Andrew Dornan, agronomic development manager, horticulture for Bayer CropScience, is pictured at a 2017 Ontario field day. 

Bayer remains convinced that the long-term trends impacting the global agricultural sector will remain unchanged. "Despite the current market volatility, our Crop Science business is well positioned to fulfill future customer, market and societal needs," said Liam Condon, Bayer Management Board member and president of the Crop Science Division, at the company's Future of Farming Dialog 2017 on September 18-20.

"The global seed and crop protection market remains volatile in 2017 after a weak prior year," Condon noted.  However, high population growth, changing consumption patterns and increasing consumer demand for sustainably produced food will have a positive impact on food production, global agricultural trade and ultimately on farm income.
 

The company’s proposed acquisition of Monsanto is undergoing regulatory review. In consultation with the European Commission, Bayer filed an application on Monday, September 18, to extend the review deadline by 10 working days until January 22, 2018, with the aim of facilitating an appropriate evaluation given the size of the transaction. "In view of this, an anticipated closing of the deal in early 2018 is now more likely than end of 2017," Condon said.

Crop Science R&D pipeline to bring 15 new products to farmers by 2020

"We are very proud of our innovative solutions such as our Luna and Aviator Xpro fungicides as well as our Sivanto insecticide, which are all demonstrations of our capability to innovate,” Percy said.

Percy also outlined the current Crop Science R&D pipeline with 15 active ingredients and traits / trait combinations to be launched from 2017 to 2020.

Recently, Bayer and Ginkgo Bioworks, Boston entered into an agreement to create a new company focused on the plant microbiome with an initial focus on nitrogen fixation. Improving the microbes' ability to make nitrogen fertilizer available for plants, offers a major potential benefit for sustainable agriculture.

Source: Excerpts from Bayer CropScience September 19, 2017 news release or go to: http://bit.ly/2yCJMDC