Monheim, July 21, 2021 – With an announcement on Wednesday of new portfolio innovations and a business strategy for horticulture, Bayer reaffirms its commitment to increasing worldwide consumption of fruits and vegetables.
The strategy focuses on activities that deliver solutions to the farm, advance sustainable innovations on the farm and address value chain and consumer needs beyond the farm.
“Only a fraction of the global population comes close to consuming the daily recommended serving of fruits and vegetables,” said Inci Dannenberg, Head of Global Vegetable Seeds at Bayer. “In the UN’s International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, Bayer is doubling down on its approach to enabling growers and partners to address the barriers to improving fruit and vegetable consumption in order to achieve Health for All, Hunger for None.”
Delivering High-Quality Seeds, Solutions to the Farm
Bayer works to realize a core part of their ‘to the farm’ strategy and that is to provide improved innovation in genetics, crop protection and digital. This is achieved with the largest investment in research and development in the industry.
“Through innovative, tailored solutions we are helping fruit and vegetable growers around the globe to produce marketable yields that meet the safety, quality and nutrition standards their customers expect,” said Kamel Beliazi, Crop Strategy Lead of Fruits and Vegetables at Bayer. “This is a core part of our business strategy in Horticulture.”
Vynyty Citrus® is an innovative device – a container with an active liquid inside – that does not generate resistance or residues in harvests or in the environment. It is the first biological product on the market that is formulated with pheromones and natural pyrethrum to control pests in citrus fruits.
Within Vegetable Seeds, Bayer continues to invest in ensuring its pipeline reflects not just growers’ changing needs but of diverse consumers.
Advancing Sustainable Innovations on the Farm
Every horticulture innovation is developed with two goals in mind – helping growers remain sustainable and sustain the planet. This is especially important when it comes to smallholder farmers who are responsible for feeding more than half of the population in low and middle-income countries. As part of Bayer’s commitment to reaching 100 million smallholder farmers by 2030, the company is partnering with organizations to provide the tools, training and resources smallholder farmers need to help minimize risk and grow their businesses sustainably.
Bayer is partnering with Rabobank to develop digital solutions for smallholder farmers in Southeast Asia. Smallholder farmers need access to digital farming tools more than anyone else to help unlock their farming potential. The company recently announced the signing of an agreement with Rabobank, including a plan for two pilots to be conducted in Vietnam and the Philippines over the coming months.
Through its Bridging the Seed Gap initiative, Fair Planet and Bayer are also providing training to help smallholders in Africa best grow hybrid vegetable seeds adapted for their local growing conditions.
Collaborating to Address Needs Beyond the Farm
Beyond the farm, consumers place great importance on safe, healthy and sustainably produced food. Bayer is working from field to fork to promote market access for growers around the world by connecting them with food value chain partners and helping them adapt to meet changing consumer tastes.
Most recently, the company announced its membership in the Sustainability Initiative for Fruits and Vegetables (SIFAV), alongside other produce industry leaders. SIFAV is a cross-industry platform dedicated to scaling up collaboration and reducing the environmental footprint of fresh food. Through a collaborative, action-oriented approach, and clearly defined sustainability targets, Bayer and SIFAV are focused on finding new solutions to help reduce the carbon footprint on priority crops, reduce food loss and waste, and reduce of water use, among other focus areas.
About Bayer
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to drive sustainable development and generate a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2020, the Group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of 41.4 billion euros. R&D expenses before special items amounted to 4.9 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.