For Rodrigo Santos, president of the Bayer Crop Science division, the Ukrainian crisis underlines the interdependence and inherent fragility of the global food system.

“Our society can no longer rely on traditional farm system and practice to meet our growing needs,” he said. “We simply must change and adopt new, more productive and sustainable farming technologies and methods.”

Santos added that Bayer is “uniquely positioned to lead a revolution in agriculture, and perhaps more importantly, we also recognize that we'd have a responsibility to do so. And we're grasping the task with our both hands.”

Santos’ remarks came during the Bayer Breakthrough Innovations Forum in early April, where he added that now is the time to keep pushing for agriculture innovation.

The company offered four areas where it is making strides to provide a more sustainable, healthy and resilient food system, and helping farmers create better harvests with less land, water and energy.

1. Design crops more resilient to challenging environments. Bob Reiter, Bayer Crop Science head of research and development, pointed to its use of RNAi technology in management of corn rootworm with Bayer’s VTPRO4, expected to launch in the U.S. in 2024. This RNAi-based corn rootworm trait offers belowground insect control. SmartStax Pro with RNAi technology will launch corn products commercially in the U.S. for the 2022 growing season across 100,000 acres.

2. Help farmers produce better harvests more efficiently and sustainably. Reiter pointed to Bayer’s short-stature corn hybrid that can help farmers adapt to climate changes with a crop designed to “increase resilience and yield.” He noted that research shows short-stature corn showed signs of reduced stress in limited water conditions. First piloted in 2020, its North American commercial launch is set for the 2023 growing season. He anticipates by then, across the globe, short-stature corn hybrids will cover 220 million acres.

3. Evolve farming systems and practices to mitigate the effects of climate change. Bayer’s Carbon Initiative rewards farmers globally for generating carbon credits by adopting climate-smart practices — such as no-till farming and the use of cover crops — designed to help agriculture reduce its carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions. And the company has paid farmers for their efforts.

Reiter said that “after 17 months since the launch of our program, over 2,600 growers were enrolled from 10 different countries, over 1.4 million acres were added, and half a million tons of carbon have been sequestered in the soil. In addition, $4 million was returned to farmers. Our carbon initiative is already showing positive results, and we are eager to introduce it to more growers and fields around the globe in the coming years.”

It is the latest in the company’s sustainability commitments specifically aimed at reducing field GHG emissions by 30% in 2030.

4. Add partners in innovation. Leaps by Bayer, created in 2015, allows the company to partner with smaller startups to move ag innovation forward. Over the past seven years, the company invested more than $1.5 billion into a portfolio comprising more than 50 companies across health care and agriculture, according to Leaps by Bayer lead Jürgen Eckhardt. During the forum, he announced Bayer will invest another roughly $1.4 billion in the program through 2024.

Eckhardt pointed to the successes of companies such as Oerth Bio, one of the partnerships that Bayer is counting on to reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture. The company uses a protein degradation platform to protect crops from weeds, insects and diseases, potentially decreasing the need for chemical crop protection and ultimately reducing the environmental impact of agriculture.

“We believe that the convergence we are seeing today between science, data and digital technologies will be key to unlocking critically needed sustainable solutions that address two of the biggest, most urgent challenges facing our food systems, climate change and food security,” Santos added.