes resistant to potato late blight

• BASF has reported that its agricultural solutions division sales dropped 2.7% to €822 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. Sales for the full year rose by 3.3% to €4,165 million

• FMC has signed an exclusive distribution and development agreement with Consumo em Verde (CEV), Biotecnologia das Plantas, of Portugal for the patented fungicidal active ingredient blad

• BASF is to make a $33 million investment to expand its facilities in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina.

• Bayer CropScience and Texas AgriLife Research, US have signed a multi-year agreement to develop and commercialise improved wheat varieties

• A new chlorpyrifos formulation, Vulcan, developed and manufactured by MANA Crop Protection, has received approval from the US EPA

• FMC’s agrochemical sales rose by 22% to $409.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.

• Certis USA and Kumiai Chemical Industry have launched a new generation of bacterial biofungicides based on Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain D747 (Ba D747).

•  Clariant, the Swiss based manufacturer of adjuvants and other specialty chemicals, has announced a repositioning of its crop protection business

• Dow AgroSciences and BioDuro have entered a three-year, multi-programme discovery research agreement to generate novel molecules that will be tested  across a variety of crops

• BASF announces that it intends to concentrate its plant biotechnology activities on the main markets in North and South America and the growth markets in Asia because of widespread opposition to the technology in Europe

• Exosect has received Spanish regulatory approval for its unique pheromone mating disruption product, Exosex SPTab, for use in postharvest storage and food manufacturing facilities

• The French government has announced that it will uphold its ban on MON810, an insect resistant  strain of Monsanto’s GM maize

• DuPont has joined the DROught-Tolerant Plants (DROPS) Research Consortium and will contribute expertise and a state-of-the-art modelling platform for maize research

• Bayer CropScience has received registration from the US EPA for its TwinLink technology for cotton in the US

• BASF Crop Protection presented the herbicide Engenia, the company’s next-generation formulation of dicamba at the 65th Annual Meeting of the Southern Weed Science Society (SWSS)

• Stockton Group, a global crop protection company, has received approval for Timorex Gold in Chile for use in grapes and sugar beet.

• Monsanto’s Roundup Ready PLUS Programme will include Makhteshim Agan’s herbicide Direx 4L (diuron)

• DuPont reported tough markets for several of its key businesses for the end of 2011, but said it was agriculture that led the way with increased demand for seeds in Latin America.

• A new market research report  Seed Treatment Market Trends and Global Forecasts (2011-2016) has been published by Markets and Markets

• Exosect has announced that its Exosex CM mating disruption technology has now received registration for commercial use in France

• The European crime intelligence agency Europol has issued a warning that organised crime groups in Europe are behind a growth in the trade of illegal and counterfeit pesticides

•  Certis USA has introduced a high potency codling moth virus that will be commercially available to apple and pear growers

• The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved AgLogic’s registration of Meymik 15G

• BASF has  announced that the value of its crop protection pipeline has increased by €400 million to €2.8 billion

• Tessenderlo Kerley, Inc.  has purchased the crop protection assets of the global carbaryl business from Bayer CropScience. Bayer retains the non-crop business

• The Makhteshim Agan Group (MAI) says it has won a fipronil patent infringement case brought against it by BASF and Bayer CropScience in April 2010

• Clariant has announced the opening of a new crop protection laboratory in India

• Arysta LifeScience has introduced two new products, Swirski Plus  and Spical Plus  for integrated pest management in Japan

•  Felleskjöpet Agri SA  has opened a new seed processing plant in Holstad, Norway that will treat around 25,000 tons of seed per year

• The Two Blades Foundation (2Blades)   has entered a non-exclusive license agreement with Syngenta

• FMC has acquired the fungicides iprodione and  prochloraz  from Bayer CropScience for agricultural use outside of Europe

• Monsanto has had a good start to its fiscal year 2012 and has reported that its first quarter net sales increased 33% over the same period in the previous year to $2.4 billion

• French company Arkema and Certis have entered into an exclusive joint development and distribution agreement in Europe for Paladin, a  pre-plant fumigant

• Incotec and Eurofins STA Laboratories (ESTA) have agreed to join forces to promote ESTA’s seed health testing capabilities to the European seed market

• Monsanto is suing six US seed companies acquired by DuPont, accusing them of not paying royalties.

