EUROPEAN-SEED.COM I EUROPEAN SEED I 41 enable a major leap in plant physiology – producing nitrogen fer- tilizer directly in the plant – which would significantly minimize agriculture’s environmental impact. One exciting example of a delivery system for biologicals has been commercialized by Bee Vectoring Technology of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It has applied for patents in Chile, Japan and the USA for its system, which causes bees to pick up biological agents on their legs as they leave commercial hives on daily visits to field crops. Turner believes improved delivery systems will play a very important role in the future, as well as the use of IPM. He believes that companies that can, for example, address pests with native traits, seed treatments and foliar treatments will be able to provide integrated solutions which reduce the likelihood of resistance development, improve consistency of control, and meet local circumstances with flexibility. He believes compa- nies that can build this integrated solution mindset will be the innovators of the future. Brian Carroll is also of the view that an integrated use of multiple approaches will continue to grow in importance in pest and disease management. “Overusing any one tool, no matter how well that tool works, can lead to resistant weeds,” notes the European external communications manager for Monsanto. ”So, implementing multiple crop protection methods is critical. We encourage farmers to use diverse practices including cover crops, tilling, crop rotation and correct planting timing.” Gerardo Ramos, senior advisor in crop protection develop- ment at Syngenta, adds that the invention and development of novel products based on modern agrochemicals but targeting more holistic product concepts (concepts that consider other parameters beyond potency and spectrum) combined with steady progress in formulation and delivery technologies, will continue to be a major source of innovation in the crop protec- tion products sector. PUBLIC TRUST The issue of public trust in science and food production is here to stay. Trends in crop protection product regulatory requirements and legal frameworks, observes Ramos, are intimately connected to societal and political desires for greater protection of human- ity and the environment. However, he also notes that the increas- ing disconnection between urban and rural populations, mostly in developed and fast-developing emerging markets, creates requirements towards provenance and higher food quality, it also leads to a distorted perception of the risks and benefits of agricultural technology. “As a consequence, the growers and the agriculture industry supporting sustainable food production are facing huge pressure to invent and use new technologies to solve many issues,” he says. “The global rural economy and the scarcity of key resources like water and arable land for food production also creates a noticeable demand for new cropping and crop protection technologies. This is particularly relevant for the emerging markets development like China, due to the size and the rates of development of its population.” DIGITAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES The increasing use of many online, sensing and data analysis technologies is another huge current trend in crop protection. They continue to help farmers to be more precise in their diag- nosis of crop problems and greatly increase efficiency in the use of crop protection products. Ramos notes that the devel- opment precision application and other new technologies are being driven by some of the increasingly challenging regulatory thresholds on toxicological and environmental impact of crop protection products. He adds that although the pace of technological change con- tinues to increase, the characteristics of agriculture make the development of solutions extremely costly and time-consuming, so the ability to extract value from existing extremely large (and continuously growing) volumes of data, and to use it in models, will become increasingly important. “Machine learning and data analysis from weather, yields, imaging and so on will be deployed in many applications,” he predicts, “to enable growers to con- tinuously optimize value creation at planting and post-planting phases.” One example of this, points out Matthias Nachtmann, digital farming & Maglis Team lead at BASF Crop Protection, is using a smartphone picture of powdery mildew with a sci- ence-based forecasting algorithm to ensure yield goals are met. BASF is working with interdisciplinary teams as well as with internal and external experts to develop new technologies to allow farmers to make better-informed decisions. One example is Maglis, an online crop management platform launched by BASF in early 2016. Turner also believes the use of data analytics to understand where, when and how treatments are required will continue to increase, as will the use of drones for both scouting and treatment. RNA-based technologies can also benefit crops in various ways, from prevention of disease, and reduction of undesirable traits, to improved quality and nutrition. The crop protection industry mergers are bringing new and more innovative solutions to customers in a shorter time frame.