Syngenta and SAP Forge AI Alliance to Reshape Global Agriculture

BASEL, Switzerland & WALLDORF, Germany – January 15, 2026 – In a landmark move poised to accelerate the digital transformation of agriculture, global agricultural innovation leader Syngenta and enterprise software giant SAP have announced a multi-year strategic partnership. The collaboration will embed artificial intelligence deep within Syngenta's core global operations, aiming to modernize its enterprise from the ground up and tackle the monumental challenge of feeding a growing global population.

The partnership intends to leverage advanced data analytics and AI across Syngenta's entire business, impacting everything from manufacturing and supply chain logistics to the development of new products and services for growers. By integrating AI at an enterprise level, the companies are positioning Syngenta to enhance its operational resilience and innovation speed in an industry grappling with climate variability, complex supply chains, and global uncertainty.

“AI is the catalyst for agricultural transformation and has quickly become a core competitive edge for Syngenta,” said Feroz Sheikh, Chief Information and Digital Officer for Syngenta Group. “Our partnership with SAP is transforming how we run the enterprise, modernizing core operations and unlocking new ways to work — a testament to our commitment to becoming an agriculture company with AI at its core.”

This sentiment was echoed by SAP, which views the collaboration as a new benchmark for the industry. “Syngenta’s transformation sets a benchmark for digital innovation in agriculture,” stated Philipp Herzig, Chief Technology Officer at SAP SE. “Together, we’re demonstrating how cloud and AI technologies can drive sustainable growth and efficiency in one of the world’s most critical industries.”

A Strategic Evolution, Not a Revolution

While the announcement marks a significant milestone, it represents a calculated evolution of Syngenta's long-standing digital strategy rather than a sudden pivot. The agricultural leader has been steadily building its digital and AI capabilities for years, laying a robust foundation for this enterprise-level integration.

Prior to this partnership, Syngenta had already established a "cloud-first" IT strategy, migrating dozens of its SAP systems to the cloud to gain flexibility and scalability. This digital backbone supports its successful Cropwise platform, a suite of digital farm management tools that already utilizes AI and machine learning to provide growers with data-driven recommendations on everything from seed selection to application timing. The company has publicly aimed to expand this platform's reach to 250 million acres.

Furthermore, AI is already an active component in Syngenta’s research and development pipeline. Scientists have been using computational chemistry and AI to design novel crop protection molecules, and the company has partnered with tech firms to use AI for high-throughput phenotyping, which accelerates the discovery of beneficial plant traits. This new alliance with SAP is designed to take these disparate AI initiatives and unify them under a single, intelligent enterprise framework, connecting R&D insights with manufacturing, supply chain, and ultimately, the farmer.

The Technology Powering the Digital Harvest

At the heart of the transformation is a suite of SAP's flagship cloud and AI solutions. Syngenta will begin by modernizing its core operations with SAP Cloud ERP Private solutions, creating a more agile and resilient foundation. This is a critical first step, as effective AI relies on clean, well-structured, and accessible data.

To address this, the partnership will leverage SAP Business Data Cloud to create a unified and secure data foundation across the entire enterprise. This directly tackles one of the biggest hurdles in agricultural technology: data silos. By breaking down these silos, Syngenta can achieve a holistic view of its operations, enabling real-time decision-making and more powerful AI integration.

Layered on top of this data foundation will be SAP Business AI and its natural-language copilot, Joule. SAP's strategy is not to offer AI as a separate, standalone product but to embed it directly within the business processes that companies use every day. For Syngenta, this means AI will assist in optimizing inventory, forecasting demand with greater accuracy, streamlining manufacturing schedules, and identifying inefficiencies that were previously hidden within complex datasets. The goal is to make smarter, faster decisions an integral part of the company's operational DNA.

Addressing Agriculture's Toughest Challenges

The timing of this partnership is critical. The global agricultural sector is under immense pressure, facing the dual challenge of increasing production to feed a projected 10 billion people by 2050 while simultaneously adapting to the effects of climate change and navigating volatile global supply chains.

This is where enterprise-wide AI shows its greatest promise. By creating a more transparent and responsive supply chain, Syngenta can better anticipate disruptions and ensure that seeds and crop protection products reach farmers when they are needed most. This initiative also comes as competitors like Bayer, Corteva, and BASF continue to invest heavily in their own digital farming platforms, such as Climate FieldView and xarvio. Syngenta's focus on integrating AI at the core ERP level is a strategic move to create a deeper, more systemic competitive advantage that goes beyond farmer-facing apps to optimize the entire value chain.

The integration of AI into core business functions is expected to automate compliance-related workflows and enhance data governance, ensuring that operations adhere to the complex web of regulations governing the agricultural industry worldwide. This creates an operational model that is not only more efficient but also more resilient and future-proofed against market volatility.

From the Boardroom to the Field: What It Means for Growers

While much of this transformation focuses on enterprise systems, the ultimate beneficiary is intended to be the grower. The operational efficiencies and accelerated innovation unlocked by the SAP partnership are expected to translate into tangible benefits on the farm. A faster R&D pipeline could mean quicker access to new, more resilient seed varieties and more effective crop protection solutions tailored to specific regional challenges.

More importantly, the partnership directly addresses the critical issue of data privacy and ownership—a major point of concern for farmers adopting digital technologies. The press release emphasizes that Syngenta will deliver these advanced services while "enabling them to retain control and privacy over their proprietary information." Building and maintaining this trust is paramount for the success of any digital agriculture initiative.

By leveraging a unified data platform, Syngenta can analyze agronomic data at a massive scale to refine its product offerings and provide growers with more precise, field-level recommendations. This can lead to optimized use of resources like water and fertilizer, reduced environmental impact, and ultimately, improved yields and profitability. The fusion of SAP's enterprise expertise with Syngenta's deep agricultural science knowledge represents a powerful new model for how technology can be harnessed to build a more sustainable and secure global food system.