Vegetables
Syngenta breeds, produces and markets superior quality proprietary vegetable seeds. The portfolio includes tomato, pepper, sweet corn, watermelon, melon, brassica (cabbage, cauliflower, etc.), cucumbers and salad vegetables. Sales in 2007 continued the strong growth record of recent years.
Our Vegetables business operates globally under regional brands such as S&G®, ROGERS® and DULCINEA®. In 2007, sales by the Danish-based company DAEHNFELDT® were fully consolidated for the first time.
In addition to these brands, Syngenta acquired Zeraim Gedera Ltd., an Israeli company that concentrates on top-quality segments in six high-value crops: tomato, sweet pepper, watermelon, melon, squash and cucumber. With sales of over $30 million in 2006, Zeraim Gedera brings outstanding breeding operations and a strong presence in Mediterranean markets and strong growth opportunities in Mexico, Brazil and China. This acquisition is an ideal complement to our existing portfolio.
Syngenta is currently the world’s number two vegetable seed company, with the aim of becoming the market leader. Our strategy is founded on three pillars: our proprietary crop portfolio, an expanding global presence and taking higher consideration of consumer preferences in our product design phase.
This consumer focus is illustrated by our US fresh produce business Dulcinea Farms, which enjoyed further strong growth in 2007, particularly in canteloup and watermelon, with new product introductions such as DULCINEA® and SWEET ‘N CRISP ASIAN-STYLE CANTALOUPE™.
Syngenta Vegetables continues to invest strongly in technology and marketing. State-of-the-art molecular markers technologies help broaden and deepen our germplasm base from conventional breeding.
