The EU Food and Feed Safety Omnibus: What Agrochemicals Companies Are Doing About It

The European Commission’s Food and Feed Safety Simplification Omnibus proposal is shaping up to be one of the most consequential regulatory interventions for the crop protection sector in years. It simplifies the EU’s core pesticide approval rules (Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009), but calling it “simplification” understates what is actually at stake.

Its approval would reshape the competitive landscape by accelerating biocontrol approvals, introducing faster assessment procedures, and strengthening cooperation between Member States. At the same time, the proposed amendments would make the system more workable by introducing agronomic considerations into decision-making, potentially preserving indispensable crop protection solutions that can be used safely. This dual dynamic — faster biocontrol approvals and a more pragmatic approach to conventional chemistry — is already triggering distinct repositioning strategies across the industry.

The Valona platform has been tracking both the regulatory debate and the company-level responses. The picture that emerges is not uniform.

Why the EU Food and Feed Safety Omnibus matters for crop protection

Before looking at company strategies, it helps to understand what is driving urgency. More than 80 active substances have been lost from the market in the last 6.5 years, while only one new conventional substance has been approved. In the EU, it can take up to ten years for a new product to gain approval, while in other countries this is often possible within two years. This means European growers remain dependent on existing products longer than is sometimes necessary.

This driver is accentuated by strong underlying market fundamentals. The global crop protection chemicals market is expected to grow from USD 74.64 billion in 2025 to USD 80.39 billion in 2026, and is forecasted to reach USD 106.43 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 7.3%.

Agrochemical industry opinion on the Omnibus: broad support, specific concerns

The European Crop Care Association ECCA broadly supports the spirit and objectives of the proposal and specifically welcomes the European Commission’s proposal to introduce EU-wide synchronization of data protection periods as a step towards a more coherent and predictable regulatory framework.

But support is not unconditional. ECCA also warns that, without targeted amendments, the revised system may fail to fully address existing legal uncertainty and could unintentionally allow data protection to last significantly longer in practice than intended by the legislator.

Agrochemical companies are largely aligned in supporting the Omnibus’s stated goals of regulatory simplification, faster approvals, and enhanced competitiveness, but they diverge on whether the current proposal goes far enough in delivering practical reform — even as the broader proposal faces intense opposition from health and environmental advocates who view it as a rollback of safety standards.

Health and environmental organizations take a sharper view. The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) called the changes health-threatening, warning they could delay phase-outs of harmful substances linked to cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders. Critics also argue that industry lobbies are pushing an agenda destructive to public health: from relaxing renewal assessments for conventional pesticides, to rolling back the independence of EFSA and restoring the right of industry regulatory studies to remain confidential.

How major agrochemical companies are repositioning under the Omnibus

What makes this proposal particularly relevant for competitive intelligence in agrochemicals is that the regulatory debate is already influencing strategic decisions at the company level.

The Valona platform has mapped how each of the major crop protection players is currently positioned and how that positioning could shift under Omnibus approval.

Here are some noteworthy cases:

Bayer Crop Science

Bayer is accelerating the transformation of its Crop Science business by reshaping its portfolio around higher-margin, more innovative products. In Q1 2026, Crop Science division sales grew nearly 7% year-over-year, with an EBITDA margin of around 40%.

Aphea.Bio is entering into a strategic partnership with Bayer to develop biological pest control methods, aiming to accelerate the development of bio-insecticides against sap-sucking insects such as aphids and thrips. Bayer Crop Science Italia’s CEO has stated that biologicals are a strategic complement within IPM systems, and the company is working to significantly expand its biologicals portfolio.

Bayer aims to launch five new products per year, as well as 14 new molecules and six new modes of action by 2030. The Omnibus would support this by accelerating registration of its pheromone-based Vynyty range and bioinsecticide pipeline, while the reformed derogation framework helps defend its existing synthetic portfolio.

Corteva

Corteva plans to spend up to USD 115 million more on restructuring its crop protection business. The company recently announced it would split its seed and crop protection businesses into two publicly listed companies, calling the seed and genetics unit Vylor, with the separation expected to be completed in Q4 2026. The future firm, “New Corteva,” will concentrate on innovation-driven growth in crop protection, focusing on an asset-light operating model and nature-inspired technologies.

New Corteva is explicitly positioning itself around nature-inspired technologies and biologicals. Faster EU biocontrol approvals would accelerate its European market entry for micropeptide-based products and its broader biologicals pipeline. The rimosoxafen licensing deal with FMC gives it a new herbicide tool that could benefit from more predictable EU registration timelines.

Syngenta

Syngenta is pursuing a broad portfolio strategy combining synthetic chemistry, digital agriculture through its AI partnership with Taranis, and biologicals through its Amoéba SA partnership targeting EU and UK cereal and field crop markets.

Syngenta Crop Protection has partnered with AI-powered Taranis to scale their program throughout the Midwest in 2026, enabling retailers to use leaf-level AI Crop Intelligence alongside Syngenta’s agronomic knowledge and portfolio. Syngenta plans to invest USD 130 million in a new BioSTaR Centre at its Jealott’s Hill campus in the UK, scheduled to be operational by 2028, bringing together around 300 scientists.

FMC

FMC is accelerating its restructuring with a dual strategy of licensing deals and divestitures to reduce its debt burden. FMC signed a definitive agreement to sell FMC India to Crystal Crop Protection for USD 252 million, intending to allocate all proceeds to debt reduction.

