DAVOS, Switzerland — As farmers worldwide confront unprecedented economic, geopolitical, and environmental challenges, the agricultural sector is experiencing a significant contraction. The alarming decline in active farms and rising financial distress highlights the urgent need for innovation and technology to ensure a resilient food system.
Jeff Rowe, CEO of Syngenta Group, emphasized the critical situation at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “Farmers today are navigating one of the most complex periods in modern agriculture, facing pressures that demand urgent action and real solutions,” Rowe stated. He underscored the importance of ensuring that all farmers, regardless of farm size or technical background, can access the transformative power of AI and digital tools.
A recent research study conducted by IPSOS in partnership with Syngenta reveals a growing digital divide within the agricultural sector. While larger farms rapidly adopt advanced AI and digital tools, smaller and older farmers risk being left behind. This disparity underscores the urgent need for concerted action to ensure technological advancements benefit all segments of the farming community.
Syngenta’s Cropwise platform is at the forefront of deploying AI-driven solutions to empower farmers at every scale. The Cropwise Grower GenAI Chatbot, already empowering over 2 million farmers across India, offers 24/7 multilingual agronomy support. Farmers can simply speak, text, or take a picture of an ailing plant to receive instant analysis, disease diagnosis, and product recommendations with 95% accuracy. This system leverages advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) and voice recognition to handle local dialects, offering localized advice that previously required costly field visits or call centers.
Another upcoming innovation is the Predictive Intelligence for Pest & Disease Outbreaks system, set to launch in selected markets soon. This next-generation regional predictive alert system combines real-time pest and disease scouting data with advanced risk modeling and geospatial AI to forecast outbreak likelihood and geographic spread. This enables farmers to take proactive, preventative action before issues reach their fields.
Syngenta is committed to pioneering digital and AI equity in agriculture, making these technologies affordable, aspirational, and accessible across all farmer segments. The company is opening its Cropwise digital platform to third-party developers to co-innovate and tackle agriculture’s technology divide. Syngenta maintains robust data governance policies, ensuring that individual grower data is not accessed without explicit owner consent and adhering to applicable data protection laws.
At the World Economic Forum, Syngenta is championing collaborative approaches and policy frameworks that support wider access to agricultural technology and accelerate sustainable farming practices globally. On 21 January 2026, The Financial Times, in collaboration with Syngenta, will convene a roundtable to explore how AI can be applied responsibly across the food value chain and identify pathways to transform technological potential into lasting, scalable impact.
Syngenta Group, one of the world’s largest agricultural innovation companies, employs over 56,000 people in more than 90 countries. The company is focused on developing technologies and farming practices that empower farmers to meet the growing demand for food while preserving the planet. Guided by its Sustainability Priorities, Syngenta Group supports farmers in growing healthier plants in healthier soil with a higher yield.
As the agricultural sector faces these unprecedented challenges, the innovations and collaborative efforts highlighted at the World Economic Forum offer a beacon of hope. By leveraging AI and digital tools, the sector can work towards a more resilient and equitable future for all farmers.