The finalists for Agrow’s Crop Science Awards 2020, the 13th instalment of the coveted awards, have been revealed with the release of this year’s shortlist. Close to 100 entries were received for the 13 categories being run this year. Each application was scored by Agrow’s panel of 10 judges, enabling the Awards team to come up with the shortlist, which comprises 12 categories.

Entries for Lifetime Achievement will be judged confidentially and the winner announced on the day of the Awards on November 4th. As has been the case in previous years, Best Stewardship Program and Best Marketing Campaign were among the most contested categories, for which we received the maximum number of applications. Going through the applications, we came across excellent examples of how companies as well as industry associations are promoting safe and sustainable use of products. But we were surprised to find a similarly high number of applications for Best R&D Pipeline and Best Innovation in Digital Farming Technology.

Research and innovation seem to be going strong in the industry. And it is clear that digital technologies are becoming an integral part of the way companies are developing their strategies. The Best New Biological Product has been one of most popular categories in recent years and this year proved no different. We decided to split the category into two—one each for biopesticides and biostimulants. The creativity and innovation permeating the industry and the enthusiasm to showcase that remain strong.

We will provide details in our Curtain Raiser, to be published on 12 October, on what these entries contained that helped them make it onto the list. Winners will be announced at Agrow’s Crop Science Awards and Forum, to be held online on 4 November.

Category

Finalists

Best Biological Product (Biopesticide)

Vestaron (Spear LEP)
AgBiome (Howler)
Kwizda Agro (Xilon)
UPL (Vacciplant)

Best R&D Pipeline

Biotalys
BASF
Bayer’s Crop Science Division
BioConsortia
Corteva Agriscience
FMC

Best New Crop Protection Product or Trait

Advanta Seeds (igrowth)
Corteva Agriscience (Enlist weed control – soybeans)
Syngenta (Saltro seed treatment)

Best Biological Product (Biostimulant)

Chengdu New Sun Crop Science (Coronatine)
Chengdu New Sun Crop Science (Pollen polysaccharides)
FMC (Accudo biostimulant)

Best Innovation in Digital Farming

BASF Digital Farming (Xarvio Healthy Fields)
Corteva Agriscience (Digital crop monitoring and yield prediction)
Corteva Agriscience (LANDVisor)
FMC (Arc Farm Intelligence)
Russian Agricultural Bank (MyFarming – Svoe Fermerstvo)
SourceTrace (Digitising Farm to Retail – TraceNext)
XAG (XAG R150 Unmanned Ground Vehicle)
XAG (Smart Agriculture System)

Best Formulation Innovation

Chengdu Newsun Crop Science (0.5% Vertatrine SL)
Corteva Agriscience (Hibifen insecticide)
STK Bio-Ag Technologies (REGEV Hybrid Fungicide)

Best Industry Collaboration

AgBiome and Genective
Arvinas and Bayer
UPL India, UPL Japan and JADEA

Best Stewardship Program

BASF India (Heroes come back home safely)
Corteva Agriscience (Red de Custodia)
Corteva Agriscience (Safe Food Safe Farmer)
InpEV Brazil (Operate safely during Covid-19 pandemic)
Syngenta (Elatus in Brazil)
Syngenta (Tefluthrin in Romania)
UPL (UPspray)

Best Marketing Program

ADAMA (Potato protection)
ADAMA (KnowHow To Grow! with myADAMA)
ADAMA US (FullPage – Preface – Postscript launch)
BASF China (Revysol for the Future)
BASF India (Sefina: Combining nature + technology)
FMC (Talstar – Augmented reality)
UPL (Digital communication in Indonesia)

Best Company from an Emerging Region

Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical
Lier Chemical
Zhejiang Xinan Chemical Industrial Group (Wynca)

Best Supplier

Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical
UPL

Best Supporting Role

Compliance Services International (CSI)
GVK Biosciences