Pioneers in Action

Venturing into uncharted territory and using their own expertise as a guide is something that many of our colleagues do every day. They break down barriers, think outside the box, and test new ideas – driving projects forward that demonstrate what’s possible when you combine expert knowledge with extreme determination. We spoke with some of them. 

Customer Focus

“We’re helping farmers achieve their goals”

Doris Pfeiffer, Senior Project Manager, F&F BU, explains how F&F is entering a new market for the BU.

"As a specialist in preservatives, we have identified the agrochemical market as a new high-potential growth area. Many of these substances were originally tested as pesticides and were only later introduced as preservatives. We now see opportunities to flip this process around and develop new crop protection products and fertilizers based on safe, environmentally friendly, and time-tested preservatives. To this end, we are collaborating with ISA CropCare from the Netherlands – an experienced partner with strong ties to farmers, breeders, and testing facilities. This partnership perfectly complements our expertise in chemical production, regulatory affairs, and formulation development.

This segment of the agrochemical market’s value chain is a completely new market for our BU. While we have been selling individual chemicals in this market for a long time, we’ve always refrained from manufacturing formulated crop protection products. Together with our partner, we have now overcome this obstacle and developed three joint products – two crop protection products (the Styraxo® brand) and one fertilizer (Magsimize®). We’re now planning to launch our first product, Magsimize® – a specialized fertilizer – in April 2026.

Environmentally Friendly Version
Magsimize® supplies the crops with magnesium, improves photosynthesis, and promotes stronger growth. When designing this product, our team took special care to ensure that it only contains ingredients that are easily biodegradable. This meant, for example, that defoamers or other additives were off limits, which was a challenge when it came to developing the formulation and process. In general, this product can improve fruit quality and yield stability and is expected to be used in fruit and vegetable cultivation.

Global Plans with Magsimize®
We reached the first milestone on the road to launching the product back in December 2025, when we received the CE certification from the European Fertilizer Certification Institute. This means we are now authorized to market Magsimize® in every European Union country. When developing our sales strategy, we made sure to work exclusively with regional distributors who have close ties to farmers and growers. Our product has many advantages, but it also requires a lot of explanation. This means that farmers need sales partners they can trust – people with whom they can have one-on-one conversations and share their experiences. In today’s digital age, this is, of course, unique. And quite time-consuming.

And it goes without saying that we’re not stopping at the EU – we also want to distribute Magsimize® worldwide. We have our eyes on both Brazil and the United States, for example. Our product offers farmers tremendous benefits, as they currently face significant pressure to practice sustainable agriculture while also achieving the best possible yields and harvests. This is also necessary to feed a steadily growing global population. Magsimize® can play a key role in helping them achieve these goals.

Because of these excellent prospects, we already expect to generate our first sales with Magsimize® this year. Just back in March, we closed our first multi-million-dollar deal with a distribution partner who firmly believes in this product. Magsimize® will be used in Dutch greenhouses starting in April 2026. This is an incredible achievement considering that we only came up with the idea for Magsimize® in the first quarter of 2025.

Overall, this success was only possible thanks to the outstanding collaboration with our external partner, within our BU, and with our colleagues from GPL, LEX, and many others. Ultimately, it proves that we’re extremely powerful when we work together as a team! This motivating spirit was evident within the team every day."