Pest Management Professional, September 2014

Supplier Spotlight Management might be one of the newer companies in the pest management industry the acquisition of DuPonts line of pest management products in 2012 significantly expanded the pipelines of chemistry to which Syngenta has access The new active ingredients are the cornerstone of all these new products Willenbrock says Its becoming increasingly difficult and more costly to bring a new chemistry to market Bringing new chemistry into this industry has been important The financial and regulatory burdens placed on manufacturers lead to longer timelines when bringing new products to market Creating these products is highly complicated which is why having access to a wide range of active ingredients is important The formulation also is important because even having the same active ingredient in the right amount doesnt guarantee a successful product Court of public opinion Another challenge the industry faces is the general attack on pesticides when it comes to issues such as Colony Collapse Disorder CCD Many blame neonicotinoids for the problem which is exacerbated by the national media and non governmental organizations NGOs As a result the U S Environmental Protection Agency EPA is pressured to act Those are challenges facing the manufacturers because its a lot easier for nongovernmental organizations to say neonics are killing bees Willenbrock says The nature of the issue forces the industry to prove the negative We live in a sound bite society but you cant rebut that in 140 characters Willenbrock says Its a lot more complicated to combat headlines The EPA is pressured from NGOs and people saying Do something about this The EPA is sciencebased and it understands the Syngenta celebrated its Vero Beach Fla Research Centers 50 year anniversary last year complicated nature of the products but theyre under political pressure which is why labels change and regulations become burdensome For Syngenta it takes more time and money for PMPs there are more restrictions Part of Syngentas role is to help PMPs overcome obstacles If our customers are successful well be successful Willenbrock says We provide products that help them separate themselves in the market place That can be anything from brochures to webinars and in person coaching The company also works with industry groups such as Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment RISE and the National Pest Management Association NPMA to ensure a strong unified message is heard by those who write the pesticide rules and regulations We have an office in Washington and a regulatory staff that does an outstanding job of working with the EPA to educate how products are used and protected Willenbrock says Another role is to help PMPs do an outstanding job If youre good at your job life goes on and no one sees anything Willenbrock says Thats what our customers deal with daily Thats what were trying to do The pros control these insects We help with packaging brochures and development strategies which is why we adopted For Life Uninterrupted as our guiding philosophy When we merged with DuPont we had to become one new team For Life Uninterrupted when youre doing your job well youre invisible Syngenta invests more than 12 billion each year in research worldwide Ant research at the Syngenta Vero Beach Research Center 86 September 2014 Pest Management Professional www mypmp net