Syngenta Unveils VIRESTINA™ Technology, a Global Breakthrough in Controlling Grass Weeds

BASEL, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 7, 2026--

Syngenta, a global leader in agricultural innovation, is bringing to market the world’s first selective herbicide to control resistant grass weeds in soybean and cotton in nearly 40 years.

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Today, Syngenta announced the global launch of VIRESTINA™ technology (active ingredient: metproxybicyclone), after Argentina became the first country in the world to approve the technology. Syngenta is also planning to bring this innovation to Brazil, Australia, the U.S., and Canada.

Argentina – the world’s third largest producer of soybeans – ranks among the most innovative agricultural markets worldwide, with its farmers often being the first globally to access cutting-edge agricultural technologies. Soybeans are one of the world’s most important crops, containing a high concentration of essential amino acids and valued as an important source of high-protein animal feed.

Resistant weeds are a persistent threat to growers as they survive herbicide applications and remain in the field to compete with crops for nutrients, sunlight, and water. At the same time, such weeds act as a “green bridge” for pests, viruses, fungi and bacteria that infect crops. Resistant weeds can dramatically reduce harvest yields and decimate the value of agricultural farmland.

Amid a rise in the spread and severity of weed resistance globally, VIRESTINA™ technology is set to deliver an urgently-needed reprieve to growers faced with a shrinking toolbox of effective options. Over the past few decades, limited herbicide technologies have been successfully brought to market; the ability of resistant weeds to metabolize and be cross-resistant is further exacerbating the challenge. Herbicide resistance is officially reported today in 75 countries and affects farmers of more than 100 crops; grass weeds account for 40 percent of the 273 weed species afflicted.

VIRESTINA™ technology marks an important innovation in herbicide technology. In key crops such as soybean and cotton, the technology is highly effective in controlling grass weeds that are resistant to common herbicides like glyphosate and clethodim. Safe to use over crops, VIRESTINA™ technology also breaks down rapidly in soil, ensuring an excellent safety profile and a reduced environmental footprint. Farmers benefit from greater flexibility during crop rotations and in their choice of cover crops, while lowering soil compaction and greenhouse gas emissions as they reduce the number of passes of heavy farm machinery necessary to control resistant grass weeds.

Scientists at Syngenta’s cutting-edge Jealott’s Hill International Research Centre in the UK leveraged predictive science to bring this innovation to market in just 10 years – significantly faster than the average 12-14 year timelines for agricultural technologies – reflecting Syngenta’s nuanced understanding of the challenges growers face, and its commitment to deliver effective solutions.

“At Syngenta, our innovations have an important role in enabling growers to address some of the biggest challenges they face,” said Ioana Tudor, Syngenta’s Global Head of Crop Protection Marketing. “VIRESTINA™ technology demonstrates Syngenta’s ability to foresee a challenge a decade earlier, to accelerate our research and development timeline and successfully deliver an innovation that is timely in meeting growers’ needs. We are very proud of our industry-leading innovation pipeline.”

Syngenta’s leadership in innovative crop protection technologies

Syngenta’s R&D pipeline is delivering some of agriculture’s most advanced and important innovations. Over the next decade, Syngenta is on track to launch at least 20 new proprietary innovations in advanced crop protection technologies and agricultural biologicals. Its portfolio of advanced crop protection technologies already includes blockbusters such as TYMIRIUM ® technology to control nematodes and fungal disease, PLINAZOLIN ® technology for insect control and ADEPIDYN ® technology for fungal disease control, valued by farmers for their strong efficacy and sustainability attributes. Syngenta is also a leader in agricultural biologicals, offering an extensive portfolio of biocontrols, biostimulants and nutrient use efficiency solutions, while expanding its offer of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled digital and precision agriculture solutions.

VIRESTINA™ technology was invented leveraging Syngenta’s extensive expertise in a specific family of herbicide technologies called ACCase-inhibitors (HRAC Group 1), widely considered a foundational technology in modern agriculture. As the fourth generation of this herbicide group, VIRESTINA™ technology is engineered to effectively control weeds resistant to herbicides from other groups, as well as older ACCase herbicides.

For more details and insights, read our full story here.

About Syngenta

Syngenta is a global leader in agricultural innovation with a presence in more than 90 countries. Syngenta is focused on developing technologies and farming practices that empower farmers, so they can make the transformation required to feed the world’s population while preserving our planet. Its bold scientific discoveries deliver better benefits for farmers and society on a bigger scale than ever before. Guided by its Sustainability Priorities, Syngenta is developing new technologies and solutions that support farmers to grow healthier plants in healthier soil with a higher yield. Syngenta Crop Protection is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland; Syngenta Seeds is headquartered in the United States.

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Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements, which can be identified by terminology such as “expect,” “would,” “will,” “potential,” “plans,” “prospects,” “estimated,” “aiming,” “on track” and similar expressions. Such statements may be subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from these statements. For Syngenta Group, such risks and uncertainties include, amongst others, risks relating to legal proceedings, regulatory approvals, new product development, increasing competition, customer credit risk, general economic and market conditions, refinancing risk, interest rate fluctuations and access to capital markets, compliance and remediation, evolving environmental and sustainability regulations, changes in agricultural policies or subsidy regimes, intellectual property rights, implementation of organizational changes, impairment of intangible assets, consumer perceptions of genetically modified crops and organisms or crop protection chemicals, climatic variations, fluctuations in exchange rates and/or grain prices, supply chain disruptions, (geo)political risks, trade restrictions, sanctions, and export controls, natural disasters, and breaches of data security or other disruptions of information technology. Syngenta assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changed assumptions or other factors.