• Dow AgroSciences and Gowan have announced a new development and marketing license agreement that will allow Gowan to license the novel active fungicide meptyldinocap

• Nufarm Americas has received US federal registration for Spirato 480 FS seed treatment

• Bayer CropScience and Performance Plants  have entered into a research and commercial license agreement, giving Bayer exclusive rights for PPI's Heat and Drought Tolerance Technology (HDT) in cotton.

• Certis USA has entered into a global license agreement with Montana State University (MSU) and Montana BioAgriculture to develop and commercialise new plant disease control technologies based on Bacillus mycoides isolate BmJ

• DuPont and Rosetta Green, have entered into a strategic research agreement to identify drought tolerance genes in corn and soybeans 

• Chemtura AgroSolutions will assume the marketing and sales of the insecticide Diamond in 2012

• Nufarm has announced that it has received US EPA registration for its Spirato 480 FS seed treatment

• The European Commission has decided not to re-register the herbicide acetochlor. It has instructed EU member states to withdraw approvals by 23 June 2012

• Arysta LifeScience has received approval for the herbicide clethodim in Europe and the removal of the restriction for use on sugar beet only

• Bayer CropScience has announced that settlement agreements with US long-grain rice growers involved with biotech rice litigation have now taken effect

• BASF has granted Cheminova exclusive distribution rights and use of the trademark for the fungicide Sovran in the US

• Valent BioSciences Corporation (VBC) has been granted EPA registration for BioNik, a plant growth regulator for use on corn seed

• The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted registration for Syngenta’s herbicide Zemax

• Fertiliser manufacturer Coromandel International has increased its stake in Sabero Organics

• Syngenta has announced that it has signed a commercial agreement with Quad County Corn Processors  to supply the Iowa ethanol plant with Enogen grain in 2012

• Agrochemical output in China rose 15.7% in the first nine months of 2011, compared to the first three quarters of 2010

Headlines from November 2011

• DuPont and BioLeap enter research collaboration

• US EPA have granted approval to Syngenta for CruiserMaxx Advanced insecticide /fungicide seed treatment for use on soybeans

• Bayer CropScience has established a European Wheat Breeding Centre in the Gatersleben Biotechpark in Germany

• ECPA unveils new strategy for sustainable agriculture

• The US EPA has approved certain registrations for Amvac’s PCNB product line for major commercial uses

• Bayer CropScience announced that it has filed an additional  patent infringement lawsuit in the US District Court against Dow AgroSciences

• Valent USA has appointed Andy Lee as its new executive vice president and chief operating officer

• Nufarm will market three new herbicides in Australia early next year

• Nufarm has expanded its involvement in seeds by buying Seeds 2000

• A new licensing agreement will allow  Bayer Crop Science to access Stoller’s technology for plant performance

• BASF expects sales for its crop protection business to increase by 50% to €6 billion by 2020

• Certis Europe has been appointed distributor for Kumiai’s fungicide Japica in Spain

• The UK’s Crop Protection Association has hosted an event to mark the tenth anniversary of the Voluntary Initiative (VI).

• Certis USA has announced that PFR-97 microbial insecticide has been registered by the US  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• Bayer CropScience and South Dakota State University (SDSU) in the US, have signed a non-exclusive agreement for wheat breeding and germplasm access

• Sumitomo Chemical Company is to acquire the ethaboxam fungicide business from LG Life Sciences

• Dow AgroSciences has received its first registration for sulfoxaflor in Korea

• DuPont and Evogene have announced a multiyear collaboration to improve resistance to soybean rust

• Syngenta report that sales in the third quarter in 2011 were up 21% (16% at constant exchange rates) at $2.7 billion

• South African Competition Tribunal refuses to grant approval to DuPont to allow its seed business Pioneer to purchase a majority shareholding in Pannar Seeds

• BASF Crop Protection has received approval  in France, Germany and the UK for products to be used on cereals containing the new fungicidal active ingredient Xemium

• Bayer CropScience and NARDI  in Romania have signed a license agreement that gives Bayer access to winter wheat germplasm

• Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) has announced that US EPA has approved its latest product, MBI-203, which will be branded as Grandevo

