Bayer strengthens its presence in Andalusia, Spain and establishes the headquarters for vegetable seeds in Almeria, Spain

Bayer has transferred the logistics and service centre for Spain and Portugal of its vegetable seeds division, Bayer CropScience Vegetable Seeds, to El Ejido (Almeria). With this decision, the company demonstrates its commitment both to the vegetable seeds unit and this Autonomous Region.

From now on, El Ejido will be the site of the new logistics and service centre, in addition to the experimental Research and Development (R&D+i) station, and it will be staffed with marketing & sales and customer service teams for Spain and Portugal. In addition, the choice of Almeria as the headquarters for these facilities confirms this province as a world leader in innovation and production of vegetables.

Bayer’s decision reflects the company strategy of optimising its customer service centre by locating it in a strategic area for this business. In total, nearly 70 professional employees work in Almeria, both in the development of new varieties and marketing concepts, and in consulting on market trends and strategies. All of this has enabled the company to become a leader in the sector and increase its sales volume by 35% in the last seven years in Spain.

The experimental station located in the Paraje La Cumbre area of El Ejido will deal exclusively to research of new vegetable varieties, with substantial reinforcement of the areas of R&D+i and breeding for strategic crops like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, melons and watermelons. In the words of Francisco González, General Manager of Bayer Vegetable Seeds Iberia, “we invest more in innovation to anticipate the desires of not only the local consumer but also the global one. In Almeria we are developing varieties for markets all around the world”. “Thanks to our work and the trust the entire agrifood chain has in us, we can boost the competitiveness of the vegetable sector by putting very attractive concepts within its reach at final points of sale that help to generate loyalty in demand and increase consumption”, states the Vegetable Seeds representative.

Closer to the farmer

In order to be as close as possible to farmers and better respond to their specific needs, Bayer has highly specialised and independent business units. In the agrifood area, Bayer CropScience Vegetable Seeds is focused exclusively on the development and marketing of vegetable seeds, while Bayer CropScience Crop Protection deals with the protection of crops. Both units have their own technical structures and staffs to bring greater value to an especially dynamic and competitive sector.

Bayer is maintaining its strategic commitment to vegetable seeds, thereby culminating the project to integrate the former Nunhems company as a business unit under the name Bayer CropScience Vegetable Seeds. This division is in charge of all the vegetable seed improvement and marketing activities under the Nunhems® brand worldwide.