Replacing normal polyethylene with Symphony's NbR resin is considered more environmentally friendly due to its ability to biodegrade after the harvest. (Image source: Symphony Environmental)

Leading sustainable plastics manufacturer, Symphony Environmental has urged farmers and growers to halt their use of ordinary plastic mulch films that are capable of contaminating soil and affecting food quality, thus calling for new plastic-manufacturing methods

To prevent the ongoing environmental damage caused by plastic pollution year after year, CEO of Symphony Environmental, Michael Laurier argues that farmers and growers must switch to the right kind of biodegradable plastic. To protect crops and reduce water evaporation, farmers and growers generally spread plastic mulch films on their fields. However, conventional plastic films cannot be recycled easily after use due to contamination and degradation. Moreover, when being removed from the field post exposure to sunlight and weathering, they tend to release fragments and microplastics that are extremely detrimental to the environment. 

Replacing normal polyethylene with Symphony's NbR resin is considered more environmentally friendly due to its ability to biodegrade after the harvest , without needing to be collected and transferred to a composting facility. Its degradating can be programmed to occur in the timescale required for each crop type. It will then act as a carbon source for next year's plants.

“This resin can be produced by mulch-film manufacturers at lower cost than normal polyethylene using their standard equipment, as it contains 20% less fossil-derived plastic,” said Laurier. “Plastic pollution of the countryside needs to be addressed urgently, and farmers and growers now have the opportunity to do this at no extra cost.”

The Synergen Guard range was in focus at CAC 2025, along with its new Dispersogen TP 100 T and the Sapogenat T range. (Image source: Clariant)

During the 2025 China International Agrochemical and Crop Protection Exhibition (CAC), Clariant unveiled its next-generation solutions for biologicals and innovative approaches to sustaining plant health by optimising soil water management

As global population continues to grow, climate change is posing a major threat to agriculture and food security. To combat these challenges, Clariant has launched an advanced soil adjuvent that is aimed at optimising the  efficiency of water used for sustainable agricultural practices. This helps improve vertical and lateral water movement within the soil, thereby ensuring a consistent distribution of moisture. 

The Synergen Guard range was in focus at CAC 2025. This included Synergen Guard 100, a performance booster and rainfastness agent for biologicals. This innovative nano-emulsion-based tank-mix adjuvant contains renewable wax and is produced by a unique proprietary highly efficient emulsification technology. It is biocompatible with a broad range of microorganisms, giving a powerful boost in coverage, efficacy, and rain protection to the biocontrol agent.

Besides this, Clariant will also be showcasing its new Dispersogen TP 100 T and the Sapogenat T range. The former is a high-performance anionic dispersing agent that finds application in suspension concentrate (SC) and can be used in conventional SC formulations with high cost-effectiveness, under a recommended dosage ranging approximately between 3-5%. It can also be used to solve common SC issues such as poor wetting, rapid growth of particle size, viscosity build-up, bad flowability, and even pseudoplastic and creaming issues. The latter on the other hand, has been designed as a replacement for nonylphenol ethoxolates (NPE), which has been restricted since March 2023. It functions as a non-ionic emulsifier based on tri-sec-butylphenol with various ethoxylation degrees. Considered the best-performing NPE alternative, it offers excellent emulsification power, making it a good wetter capable of increasing pesticide efficacy in foliar application.

Clariant's innovative solutions will be on display at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre from 17-19 March in Shangahai. 

Sudan, the Philippines and Malawi made notable contributions to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

More than 14,000 seed samples from 21 genebanks were deposited in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault last month

These samples included essential varieties of sorghum and pearl millet from Sudan’s crop genebank; a collection of velvet beans from Malawi; and critical food crops from a Philippine gene bank that is being destroyed by typhoons and fires. Brazil, the host of this year’s global climate negotiations, also deposited a major collection of more than 3,000 varieties of rice, beans and maize.

Following the deposit ceremony, the first-ever Svalbard International Dialogue brought together high-level government officials, crop experts and global thought leaders to discuss the challenge of safeguarding crop diversity amid increasing environmental pressures and escalating global conflicts.

Sudan’s contribution 

Sudan made its sixth deposit of seed samples of 15 species, including many varieties of sorghum, a crop that is deeply tied to Sudanese cultural heritage, and is also a lifeline for food security in the country. With the help of the Emergency Reserve for Genebanks, hundreds of seed samples that were impacted during the civil war, were transported to NordGen to be sorted catalogued, packed and documented as part of the Sudanese deposit. These were then transported to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. 

The Philippines’ contribution 

After several seed stocks were destroyed by natural extreme events like typhoons and fires, partners from the Philippines with support from the BOLD Project, visited Svalbard to deposit seeds of eggplant, rice bean, lima bean and sorghum.

Malawi’s contribution 

Being another BOLD partner, Malawi deposited velvet beans, a crop that enables farmers to boost production and keep their soils healthy, while also offering important medicinal benefits. Velvet beans are a nitrogen-fixing legume that when used as a fertiliser can more than double maize yields. The species, which is also used in traditional medicine, boasts high levels of levodopa, a compound used to treat the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. 

“This moment is a powerful reminder that securing our food future requires collective action,” said Stefan Schmitz, executive director of the Crop Trust. “Through our partnerships, including the BOLD project, we’ve worked with institutions around the world to safeguard vital crop diversity.”  He further highlighted how the deposited seeds represented not only biodiversity, but also the knowledge, culture and resilience of the communities that steward them. “We must find a way to protect this crop diversity for generations to come,” Schmitz added. 

The X-ray inspection system Dylight S combines a compact design with precise foreign body detection and efficient quality control. (Image source: Minebea Intec)

One of the world's leading industrial weighing and inspection technologies, Minebea Intec has introduced the new Dylight S, an X-ray inspection system that enables manufacturing companies to guarantee the highest product safety and quality at an affordable price 

The evolving needs of the food and pharmaceutical industries makes advanced technologies crucial to ensure sustainability, while maintaining high product quality, safety and affordability. Regulations such as the pre-packaging ordinance or supplier audits require complete documentation. At the same time, sustainable packaging materials make the use of advanced X-ray technologies essential. This is where the new X-ray inspection system Dylight S comes in. 

Featuring sideshooter technology, this compact system has been specially developed to ensure the quality of products in upright containers. It enables more precise detection of foreign bodies in products with light and complex packaging. The X-ray inspection system not only enables reliable detection of metallic and non-metallic foreign bodies—including glass, rubber, stones or plastic parts—in containers such as PET bottles, liquid food cartons or plastic cans, but also offers functions for completeness checks and fill level inspections. Thanks to a wide range of interfaces, Dylight S can be seamlessly integrated into digital production environments. 

"The X-ray inspection system Dylight S is characterised by its extremely compact design. This enables easy integration into existing production lines," said product manager at Minebea Intec, Mengqi Liang. "Another key advantage of the Dylight S is using the monoblock generator without an external transformer, which reduces technical complexity and simultaneously lowers the total cost of ownership (TCO)."

Furthermore, to boost production efficiency and improve accuracy, Minebea Intec is introducing another innovative feature with the X-ray inspection system Dylight S: autonomous parameter adjustment. This function optimises the product set-up process and inspection process by automatically adjusting the settings to reduce false rejects. Another notable feature is the image acquisition function that uses innovative software technology to generate a second X-ray image from an acquired image, enabling the operating personnel to subsequently optimise brightness, contrast and scaling and to detect the foreign bodies that have been missed in the original images.