• Makhteshim Agan Group (MAI) has announced that 60% of its shares have now been acquired by China National Agrochemical Corporation

• BASF’s Agricultural Solutions division posted a 9% increase in sales to €908 million in the third quarter of 2011

• Syngenta has launched a new website to stimulate and accelerate collaborations with external parties for the development of new, integrated solutions for agriculture

• Indian scientists have joined 15 other nations in the initiative to decode the wheat genome

• DuPont’s agriculture segment, which includes both agrochemicals and seed business, posted a 41% increase in sales to $1.368 billion in the third quarter of 2011

• Three Japanese agrochemical companies have bought shares in the Brazilian manufacturer Iharabras SA

• Chemtura has reported that net sales of its AgroSolutions business increased by $12 million or 13% to $105 million in the third quarter of 2011

• Cargill and BASF Plant Science are to co-develop a new dietary source of EPA/DHA

• Bayer CropScience has strengthened its seed platform in Europe through the acquisition of the Raps GbR oilseed rape business

• DuPont and US biopesticide company AgraQuest have signed an agreement for the development and distribution of a new biopesticide

•  BASF Plant Science has applied for EU approval for Fortuna, its ‘genetically optimised’ potato

• Bayer CropScience has granted Koppert Biological Systems exclusive worldwide rights for a biological fungicide

• The Ministry of Agriculture in Argentina has approved Syngenta’s triple corn stack Bt11 x MIR162 x GA21 for cultivation in the country

• Marrone Bio Innovations has signed an exclusive research and development deal with Scotts Miracle-Gro to develop green pesticides for the consumer lawn and garden market.

• Amvac Chemical Corporation has acquired the international assets of the cotton defoliant product tribufos  from Bayer CropScience

• Dow Chemical’s Agricultural Sciences reported record third quarter sales of $1.205 billion, up 27% compared with the same period last year

• AMVAC Chemical Corporation has acquired the rights to two recently issued US patents from Wisconcin-based Summerdale Incorporated

• Sales gains in all regions boosted FMC’s agricultural products’ revenue by 24% to $382.1 million in the third quarter of 2011

• Makhteshim Agan Group (MAI) has announced that it is establishing a new division that will focus on innovative technologies for the agricultural market

• Bayer’s CropScience subgroup raised sales by 2.8% (Foreign exchange and portfolio adjusted 9.4%) to €1,379 million in the third quarter of 2011

Headlines from September 2011

• Bayer CropScience’s strategy for future business growth was presented by CEO Sandra E Peterson at the company’s recent annual press conference in Monheim, Germany

• Scientists from Bayer CropScience and the research institute VIB-UGent (www.vib.be), Belgium, are collaborating to develop crops with higher yields and improved tolerance to stresses such as drought or soil salinity

• Arysta LifeScience is restructuring its Latin American business unit to include Mexico and Central America

• Bayer CropScience has been granted exclusive worldwide license rights to the rice breeding programme of the Brazilian company Fazenda Ana Paula

• Valent USA and Isagro have announced that the fungicide Domark  has received registration from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for use on field corn, popcorn and seed corn

• Pasteuria Bioscience has strengthened its relationship with Syngenta by entering into a licensing and distribution agreement for its existing and future turf grass products

• Lonza has announced a new manufacturing agreement with Pasteuria Bioscience

• Bayer CropScience and the Chinese Oil Crops Research Institute (OCRI)  have entered an agreement to conduct a joint research in oilseed rape

• Monsanto has acquired Beeologics, an international company which researches and develops naturally-occurring processes to provide targeted pest and disease control  

• United Phosphorus Ltd (UPL) has entered an agreement with Japan-based Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha (ISK) for the production of certain agrochemicals

• GfK Kynetec  values  the global non-crop market at over $21 billion at end user level and rising

• Monsanto has reported net sales of $2.2 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011 and net sales for the fiscal year of $11.8 billion both better than the company had forecast

• FMC Corporation has signed an exclusive development and distribution agreement for Marrone Bio Innovation’s (MBI) Regalia Maxx biofungicide in Latin America

• Certis Europe and Futureco Bioscience have reached agreement on a strategic alliance between the two companies in the Spanish and Portuguese markets

