Syngenta Announces Agreement with Pasteuria Bioscience for Turf Market

Syngenta Lawn & Garden (L&G) said Monday it has entered into an agreement with U.S.-based biotechnology company Pasteuria Bioscience Inc. Under the agreement, Syngenta’s Turf & Landscape division will have exclusive licensing and distribution rights to Pasteuria Biosciences’ nematicide product lines.

With the agreement, Syngenta also will obtain Econem for the L&G Turf portfolio. Econem is Pasteuria Bioscience’s first commercialized product containing Pasteuria microbes. According to Syngenta, the microbes are useful because they kill nematodes without hurting other organisms, plants or the environment. Launched in 2010, Econem has been proven to control sting nematodes, which are destructive to turf. A liquid version of Econem has recently gained EPA registration.

“Our customers have told us that they are extremely interested in how these new and environmentally favorable options can be effectively used to control pests,” said Mike Parkin, global head, Turf & Landscape, Lawn & Garden, in a release. “It is really exciting to be able to add this innovative product to our already robust integrated offer.”

David Duncan, Ph.D., chief executive officer for Pasteuria Bioscience, had this to say about the agreement: “We are very excited about Syngenta’s plan to resource and fully realize the potential of these Pasteuria-based products in the golf course and other turf grass markets.”

Syngenta entered into an exclusive global technology agreement with Pasteuria Bioscience in June. The agreement aimed to develop innovative bio-nematicides to control nematodes “across a broad variety of crops,” the release stated.