Hendrik van Staden, Syngenta Seeds business head for South Africa and field crops head for Africa and the Middle East (AME), said it is not enough to confine one’s focus to weathering difficult seasons and other production challenges.
“Resilience must be redefined [in relation to] the strategic and active pursuit of value addition, profitability, efficiency, and long-term sustainability,” he told Farmer’s Weekly.
Van Staden added that farmers and input suppliers must work together to find mutually beneficial solutions.
“As the row crop industry navigates challenges, collaboration along the value chain remains vital to strengthening resilience and ensuring the sustainability of all parties in the food production system.”
Luc Henry, business area head for Syngenta South Africa, said the company continues to invest in seed solutions and crop protection technologies, adding that new product announcements are expected soon.
“With our Cropwise digital platform, we encourage data-driven precision farming that allows growers to optimise inputs, enhance crop yields, reduce waste, and minimise environmental impact,” he said.
“Innovation in agriculture does not happen overnight. It takes years of research, investment, and careful regulatory processes to ensure that products are safe, effective, and sustainable. With [Cropwise], the information is at producers’ fingertips, and we encourage them to use all avenues available to them to improve decision-making and profitability.”
From a producer’s viewpoint, Tyson Zunckel of Zunckel Farms near Bergville in KwaZulu-Natal said the past season reaffirmed their focus on profitability.
“This year, we had to make difficult decisions about our wheat business. Based on our calculations of input costs versus profit, according to the current wheat price, wheat will not be profitable,” he explained.
“In farming today, you sometimes have to be brutal when making production plans. We’ve decided not to plant wheat in the coming season and rather plant canola, as it makes more financial sense. That’s not to say we’ll never plant wheat again. These are decisions to be made annually, taking all the variables into consideration.”
According to Driaan Bresler, Corteva Agriscience’s seed product development lead for AME, technology alone cannot secure the future of grain production. He agreed with Van Staden and emphasised that integration across the value chain is fundamental.
“Breeding strategies must align with enabling technologies, regulatory environments, and market realities. Collaboration between private companies, public institutions, and producers ensures research outputs translate into scalable solutions,” he said.
Bresler added that, through partnerships and global research networks, Corteva connects advanced science with local farming needs to deliver solutions that enhance profitability, resilience, and long-term food security.
“The decisive factor will be how effectively the industry works together. With the right integration of science, technology, and collaboration, the upward trajectory of productivity can continue, ensuring research consistently moves from discovery to meaningful results in farmers’ fields,” he said.
Van Staden concluded that although resilience relies on innovation, collaboration and the evaluation of available technologies are equally important.
