Shaping agriculture through new seed varieties and innovative seed-applied technologies

– Farmers make many decisions over the year, but only a few are as important as the seed purchase decisions they make. The right seed treatment preserves the seed’s value, enabling the best possible development of healthy plants, and thus helps achieve the best yields and quality. At the World Seed Congress hosted by the International Seed Federation (ISF), Bayer presented its first-class product portfolio in the fields of seeds, traits and seed-applied technologies. The company was main sponsor of this event, which took place from June 3-5 in Nice, France,

“We at Bayer are at the forefront of innovation and are committed to delivering tailored solutions to our customers worldwide by leveraging our seed know-how and competences in four areas: products, coatings, equipment and services,” said Boualem Saidi, Global Head of Bayer SeedGrowth™. “Our purpose is to create value for growers, helping them maximize their seed investment and improve per-acre profits, foster partnerships along the value chain and promote sustainability.” Digitalization will undeniably play a key enabling role as well.

The focus for SeedGrowth at this year’s event was on seed-applied solutions such as Redigo™ M and Scenic™ Gold, two new fungicidal seed treatments recently launched in the European market; JumpStart™ and ProStablish™, two new products which expand Bayer’s offering of biological seed treatments; as well as on the NemaStrike™ Technology, which controls a wide range of nematodes and helps corn, soybean, and cotton farmers protect their yield. Successfully launched in the United States in 2018, NemaStrike Technology will be marketed in Canada next, followed by a roll-out to additional markets including South America and Australia. Not to forget innovations from Bayer in coatings, such as Peridiam™ Active 109. For more information, please visit the dedicated Bayer SeedGrowth page.

In the area of Seeds, solutions from Bayer tailored to farmers‘ needs include Intacta RR2 Pro™ and RoundUp Ready 2 Xtend™ soybeans, Bollgard™ 3 Xtendflex™ cotton, TruFlex™ canola as well as DroughtGard™ hybrids in corn. Furthermore, Bayer featured its key portfolio in vegetable seeds marketed under the De Ruiter and Seminis brands, with a selection of vegetables on display at the venue.

Transforming the global food system in a sustainable manner

Bayer also used the event to demonstrate its commitment to shape agriculture through breakthrough innovation for the benefit of farmers, consumers and the planet. As a global player, Bayer strongly supports the International Seeds Federation (ISF) where it is actively engaged in stakeholder dialogue and industry best practices in the areas of plant breeding innovation, sustainability and stewardship.

“During the World Seed Congress, there has been a deep and profound dialogue around the contribution of seed companies to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Tomas Zaborowski, Head of Sustainability Excellence at Bayer. As practically all of the food consumed across the world is produced by farmers and supplied through agricultural value chains operated by the private sector, it puts business at the heart of transforming the global food system, achieving the change required for meeting the targets. “Contributions of the seed industry have a major impact on both diets and sustainable intensification for food production worldwide,” Zaborowski pointed out.

Smallholder farmers play an important role in this context as they account for up to 80% of the food consumed in developing countries. Bayer strives to provide smallholders with diverse, well-adapted high-quality seed choices, as well as services and support to increase yields under local conditions. On the current global Access to Seeds Index, an independent measure that evaluates global seed companies based on their efforts to improve access to quality seeds for smallholder farmers in four focus regions, Bayer ranks third. The company is determined to expand its reach to as many as 100 million smallholders by 2030. While the details of this commitment are still being worked out, measures will include education, partnerships and tailored solutions to meet the needs and challenges of individual farmers.