• The UK crop protection, amenity and agronomy business Agrovista is entering a strategic alliance with Openfield

• The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has approved the UK’s first GM wheat trial, which will be conducted by the Rothamsted Research Institute

• Syngenta has failed in its bid to temporarily force Bunge Ltd to accept its Agrisure Viptera GM corn until a lawsuit over the issue is resolved

• Lonza has announced a new manufacturing agreement with Pasteuria Bioscience

• GrassRoots Biotechnology and Monsanto have agreed to extend their existing three-year research collaboration for an additional two years

• Cheminova and Chemifert SAL have signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture company, Agrinova SAL that will distribute crop protection products in the MENA region

•  Nufarm Limited has reported that it has generated a statutory headline loss of $49.5 million for the 12 months to 31 July 2011

Headlines from August 2011

• Syngenta, North America has filed a complaint in the US District Court against Bunge. Syngenta alleges Bunge is attempting to block the legal merchandising of the Agrisure Viptera trait for corn, which  was launched in compliance with US regulatory requirements

•  FMC has announced that it expects registration for its herbicide Anthem in early 2012

• The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued an order to DuPont directing the company to immediately halt the sale, use or distribution of the herbicide Imprelis

• Bayer CropScience and Monsanto have entered an agreement that will give soybean growers access to a revolutionary biological mode of action to help protect their crop from nematodes and a range of insect pests

• The first report of a failure of Bt genetics to control corn rootworm has been reported in north eastern Iowa

• Syngenta and Mato Grosso Farming Research Support Foundation (Fundação MT) have entered a distribution agreement for cotton seeds in Brazil

• FMC’s Agricultural Products Group has entered into two exclusive agreements covering the global development and supply of Chr. Hansen’s biological products

• Dow AgroSciences and MS Technologies are collaborating on a submission to the US Department of Agriculture  for the approval of the first-ever, three-gene herbicide-tolerant soybean

• An international team of scientists has sequenced the genome of a Chinese cabbage variety of Brassica rapa, a close relative of oilseed rape

• Dow AgroSciences is to market a new blackgrass herbicide in the UK for the 2011/12 season.  The product containing  pyroxsulam and flupyrsulfuron-methyl, was approved in June this year

• Bayer CropScience has received its first registration for its new fungicidal seed treatment product Emesto (penflufen) in the UK

• Incotec, the Netherlands-based seed technology company, has launched a new business in Angers to serve the French market

• BASF presented its new fungicides Merivon and Priaxor at the recent American Phytopathological Society (APS) annual conference

• Dow AgroSciences is to expand and relocate its corn research station in Arlington, Wisconsin

• Certis USA has selected Engage Agro, Ontario to distribute CYD-X, its insecticidal virus, in Canada

• The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has announced that it is to suspend the registration of all agricultural uses of the herbicide diuron

• The APVMA has announced that it proposes to suspend dimethoate products as an interim regulatory action while it completes further assessments on the insecticide

• Arysta LifeScience has received registrations in Mexico and Guatemala for Midas (iodomethane) its broad spectrum soil fumigant

• Insecticides India Ltd plans to invest about Rs 70 crore  over the next two years on expansion

Headlines from July 2011

• Sipcam and Sumitomo Corporation have announced a new alliance that will develop, market and distribute agrochemical products throughout Europe

• Vandals in Germany have destroyed two experimental sites growing genetically modified (GM) wheat and potatoes

• The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published updated guidance on the post-market environmental monitoring of GM plants

• United Phosphorus Ltd has acquired a 51% stake in DVA Agro Brazil

• FMC’s Agricultural Products Group has entered into a joint venture agreement to form a new Argentine agrochemical distribution company named Ruralco Soluciones

• The US EPA has approved spinosad for use as an onion seed treatment and the product will now be made available by Syngenta as a component of FarMore F1500

• The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted registration approval for Syngeta’s Agrisure 3122 trait stack

• DuPont is reportedly planning to recall its herbicide Imprelis amid multiple class action lawsuits alleging that the product is damaging and killing thousands of trees  throughout the US

• DuPont has reported that sales in its Agriculture & Nutrition  were up 10% to $3 billion in the second quarter