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Rye grass lolium - untreated and treated with VIRESTINA™ techology

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The King Fahd Causeway, a key bridge linking Saudi Arabia and the island of Bahrain, reopened Tuesday morning after closing for hours over possible threats from Iran.

The King Fahd Causeway Authority made the announcement in a post on X, saying the only route by road between Bahrain and the Arabian Peninsula reopened. Bahrain’s airport has been closed over the Iranian attacks for weeks.

The hourslong closure came after a ballistic missile attack from Iran targeted Saudi Arabia and may have done damage to energy infrastructure there. The kingdom has not elaborated on damage from that attack.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia closed the only road linking it to Bahrain on Tuesday after Iran fired missiles at its oil-rich Eastern Province. Tehran's latest strikes came as Iranian officials urged youths to form human chains around power plants to protect them, as the latest deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz drew closer.

Trump has threatened to bomb all of Iran's power plants and bridges if Iran does not meet his Tuesday 8 p.m. EDT deadline to allow shipping traffic to fully resume through the strategic waterway, through which a fifth of the world's oil transits in peacetime.

“The entire country can be taken out in one night,” Trump said.

Israel's military warned Iranians in Farsi to avoid taking trains throughout the day, likely telegraphing intended strikes on the rail network.

“Your presence puts your life at risk,” the warning posted on X read.

France joined a growing chorus of international voices calling for restraint, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot saying attacks targeting civilian and energy infrastructure “are barred by the rules of war, international law.”

“They would without doubt trigger a new phase of escalation, of reprisals, that would drag the region and the world economy into a vicious circle that would be very worrying and, most of all, very damaging to our own interests,” the minister said on France Info television.

Iran choked off shipping through the strait after Israel and the U.S. attacked on Feb. 28, starting the war. On Monday, Tehran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and said it wants a permanent end to the war.

Early Tuesday, Tehran launched seven ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia, which authorities said rained debris on the ground near energy facilities as they were intercepted. Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said the damage was being assessed.

In the meantime, Saudi Arabia said it was closing the King Fahd Causeway, a bridge that links Saudi Arabia to the island kingdom of Bahrain over the threat of more Iranian attacks targeting the Eastern Province.

The 25-kilometer (15.5 mile) bridge is the only connection by road for Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, to the Arabian Peninsula.

Elsewhere, activists reported a new wave of strikes on Tehran, for which Israel later claimed responsibility. Nine people were killed in the city of Shahriar and six more in Pardis in other airstrikes, Iranian media reported.

Iran also fired on Israel, with reports of incoming missiles in Tel Aviv and Eilat.

Iran's attacks on the energy infrastructure of its Gulf Arab neighbors, coupled with its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and is causing global economic problems.

In early spot trading, Brent crude, the international standard, was above $111 per barrel, up more than 50% since the start of the war.

Under growing pressure at home as consumers feel the pinch, Trump has demanded that Iran open the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping traffic or see power plants and bridges wiped out. The threat to hit civilian infrastructure has sparked widespread warnings about possible war crimes.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Tuesday urged Trump not to follow through, saying the “focus needs to be on not seeing this conflict expand any further.”

“Any of those actions including bombing bridges and reservoirs and civilian infrastructure would be unacceptable,” Luxon told Radio New Zealand.

Iran sought to up the ante, calling on “all young people, athletes, artists, students and university students and their professors” to form human chains around power plants ahead of the threatened strikes.

“Power plants that are our national assets and capital, regardless of any taste or political viewpoint, belong to the future of Iran and to the Iranian youth,” Alireza Rahimi, identified by Iranian state television as the secretary of the Supreme Council of Youth and Adolescents, said as he issued the video call in a newscast.

Iran has formed human chains in the past around its nuclear sites at times of heightened tensions with the West.

Later, a Revolutionary Guard general urged parents to send their children to man checkpoints, which have been repeatedly targeted in airstrikes.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned the U.S. that attacks on civilian infrastructure are banned under international law, according to his spokesperson. Trump, speaking with reporters, said he’s “not at all” concerned about committing war crimes with such attacks.

As the deadline neared, efforts were still underway to reach a negotiated solution. Even though Iran has rejected the latest proposal from the U.S., officials involved in the diplomacy say that talks are still ongoing.

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, but the government has not updated the toll for days.

More than 1,400 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there.

In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

Japan said Tuesday that one of its citizens who had been detained in Iran since January had been released on bail. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters in Tokyo that Japan is demanding his full release from Iranian authorities.

Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy reported from Cairo. Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, John Leicester in Paris and Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia, contributed to this report.

People drive their motorbikes past a billboard that shows a graphic depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Displaced people wait to receive donated food beside the tents they use as shelters after fleeing Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A man inspects the damage to cars and an apartment building struck by an Iranian missile in Ramat Gan, Israel, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)