Bayer CropScience celebrated its 150th anniversary in June with various celebrations for the global company. One event included about 30,000 employees and guests who formed a large ‘human cross’ in a packed soccer stadium near the company’s home base in Germany.

“The 150th anniversary of Bayer CropScience is quite a milestone,” says Robert Schrick, Bayer CropScience’s strategic marketing lead based in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

“How many companies can say they’ve been in business for 150 years? It’s a short list.”
Bayer CropScience has three major divisions including crop science, health care, and material science.

“Bayer CropScience is all about the discovery and development of new technologies,” Schrick says. “The crop science division is a crucial component of technology discussions. It’s about understanding the needs of growers and the development of innovations which align with those needs.”

This includes new products to improve crop yields and crop quality through germplasm, crop protection, and other crop products.

“It’s all about helping the grower be more efficient and creating an even greener environmental footprint,” Schrick says.

Last year, Bayer CropScience restructured its crop science division including a strengthened horticulture business unit — led by Schrick — to improve the focus on fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts.

“Bayer CropScience is a committed to horticulture and is a partner in horticulture,” Schrick said. “We will continue to bring new discoveries to the marketplace and will work very hard to understand customer needs and meet those needs.”

To enhance its horticultural business, Bayer CropScience last summer acquired the company AgraQuest, a global supplier of innovative biological pest management solutions.

The AgraQuest purchase, Schrick says, will increase Bayer CropScience’s ability to deliver to growers a more comprehensive range of integrated and sustainable crop solutions based on seeds, traits, and combined chemical and biological crop protection, including seed treatments.

By 2020, the company hopes to achieve a leadership position in horticulture, complimented by the AgraQuest purchase plus new product innovations. According to Schrick, Luna fungicide provides good control of fungal diseases to increase the shelf life for certain registered crops.

Brian Hrudka, Bayer CropScience food chain manager, says the evolution of more sustainable products will continue as a cornerstone of the company’s product portfolio which is based on three pillars — people, planet, and profit.

Hrudka says agricultural sustainability is about providing products to growers which create higher crop yields and quality with fewer resources which ultimately improve growers’ bottom lines and prosperity.

“We look at sustainability as the entire food chain — from the grower — to the grocery store — and to the consumer. We must conserve the Earth’s resources,” says Hrudka.