• Syngenta has received import approval from the Japanese and Mexican regulatory authorities for the Agrisure Viptera 3220 trait stack

Headlines from June 2011

• BASF and EMBRAPA, the leading Brazilian agricultural research institution, have signed a technical cooperation agreement

• Bayer CropScience has announced that Jim Blome is its new president/CEO and head of Crop Protection for the North American region

• Makhteshim Agan UK has launched a new potato blight fungicide based on dimethomorph

• Rothamsted Research, has applied for permission from the government to begin a trial with GM wheat

• Makhteshim Agan has requested voluntary cancellation of all of its dicofol registrations in the US

• Willowood USA has received EPA registration for Propanil 4SC

• Dow AgroSciences is expanding and relocating its Central Iowa Field Research sites to Ames, Iowa, to accommodate  corn and soybean breeding programmes

• Makhteshim Agan Industries  has reached an agreement with Isagro for the exclusive license of the active ingredient kiralaxyl

• Cheminova has acquired the remaining 25% in the Stähler group

• Certis Europe has announced that it has appointed a new chief executive officer

• UK-based pest management company, Exosect has  raised additional funding to  enable the company to introduce the second phase of its commercial strategy

• Bayer CropScience and the privately-owned French company RAGT Semences have signed a license and cooperation agreement for the improvement of wheat

•  Bayer CropScience has announced that Poncho/VOTiVO will be available on soybeans and cotton for the 2012 growing season

• Syngenta has  launched Phoenix, a new seed brand in the US

• Syngenta has received US registration for Besiege an insecticide for use on cotton, tobacco and pastures  

• Monsanto and Amvac Chemical Corporation  have entered an agreement that broadens Monsanto's Roundup Ready PLUS weed management to include Amvac’s herbicide Impact

Headlines from May 2011

• Sumitomo Chemical is increasing its stake in Nufarm

• Dow Agrosciences is investing $14 million to expand its sulfoxaflor manufacturing plant

• Bayer CropScience has successfully enforced its European patent for imidacloprid against a number of agrochemical suppliers

• The UK and German regulatory authorities have now developed a proposal for the criteria used to identify endocrine disrupters of very high concern

• Syngenta plans to construct a new state-of-the-art biotechnology research facility adjacent to its existing research campus in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina

• Makhteshim Agan Industries (MAI) has launched a number of products containing the active ingredient fipronil, a broad spectrum insecticide

• Syngenta has received approval for the cultivation of its MIR162 trait, Agrisure Viptera,  in Argentina

• The Indian fertiliser manufacturer Coromandel International is acquiring a 42% stake in the crop protection company Sabero Organics

• Cheminova has reported that its  revenue for Q1 2011 was up 14%

• AgraQuest is launching its biofungicide Serenade in Greece.  BASF has  exclusive distribution rights for the product in the European market

• Exosect has signed a collaborative agreement with Sylvan Bio that covers the development of an entomopathogenic fungi with  Exosect’s delivery system Entostat,  for the control of grain store pests

• Bayer CropScience has opened its new Seed Treatment Application Centre  in  São Paulo, Brazil

• DuPont and Biotique Systems  have entered into a research alliance to accelerate genetic discovery in agricultural crops

• Plant Impact has reinforced its relationship with Arysta LifeSciences by entering into two new commercial agreements

• The US EPA has granted registration for DuPont’s insecticide Prevathon

• Gustavo Vasques has been named vice president of Crop Protection for Sumitomo Chemical Latin America

• Sumitomo Chemical is to build a new production line for its herbicide flumioxazin in Oita, Japan

• Mitsui Chemicals Agro has acquired a 10% stake in Sotus International, an agrochemical business based in Thailand

Headlines from April 2011

• Makhteshim Agan is to acquire DuPont's global non-mixture diuron business

• A new  non-selective herbicide Alion (indaziflam) from Bayer CropScience has been granted US EPA approval

• Dow AgroSciences have reported that its first quarter sales  to a record level $1.6 billion, up 17%

• Gowan is to develop and market  SDS Biotech's herbicide benzobicyclon for the US rice market

• Dow AgroSciences Refuge Advanced powered by SmartStax has received registration from the US EPA

