Transforming Syngenta’s lab inspection with Vision AI

Impact

Syngenta, in collaboration with ML6 and powered by Google Cloud’s Vertex AI, has transformed crop protection research with Vision AI. By automating lab inspections, the solution accelerates discovery, improves consistency, and empowers experts to focus on high-value tasks—all while supporting more sustainable agriculture.

Challenge

At Syngenta, lab researchers conduct manual inspections of wells containing treated leaves with different amounts and combinations of fungicides. Each well is assigned an efficacy score of 0, 20, 50, 70, 90, or 100% based on the effectiveness of the fungicide and thus the health of the plant. However, this process is subjective—what one researcher might rate as 50%, another might rate as 70%. This variability in scoring leads to inconsistencies in the evaluation of fungicide efficacy. Additionally, the process is time-intensive and relies on the expertise of skilled lab researchers, a resource that is becoming increasingly difficult to source. Syngenta needed a solution to enhance the consistency of the rating process while simultaneously augmenting efficiency, thereby enabling lab experts to concentrate on priority tasks.

Lab researchers manually inspect and assign efficacy scores to wells containing treated leaves. This process is time consuming, can be subjective, leading to inconsistencies and inefficiencies. Furthermore, staffing skilled lab researchers accordingly became more difficult. Syngenta needed a solution to improve consistency, increase efficiency, and allow lab experts to focus on higher priority tasks.

Solution

Syngenta partnered with ML6 and Google Cloud to build a Vision AI solution that automates leaf inspections and supports lab experts in scoring fungicide efficacy. The system leverages semantic segmentation and custom business logic to deliver reliable, interpretable results at scale.