BASF has opened a new R&D center at its crop protection division’s headquarters in Limburgerhof, Germany, to serve as hub of expertise for biological crop protection and seeds. The German group, world’s largest chemical producer, said the new facility is designed to boost its ability to develop innovations beyond classical crop protection.

"With BASF's unique skills in research and state-of-the art formulations, we are one of a few companies that can provide a seed treatment with a mixture of both biological and chemical compounds,” said Philipp Rosendorfer, vice president of R&D Functional Crop Care within the Crop Protection division.

“Our investment in this expanded capacity is a step forward to unlocking the agricultural potential in seeds and crops in different and untapped ways,” Rosendorfer added.

The new center is expected to strengthen BASF's network of R&D sites and trial centers in in Brazil, Argentina, and France, UK, South Africa, China, Australia, US, and Canada that specifically work on the development of seed solutions and biologicals-based crop protection. In addition to its existing portfolio in seed solutions and biological crop protection, BASF is new biological insecticides and fungicides for foliar and seed applications, seed-applied chemical actives and seed enhancements such as functional coatings.

The group recently submitted registration documents in the US and Canada for a new insecticide active ingredient, Inscalis, to be registered for used on a wide range of crops including vegetables, fruit, row crops and ornamentals.

Pending regulatory approval, first market introductions of Inscalis-based products are expected in 2019. A new active ingredient insecticide should be an extremely helpful tool for farmers to use in resistance and integrated pest management programs, BASF said, because critical piercing and sucking insect pests such as aphids, whiteflies, psyllids, scales, and leafhoppers have been shown to quickly develop resistance to various insecticides, especially when the same mode of action insecticides have to be used almost continuously for control.

The new pesticide co-developed with Japan’s Meiji Seika Pharma is expected to play an integral role in BASFʼs insecticide portfolio, both as a solo product and as a mixing partner. It eventually is planned to be marketed in a large number of countries worldwide.