• BASF Crop is to sell its products directly to customers in the Middle East and Nile regions

• DuPont’s Agriculture and Nutrition segment achieved sales of $3.8 billion in the first quarter, up 18% to $586 million

• Valent BioSciences Corporation is to construct a new state-of-the-art fermentation manufacturing facility in Osage, Iowa

• BASF Plant Science has assumed ownership for Modena, the genetically enhanced amylopectin starch potato developed by AVEBE

• Syngenta's first quarter sales have exceeded $4 billion

• The European Parliament's environment committee has voted in favour of the proposal to give member states a choice of whether to ban cultivation of GM crops on their territory

• Syngenta Seedcare has launched Cruiser Maxx Sugarbeets in the US, the first insecticide/ fungicide seed treatment combination for sugar beet

• Sales of the Bayer CropScience subgroup climbed by 15.6% in the first quarter compared with the previous year to €2.257 billion

• Researchers have found populations of Canada fleabane in southwestern Ontario that are resistant to glyphosate

• Bayer has licensed its proprietary herbicide tolerance technology, LibertyLink, to DuPont’s subsidiary seed business Pioneer Hi-Bred for use in canola hybrids

• Monsanto and US-based Atlas Venture have entered an alliance to explore investment opportunities

• Interfarm UK has entered an agreement to distribute the herbicide Warrant (fenoxaprop-p-ethyl)  on behalf of Bayer CropScience

Headlines from March 2011

• Arysta LifeScience has acquired a majority shareholding in the FES Group, a distributor of agrochemicals in Russia

• BASF and Evolva Holding SA  have signed a joint research agreement for the design of novel and optimised biosynthesis routes for selected natural products with crop protection potential

• Bayer CropScience is intending to sell its manufacturing plant located in Norwich, UK as a going concern

• AgraQuest, the US-based biopesticide business, has raised $17.7 million in a financing round that will further its efforts to develop and market innovative products

• Syngenta’s cereal herbicide Sierra (flucarbazone) has been granted Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration

• Bayer is decommissioning its MIC production units in Institute, US

• Bayer CropScience is to purchase US-based Hornbeck Seed Company

• The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted approval for the Agrisure Viptera 3220 trait stack

• BASF and Monsanto  have announced a new agreement to collaborate on the advancement of dicamba tolerant cropping systems

• Bayer CropScience will be the exclusive distributor of Chemtura's seed treatment products in China. 

• Bayer CropScience and KeyGene, have entered into an exclusive trait development agreement

• The European Commission’s Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health voted in favour of the inclusion of dazomet in Annex I of Directive 91/414EEC

• Syngenta has signed a distribution agreement with Marrone Bio Innovations for exclusive distribution rights in the Europe, Africa, Middle East region for Marrone’s bio-fungicide, Regalia

• Chemtura AgroSolutions, has introduced two Rancona seed treatments formulated for soybeans

• United Phosphorus (UPL) has acquired a 50% stake in Sipcam Isagro Brasil from Isagro

• An alternative mode of action for herbicide tolerance is being co-developed by Bayer CropScience and Syngenta

• BioLeap has entered into a research collaboration with Syngenta to apply its molecular-design technology to the discovery of  crop protection products

• Arysta Lifescience has acquired a majority interest in the Mumbai-based company Devidayal Sales Limited (DSL)

• Bayer CropScience has opened an expanded seed research laboratory in Singapore

Headlines from February 2011

• Syngenta is to integrate its crop protection and seed businesses by the end of 2012

• Gowan Company has received Californian registration for  Scorpion 35SL an insecticide for broad-spectrum insect control in cucurbits, fruiting vegetables, brassicas, potatoes, grapes and leafy vegetables

• BASF has launched two new potato blight fungicides in the UK based on Initium

• Syngenta’s new wheat fungicide, Seguris, has now been officially approved in the UK

• The National Biosafety Technical Commission (CTNBio) in Brazil has granted approval for Bayer's TwinLink technology for cotton

• FMC Corporation has received full registration for the insecticide Beleaf 50SG (flonicamid) for both the US and Canada

• Nufarm Americas and Sumitomo Chemical Company’s affiliate Valent  intend to form a strategic alliance in Mexico

