Bayer said it has reaffirmed its commitment to promoting increased worldwide consumption of fruits and vegetables with the announcement of new portfolio innovations and a business strategy for horticulture.
The strategy focuses on activities that deliver tailored solutions to the farm, advance sustainable innovations on the farm and address value chain and consumer needs beyond the farm, according to a news release.
“Only a fraction of the global population comes close to consuming the daily recommended serving of fruits and vegetables,” Inci Dannenberg, head of global vegetable seeds at Bayer, said in the release. “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 seeds and solutions to the farm
With the largest investment in research and development in the industry, Bayer is working to realize a core part of their ‘to the farm’ strategy – to provide improved innovation in genetics, crop protection and digital, according to the release. “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,” Kamel Beliazi, crop strategy lead of fruits and vegetables at Bayer, said in the release. “This is a core part of our business strategy in horticulture.”
The result of this R&D investment is seen in Bayer’s recent portfolio innovations around the world, the release said. Vineet 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 such biological product on the market that is formulated with pheromones and natural pyrethrum to control pests in citrus fruits, according to the release. The product, the company said, is currently being used in Spain and will soon be available to growers of citrus and other crops in other Mediterranean countries.
Within Vegetable Seeds, Bayer said it is continuing to invest in ensuring its pipeline reflects not just the changing needs of growers and the value chain but of diverse consumers.
The company reported it is leveraging predicative consumer liking models and sensory insights from around the world at every stage of its pipeline development to deliver ground-breaking flavor while maintaining critical agronomic traits that are essential to a healthy harvest.
Advancing sustainable innovations on the farm
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, the release said.
With data-driven innovations at the forefront of this effort, Bayer is partnering with Rabobank to develop digital solutions for smallholder farmers in Southeast Asia, according to the release.
Smallholder farmers need access to digital farming tools more than anyone else to help unlock their farming potential, and the company said it has signed an agreement with Rabobank for two pilots to be conducted in Vietnam and the Philippines over the coming months. This new partnership represents another step toward achieving food security for a growing population the release said.
Collaborating to address needs beyond the farm
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, according to the release.
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.
These announcements were made as Bayer prepares to host the event, ‘It’s Crunch Time: Solving the world’s nutritional crisis through increased produce consumption’, part of the company’s Future of Farming Dialogue virtual event series.
