Production Blog

Bayer Builds, Focuses on Soy and Wheat

MONHEIM, Germany (DTN) -- Bayer CropScience announced major new investments in agriculture Sept. 5 during their annual press conference in Monheim, Germany. However, it was two Palmer amaranth plants that stole the show.

Liam Condon, Bayer CropScience CEO, had the towering male and female plants brought on stage during his presentation. Raised from seed in the Bayer greenhouses in a few short weeks' time, the weeds raised more than a few eyebrows from the journalists that gathered from around the world.

"The single biggest challenge we have on the herbicide side (of the business) is dealing with the weed resistance issue," Condon later told American journalists. "It's a high focus for us and we've been working on it, but the speed of growth of weed resistance is just astounding."

One of Bayer's investment plans is constructing a new plant in Mobile, Ala. to produce glufosinate-ammonium, marketed in the U.S. under the brand name Liberty to use in the LibertyLink tolerance cropping system.

The plant startup is expected in fourth quarter 2015, in time for the 2016 growing season. "With about EUR 380 million (US $459.2 million) earmarked for this new facility, this is the biggest single construction project in the history of Bayer CropScience," Condon added. The company has plans to double the global product supply of glufosinate. Strong demand for Liberty has led to some supply shortages over the past few years in the U.S.

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Condon stressed that use of herbicides with different modes of actions remains important to help growers manage or delay weed resistance. "Diversity is the key to sustainable agriculture," he stressed.

Ramping up the seeds business is another part of Bayer's growth plan. The company recently broke ground on a new cotton greenhouse for research and development in Memphis. Vegetables, rice and oilseed rape will get added investments.

BIG PUSH IN SOYBEAN AND WHEAT MARKETS

However, it is soybean and wheat markets where Bayer is putting a big push.

"We are continuing to invest in our soybean business, for example through strategic acquisitions in Latin America, contributing to a fast and focused development of distinctive traits," Condon said. A soybean cyst nematode trait is currently under development. Two new HPPD herbicide-tolerant soybean traits are under development.

Wheat is another major focus for the company. Condon acknowledged that other companies have tried to make strides in wheat in the past and have failed. "We looked at it again through the eyes of the technology that is available now that wasn't available in the past," he said.

"The big problem with wheat is it is an incredibly complex genome. Now we're able to map that genome. So our focus is on hybridization to get that increase in yield." He noted that the company is looking at genetically engineered and conventional options.

"We will look for the approach that is the most promising -- it may be both," he said. "It's still in the early stage and it's going to be a long haul. This is going to be a 10-year-plus program to get a significant increase in yield.

"It's the one big crop where it should be possible to get a significant yield increase. We want to be the first. I'm sure we're not the only one that wants to be the first, but we have enough in place to be in a front running position in this race," he said.

Pamela Smith can be reached at Pamela.Smith@telventdtn.com

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Pamela Smith
9/24/2013 | 9:49 AM CDT
Pablo--we didn't go over cotton on this trip, but Bayer is investing heavily in cotton. I'll have to ask about what's happening in your section of the world, but in the U.S., the company anticipates the launch of its two-gene TwinLink trait package in 2014. TwinLink is a dual Bt system with tolerance to Liberty herbicide stacked with GlyTol, Bayerâ?™s proprietary glyphosate-tolerant trait. This new technology will initially be built into the two GlyTol, LibertyLink, Bollgard II varieties Bayer released in 2013 (ST 4946GLB2 and ST 648GLB2). Let me see if I can find out more information about their efforts in Argentina.
Pablo Holmberg
9/21/2013 | 9:45 AM CDT
Pam: What´s happening in cotton genetics?.. thank you. pablo Buenos Aires, Argentina.