The world’s population is expected to grow from 7 billion to 9 billion by 2050. So what is the plan to feed all those people?
Sustainable food production was among the many topics discussed at Bayer CropScience’s inaugural Vegetable Future Forum, which was held Dec. 13 at the company’s headquarters in Monheim, Germany. About 200 people involved in all aspects of the agriculture industry hailing from far reaching corners of the world — including growers — were in attendance. In addition to hearing from experts from Bayer CropScience, speakers from companies such as Nestle, Rabobank, and others gave presentations.
It was Cyrille Filott, regional manager Europe and Africa, food and agribusiness research and advisory for Rabobank International, who said those 9 billion people will eat as much as 13 billion as diets and caloric intake are changing.
A panel discussion involving those in attendance honed in on some of the challenges growers are facing and revealed that labor isn’t just an issue in the U.S. Bill Brim, co-owner of Lewis Taylor Farms in Tifton, GA, mentioned some of the issues he is having with the H-2A program. One of the panelists, Richard Mulcahy, CEO of AusVeg, an organization representing the interests of Australian vegetable and potato growers, responded by saying that labor also is a huge problem in his country, and right now growers there are exploring options with new technology.
Demand For Healthy Food Is Rising
In spite of labor issues, the demand for healthy food, such as fruits and vegetables, continues to increase. Dr. Ruediger Scheitza, member of the board of management of Bayer CropScience AG, said as a result of this increasing demand, specialty crops account for the largest share of Bayer CropScience’s portfolio. To better serve the industry and determine its needs, he said the company makes a point of communicating with growers, the food chain, and the consumer.
The focus must always be on the consumer, said Hans Joehr, corporate head of agriculture at Nestle. “We are serving ourselves and all consumers,” he said.
To deliver to consumers, it all begins with a healthy plant. “A healthy plant may go into a healthy diet for a healthy consumer,” he added.
According to Scheitza, focusing on plant health will be the way of the future. “It’s not just about killing bugs and weeds anymore,” he said. “We are looking forward to new properties our research can deliver. We will make use of improved seeds, innovative chemicals, and biologics to grow this type of technology in the future.”
Investing In Biologics
To help meet industry needs, last year Bayer CropScience purchased AgraQuest, a global supplier of innovative biological pest management solutions. The company also acquired the watermelon and seed business of Abbott & Cobb in 2012.
One of the first products slated to enter the U.S. market will be a new soil-applied formulation of the well-established biological fungicide Serenade. The product will initially be targeted on potatoes and, down the line, other vegetable crops, said Frank Terhorst, Bayer CropScience’s head of strategic business management for fruits, vegetables, and insecticides.
With the purchase of Abbott & Cobb’s watermelon and seed business, the vegetable seed business of Bayer CropScience, Nunhems, has improved and increased its market share in watermelons, added Terhorst. In fact, within the next four years Nunhems plans to launch more than 700 new varieties in 10 vegetables.
All of these efforts, Scheitza said, serve only one purpose: to make the grower more successful, which includes fighting and preventing development of resistance, obtaining higher yields, better quality, convenience, and optimizing growers’ risk management.
“It is about the products, but we believe it is about people,” Terhorst added. “Just providing products isn’t good enough. We need to have expert teams in the field talking to growers who know almost as much as the growers about the crop. This is important to connect all partners in the value chain.”
To date, Bayer CropScience has 240 food chain partnership business initiatives globally involving 40 crops in 30 countries.
Forming Partnerships
According to Scheitza, it will be through the formation of partnerships with other technology providers that will allow the company to deliver sustainable and integrated crop solutions to meet customer expectations now and in the future.
Terhorst mentioned the herbicide Alion — currently registered in the U.S. on tree nuts and vines, and other fruits — will become available to vegetable growers over the course of the next couple of years. The herbicide features a new mode of action that provides long-lasting weed control and is said to offer more than six months of pre-emergence residual weed control. “As we’ve already talked about labor shortages and costs for labor going up, Alion is the perfect answer to those challenges,” added Terhorst.
He also cited the benefits of the company’s new fungicide, Luna, as an example of a crop solution that offers both sustainability and convenience. The fungicide not only provides disease control, it also offers better storability of produce and longer shelf life in storage, he said.
“The concept of overall plant health and specifically looking at properties or products that extend shelf life is a benefit that goes through the entire food chain and is an important benefit for the consumer,” he added.
Terhorst said Bayer CropScience is investing to register its products globally in as many crops as possible because the trade flow and the growers’ ability to sell to export markets depend on clearance of those products.
“We see the combination of both chemicals and biologics as the way forward into integrated crop solutions,” he said. “We will invest heavily over the next few years in R&D to come up with innovative solutions.”