Technology can help address food fright
The Urban Cowboy blog posted an entry on Martin Taylor’s – current chair of the board of directors for Basel, Switzerland-based Syngenta AG – stop in Guelph, Canada to discuss a solution to the global food crisis, current technology. The author comments on Taylor’s attitude during the meeting with key influencers in Canada, saying that he was more interested in discussing Canadian agriculture and “selling a bag of seed.” I’m glad to see Syngenta getting out there and promoting biotechnology to Canada!
C.S. Prakash
Technology can help address food fright
Urban Cowboy
June 10, 2008
As world leaders were scrambling for answers last week in Rome at a United Nations summit on the global food crisis, agribusiness leader Martin Taylor was quietly stepping to the podium before 40 farm industry leaders and media in Guelph to suggest his solution to the problem — current technology.
On Monday, Taylor, chair of the board of directors for Basel, Switzerland-based Syngenta AG, stopped in Guelph — where the company makes its Canadian headquarters — as part of his first visit to Canada as company chair. The Canadian group, led by president Jay Bradshaw, invited key influencers to meet him, pick his brain and see what the head of one of the world's most influential and globally minded agricultural companies is thinking.
One thing on his mind — which is not unlike other companies — is the bottom line.
Syngenta has a lot to gain if technology takes on an increasing role in addressing food problems. It already has a major stake in the situation, having realized sales of $9.2 billion last year, followed by a 20 per cent increase in the first quarter of 2008.
Syngenta is immersed in technology, through its development of crop protection products and seed technology, including genetically modified seed.
