While farmers are looking for new ways to effectively control pests and pathogens and manage environmental stress to meet growing consumer demand for sustainably produced food, agricultural research and development companies are working on sustainable solutions to help farmers respond to the world's increasingly dynamic agricultural challenges.
According to the latest UN projections, the world's population could reach 8.5 billion by 2030 and 9.7 billion people by 2050, and feeding this population will pose significant challenges for agriculture. Meanwhile the European Commission's 2020 "Farm to Fork" strategy indicates a 50% reduction in crop protection product use by 2050, and social demands for sustainable production will become increasingly important.
Meanwhile, agricultural research and development companies are relying on innovation and focusing on improvements that will help farmers achieve the most efficient results and highest yields in a sustainable way with less environmental impact. For example, while in Hungary in the late 1940s, a winter wheat crop could yield 1-2 tonnes per hectare, this figure has now increased to 6-8 tonnes per hectare. This increase is an excellent reflection of the development of seed breeding and crop protection, which together are necessary to ensure high yields and healthy crops that contribute to feeding humanity.
Efficient agricultural production is based on excellent genetics with sufficient protection. The first, preventive step in crop protection is the use of seed applied technology product(s) or biostimulant to the surface of the seed by industrial scientists, which effectively controls early pathogens and root pests early in the plant's growth phenology.
In many ways, the use of seed applied products is beneficial to plant development and sustainability. The use of various crop protection products and biostimulants helps to bring out the inherent genetics in the seeds, contributes to seed germination, smooth emergence and uniform stand development and improved stress tolerance of the seeds. In addition, seeds treated with seed applied technology productscan reduce farmers' post-emergence crop protection use, which not only helps reduce environmental impact, biodiversity preservation and sustainability, but also saves farmers sources.
Corteva Agriscience as a global agriculture research and development company plays a huge role in developing efficient and sustainable solutions for farmers, to help them overcome the challenges they face during farming. The research of each active ingredient, each seed applied technology product, is a process that takes about ten years and involves a lot of criteria. In addition to efficacy, the development process focuses on the protection of beneficial, non-target organisms, and the use of biological products. In the development of Corteva seed treatment, increasing emphasis is being placed on biostimulants, which can contain micro-organisms such as fungi and bacteria, as well as plant and algae extracts. For example, Corteva Lumidapt™ Optima biological seed applied product, available for Hungarian farmers, with its optimised microelement composition, results in more vigorous germination and rapid growth, and is ideal for use on, among others, Pioneer® seeds of excellent genetics sown in the upcoming autumn rape season.
About the spectacular results of Lumidapt™ Optima, György Gyócsi, a farmer from village Öreglak, said: "I have a close relationship with Corteva's agronomists, and I have always been interested in innovative solutions. That is why I regularly cooperate with the company and we set up joint experiments every year. In 2023, I found that the plants sown on the experimental plots emerged more uniformly, had faster growth and were visibly fresher and healthier than the plant population surrounding the experimental area. This is how I found out that in 2023, Corteva used the Lumidapt™ Optima biostimulator for the first time on the seeds participating in its trials and this resulted in this significant, clearly visible, positive change. I'm happy that this product can be found on commercially available seeds from 2024."
To ensure that farmers get the most out of their crops, the first step is to ensure that seeds are properly protected and innovative solutions in seed applied technologies can make a major contribution to developing and maintaining sustainable farming practices.
