Menu Close

Bayer Crop Science Fighting Food Insecurity, Climate Change

  • September 26, 2022

Bayer Crop Science, which has its North American headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, has put two topics at the center of its research and development initiatives, developing new products that it believes will help mitigate food insecurity and climate change.

“We do believe that more than ever, not only because of the pandemic but also because of the war in Ukraine, there are two things that really become even more important than any other topic: food security and climate change,” said Bayer Crop Science President Rodrigo Santos. “Those two topics are probably on the agenda of every conversation that we have.”

One of the new developments that Bayer Crop Science is researching is its new short-stature corn hybrids, which are corn crops that will feature shorter stalks than traditional corn hybrids.

Bayer contends short-stature corn hybrids will be less susceptible to wind damage from storms and will help farmers be more precise in their use of crop protection products, helping to improve yield. While shorter, the crops are expected to have the same number of leaves and corn ear size.

As it develops new crops and products to protect them, Bayer Crop Science is also turning to digital technology to help farmers optimize performance. Bayer Crop Science has leaned heavily into providing software that helps farmers use data and analytics to improve operations on their farms.

“What is happening with the farmers on the digital transformation, I think that will be a breakthrough in terms of yield, in terms of sustainability as well, and also in terms of connecting the farmers to society a little bit further,” said Santos.

Another technology that Bayer has focused on is drones.

“We’re doing a lot of work with this technology around the world,” said Jennifer Ralston, Bayer Crop Science’s Global Soybean Seeds and Traits Portfolio Manager. “We’re working more on bigger drones that can travel farther and carry more volume. We’re also working on swarm technology to where you could have swarms of drones that could come in and cover fields much faster.”

Missouri is THE global leader in agtech. With research taking place across the entire state in dozens of our innovation communities, companies are utilizing our exceptional resources to grow their business.

Agriculture is a $94 billion industry in Missouri, and our agtech workforce consists of more than 456,000 people. So much agricultural product is shipped via river barge from the St. Louis region that a 15-mile section of the Mississippi is known as the “Ag Coast of America.”

Across Missouri, leading agtech organizations including the Danforth Plant Science Center, Bayer Crop Science, Boehringer Ingelheim, the Missouri Botanical Garden, Yield Lab, DuPont, BASF, Bunge, and more are developing new technology that is transforming agriculture.

Meanwhile, Missouri’s new agtech innovation community, 39 North, is taking root in St. Louis. The district covers nearly 600 acres in Missouri and includes many of the region’s top agtech companies as well as Bio-Research & Development Growth (BRDG) Park and the Helix Center Biotech Incubator.

Missouri is the gateway to the future of advanced farming thanks to companies like Bayer Crop Science and others. Those agtech companies from around the world are expanding into the state, leveraging its ecosystem, talent, pro-business environment, and agricultural foundations.

It’s all growing in Missouri. Are you ready to be a part of it?

What Next?