FMC’s co-exclusive strategic supply and license deal with Corteva will expand access to rimosoxafen technology across North and South American corn and soybean markets, allowing more growers to control herbicide-resistant weeds including Amaranthus species. Faster EU approvals under the Omnibus could eventually open European markets for this technology, and increased demand for bio-based pesticides aligns with FMC’s innovation pipeline.

The first commercial revenues from the rimosoxafen cooperation are not expected until the end of the decade, meaning EU regulatory benefits would be delayed. Over the past six years, no new conventional active substances have been approved — a trend that could constrain FMC’s conventional portfolio in Europe even under reformed rules.

FMC has also launched Cleopatra®, a foliar biostimulant formulated with salicylic acid, signaling early-stage biological diversification.

Three Omnibus themes every agrochemical strategist should track

Reading across the company-level intelligence, three dynamics emerge clearly.

The biologicals acceleration is industry-wide. Major agrochemical players are all expanding their biological technology reach, demonstrating the industry’s shift toward sustainable biological solutions. The Omnibus’s simplification must work across the entire crop protection toolbox, as farmers rely on a combination of biological and conventional solutions, and a resilient European food system depends on ensuring all types of innovation reach the field in a timely way.

Legitimacy is contested. Générations Futures characterized the proposal as a historic step backwards in health and environmental protection, noting these texts simultaneously amend several regulations and directives without a health or environmental impact study. Crop protection companies, for their part, argue that outdated rules have slowed innovation and shrunk farmers’ toolbox.

Economic stakes are significant. The EC estimates that reducing administrative burdens will generate annual savings of EUR 939 million for companies and national administrations. High energy prices are also becoming a catalyst for innovation, with large corporations investing in digital solutions and biological active ingredients.

Companies best positioned to benefit from Omnibus approval are those with dual portfolios spanning both biologicals and synthetic chemistry, particularly Bayer and Corteva, as the reform simultaneously accelerates biocontrol approvals and introduces more pragmatic derogation mechanisms for indispensable conventional products. Companies with limited biologicals exposure face greater uncertainty, while UPL’s restructuring into a pure-play platform and Syngenta’s AI-integrated approach represent differentiated bets on the post-Omnibus competitive landscape.

What the EU Food and Feed Safety Omnibus means for competitive and market intelligence in agrochemicals

The Omnibus is not a single event to monitor once and file away. It is a live regulatory process generating ripple effects — on biocontrol approval timelines, derogation frameworks, company portfolio priorities, M&A activity, and market access — that are moving simultaneously across the industry.

For intelligence professionals, strategy VPs, decision-makers, and regulatory affairs teams in crop protection, the challenge is not access to information: it is the speed at which the picture changes and the scale of what needs to be tracked at once. Following the regulatory thread in isolation, without seeing how it connects to competitor moves and market signals, gives an incomplete view.

Everything in this article was sourced directly from the Valona Intelligence platform. No external research was added to demonstrate how Valona’s intelligence-grade AI brings regulatory tracking, competitor monitoring, and market signals together in one place.

This is also, in effect, a demonstration of the kind of output a team can generate from a Valona dashboard in the time it takes to read this sentence: turning a live regulatory development into decision-ready briefing as Valona scans hundreds of regulatory filings, trade publications, company statements, and market reports, then summarizing and structuring them into the analysis that makes up this article — with every individual claim still traceable back to its original trustworthy publisher and date.

Sources:

FMC Corporation sets 2026 priorities and announces exploration of strategic options including but not limited to the sale of the company— FMC, 4 Feb 2026

Corteva to split into two publicly traded companies in Q4 2026 — Agrarheute, 1 Mar 2026

ECCA Urges Policymakers to Introduce Targeted Amendments to Food and Feed Safety Simplification Omnibus — AgriBusiness Global, 27 May 2026

EU pesticide overhaul sparks clash between health advocates and industry — AgTech Navigator, 20 Dec 2025

FMC Corporation and Corteva Expand Access to Breakthrough Rimisoxafen Herbicide Technology — PR Newswire, 16 Jun 2026

EC launches Food and Feed Safety Omnibus package — EUBusiness, 29 Dec 2025

Crop protection chemicals market to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% between 2026 and 2030 — Ein Presswire, 10 Feb 2026

Kissam named as CEO of Corteva’s crop protection business — Fertilizer Daily, 19 Apr 2026

FMC Agricultural Solutions launches Cleopatra® foliar biostimulant — Fruchtportal.de, 5 May 2026

Bayer restructures Crop Science portfolio — Global Agriculture, 29 Apr 2026

Scientific Assessment Slams Food And Feed Safety Omnibus Proposal — Global Agriculture, 24 Apr 2026

EC presents omnibus package to accelerate sustainability of crop protection — GroentenNieuws, 25 Mar 2026

Aphea.Bio to enter into strategic research partnership with Bayer to co-develop bioinsecticides against sap-sucking insects— BioAgWorldDigest, 12 Jun 2026

FMC Corporation to sell India Commercial Business to Crystal Crop Protection for USD 252 million — PR Newswire India, 7 May 2026

Syngenta Crop Protection, Taranis partner to scale programme in Midwest — Precision Farming Dealer, 11 Oct 2025

Bayer says biologicals are a strategic complement to IPM — SeedQuest, 16 Jun 2026

CropLife Europe Calls for Faster, Science-Based EU Approval Processes — SeedWorld, 8 Jan 2026

Why the Food and Feed Safety Omnibus comes at a critical moment for EU agriculture — The Parliament Magazine, 28 May 2026

Corteva flags higher restructuring charges, plans Spain site exit— Reuters, 12 Jun 2026

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