• DuPont plans to invest more than $50 million over five years to expand its biotech soybean research and development programme

• Syngenta sales for 2010 were up 6% to $11.6 billion. EBITA was up 3% to $2.5 billion

•  USDA have authorised  the planting of Genuity Roundup Ready sugar beet for spring 2011 with certain conditions

• Arysta LifeScience has created a new subsidiary in Kiev, Ukraine

• Makhteshim Agan UK has launched its first cereal growth regulator, Optimus, an optimised formulation of trinexapac-ethyl

• Monsanto has acquired Divergence Inc. , a St Louis-based biotechnology research and development company

• Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd (SCC) is to restructure its crop protection business in Latin America

• Bayer CropScience plans to construct a new greenhouse facility at its North American headquarters for about $20 million

• Gowan Company  has acquired a majority share in Agro Technology, S.A.  located in Santiago, Chile

• Syngenta has received full deregulation for its corn amylase trait in the US

• Global regulatory affairs consultancy Rivendell International has recently opened its fifth subsidiary in Japan

• The organophosphate insecticide methamidophos, commonly used on rice, is to be phased out in Brazil

• Willowood USA has received Californian  approval for two post patent crop protection herbicides Oxyflo 2EC and Oxyflo 4SC

• Valent  has signed an exclusive agreement with Nippon Soda Co to supply and distribute tebufenozide for the North American forestry markets

• Andermatt Biocontrol and Certis USA have entered into an agreement to develop and market new granulovirus insecticides for the NAFTA region

• Isagro S.p.A. is restructuring its business to refocus on researching and developing new molecules

•  Bayer CropScience UK will be marketing the cereal fungicide bixafen as Aviator 235 Xpro on wheat.  The barley product will be marketed as Siltra Xpro.

• US Department of Agriculture  has  deregulated Roundup Ready alfalfa in the US

• Certis Europe has been appointed as the primary European distributor for the soil nematicide/insecticide Mocap

• BASF has  been granted the exclusive rights to develop and commercialise the herbicide pyroxasulfone for corn, soybeans, wheat and sunflower in the US and Canada

• Syngenta has announced  that the National Biosafety Committee (CTNBio) in Brazil has approved its triple corn stack Bt11 x MIR162 x GA21 for cultivation

• The US EPA has granted approval to DuPont for three new herbicides, Perspective, Streamline and Viewpoint based on  aminocyclopyrachlor

• Syngenta Philippines has invested $8 million to put up a state-of-the-art seed corn seed processing plant

• DuPont has reported fourth quarter sales in 2010 of $1.5 billion, up 13% due to higher volumes

• Isagro and Chemtura AgroSolutions have finalised a joint venture in which they will share investments in innovative research

• Bayer CropScience is to close certain manufacturing facilities dedicated to carbamate chemistries in Institute, West Virginia, US and is shutting down its Woodbine, Georgia, formulation facility

• BASF UK has  launched a new emulsifiable concentrate formulation of epoxiconazole for the 2011 season

• Dow AgroSciences UK has launched Spitfire a new broadleaved weed herbicide for use in cereal crops

• Certis Europe has entered into a partnership with US-based Trécé Inc and has been appointed distributor for their mating disruption product range Cidetrak

• Brazil has planted record levels of GM crops for the 2010/11 harvest

Headlines from December 2010

• Koor Industries Ltd has reached agreement with ChemChina over the Chinese company’s purchase of a stake in Makhteshim Agan 

• Monsanto’s net sales increased 8% in the company’s first quarter to $1.8 billion.  Gross profit for the total company increased 11%

• Syngenta has closed the deal to acquire Monsanto’s global hybrid sunflower seeds activities

• Dow AgroSciences has announced the construction of a new Seeds Research and Development expansion in Olivia, Minnesota, US

• Bayer CropScience is suing Dow AgroSciences in a federal court the US alleging infringement of a patent for herbicide-resistant crops

• Bayer CropScience, US has finalised a licensing  agreement with Heads Up Plant Protectants Inc  to  access the Heads Up seed treatment

• Arysta LifeScience will distribute a number of products from Cheminova in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

• Bayer CropScience has entered into a five year collaboration with Israel-based Evogene Ltd to accelerate the development and introduction of improved wheat varieties

