Syngenta R&D Facility To Focus On Consumer Success

Syngenta R&D Facility To Focus On Consumer Success

So much research and development (R&D) focuses on grower success that consumers are often forgotten. Syngenta Flowers, however, is making a commitment to consumers after breaking ground on a 68,000-square-foot R&D facility that’s expected to be ready next fall in Gilroy, Calif.

According to Tim Kroenke, the head of lawn and garden for Syngenta’s North American business, the facility will be divided into three parts: one that focuses on Syngenta’s seed-breeding programs, another that focuses on Syngenta’s vegetative material and a third that allows Syngenta to actively change the greenhouse’s environmental conditions to do extensive consumer research on its genetics.

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Among the consumer-centric areas Syngenta will research is shipping and how to help growers ensure plants are delivered to consumers healthier.

“We know retailers experience shrink,” Kroenke says. “So how do we help reduce shrink at retail? Quite honestly, we’re looking at the experience of the consumer and how we can make the experience better for them.”

Kroenke even makes an analogy, comparing Syngenta’s R&D goals for greenhouse floriculture to those of the vegetable industry when it recently refocused breeding.

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“For years, the vegetable industry focused on breeding vegetables that are good at holding up through the value chain,” he says. “What was forgotten was taste and nutrition, so now you’re seeing a shift back to the consumer in breeding.”

Adds Keelan Pulliam, Syngenta’s president: “We have access to different segments of the industry–not only genetics but media and plant protection. As we start to look at those areas together to provide solutions, we’ll have to have these different research capabilities.”

Learn more about Syngenta Flowers online at SyngentaFlowersInc.com.

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