ANAHEIM, Calif. — Bayer CropScience and its Davis-based subsidiary AgraQuest Inc. kicked off a cross-country mobile laboratory tour Oct. 29 in Oxnard, said Kelly Benarth, marketing and communications specialist for Bayer CropScience.
Marcus Meadows-Smith, head of strategy and business management for biologics for AgraQuest, said the mobile lab, will travel around the U.S. and make stops in major agricultural centers to educate growers about AgraQuest’s biopesticide products and Bayer CropScience’s products and the science and technology behind them.
The lab is a replication of Bayer’s research and development lab in Davis, Benarth said. A scientist with the company will travel with the lab and explain the company’s products, she said.
The lab is scheduled to tour California and the Pacific Northwest through Nov. 14, Benarth said. Starting again in January, the lab will travel across the country to growing regions in Florida, she said.
The lab tries to coordinate stops in conjunction with industry trade shows, meetings or other events, Benarth said, and will be at the Florida Citrus Show on Jan. 23-24 in Ft. Pierce. She said the lab is scheduled to stop at five or six major industry events between its October launch and February.
Meadows-Smith said AgraQuest’s acquisition by Bayer, completed in August, allows the company to offer a complete spray program in addition to its other biopesticide and soil products and provides more options to help growers manage residues.
“Our goal is to be the leader is sustainable solutions,” Meadows-Smith said. Becoming a Bayer company “was a major step in our commitment in this area,” he said.
“Bayer’s face to the grower is to find the best solution,” said Jon Amdursky, media relations consultant for AgraQuest.
“Now Bayer can offer any combination of solutions in a very neutral and unbiased way,” he said, referring to the use of biopesticides versus traditional chemical pesticides. “It’s ‘whatever works best.’”
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