• In the US, Bayer CropScience has reached a licensing agreement with NUtech Ventures for joint research to improve wheat crops

• Researchers in the US  have mapped and characterised a gene Sr35 resistant to the stem rust race known as Ug99

• Syngenta has granted Pioneer Hi-Bred a non-exclusive, global licence to the corn rootworm trait MIR604 (Agrisure)

• Arysta LifeScience has entered a partnership agreement and an equity position with Novon Protecta, a  crop protection distributor in the Eastern Free State region of South Africa

• Sumitomo Chemical and Nufarm have reached a toll manufacturing agreement in Australia as part of their ongoing cooperation programme

• The potato starch manufacturer AVEBE (www.avebe.com) and BASF Plant Science have entered a research and development alliance in plant biotechnology

• Cibus Global is collaborating with Rotam to offer farmers a more environmentally friendly, single pass weed control system for canola

• Bayer CropScience and BASF Plant Science have announced a long-term collaboration agreement to improve rice productivity through plant biotechnology

• BASF’s fungicide Vivando has received full registration from the US EPA and the California Board of Pesticide Regulation

• Monsanto has announced details of nine projects which have moved forward in the company’s R&D programme

• New GlyTol glyphosate-tolerant technology, a proprietary trait from Bayer CropScience, will be commercially available to US cotton growers in 2011

• Novozymes, a global leader in enzyme technology, has acquired EMD/Merck Crop BioScience from Merck KgaA

• BASF and NOD Apiary Products have released the first results from official registration trials conducted in Europe to control the parasitic varroa destructor mite

• The EU will not renew its 29.9% glyphosate tariff on Chinese glyphosate

• South African activists say they have successfully persuaded regulators to block the bid by Pioneer Hi-Bred, to buy South Africa's largest seed company, Pannar Seed

• Bayer CropScience has recently acquired the wheat breeding programmes from two Ukrainian  companies

• Bayer CropScience has divested the insecticidal active ingredients fenamiphos, ethoprophos  and tebupirimfos to Amvac

• United Phosphorus Limited (UPL) has acquired Tennessee-based RiceCo LLC, US along with its subsidiaries

• Sumitomo Chemical  has expanded its Indian operations for crop protection products by acquiring a 100% shareholding in New Chemi Industries

• Incotec and FBSciences, Inc. have reached a global agreement to test, develop and commercialise new seed treatment and coating technologies for the seed industry

Headlines from November 2010

• Bayer CropScience has acquired a product from Exosect, Winchester, UK for the control of varroa mites

• Plant Health Care has announced that it has signed another research agreement to evaluate  Harpin protein as a foliar spray in combination with a number of Syngenta’s major products

• A novel biofungicide, Regalia from US-based Marrone Bio Innovations, has been has been registered for use in Turkey on greenhouse tomatoes

• US-based FBSciences has strengthened its position as a life sciences company by launching a new plant protection division

•  Syngenta has assumed full ownership of GreenLeaf Genetics.

• A US federal judge has ordered the destruction of plantings of genetically modified sugar beet developed by Monsanto

• Makhteshim Agan (MAI) has made two strategic acquisitions, Ingenieria Industrial SA de CV (BravoAg) in Mexico, and JK Inc in Korea

• BASF Crop Protection division has opened a new representative office in Lusaka, Zambia

• Makhteshim Agan has reported that its third quarter 2010 sales valued at $533.1 million were up 22.3% compared with $435.9 million in the corresponding period of 2009

• Sumitomo Chemical has set up a direct sale operation for its crop protection products in Vietnam

• Enigma Marketing Research has produced a new report, New Off-Patent/Generic Agrochemicals - post 2011

• Gowan Company has reached an agreement with Dow AgroSciences to acquire the rights to the insecticide M-Pede and the herbicide Scythe

• Crop Microclimate Inc and Certis USA ,a leading biopesticide company, have entered into agreements to develop and market new products

• Cheminova Inc has received US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration for its insecticide Fyanon Plus ULV

• Scientists at UK-based CBio  have developed a biological product that could potentially be used to directly reduce the amount of nitrogen and other fertilisers used by arable farmers

Headlines from October 2010