Bayer opens Resistance Monitoring laboratory in Brazil

Bayer CropScience announced last Wednesday the inauguration of its Resistance Monitoring laboratory to monitor fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and application technologies. The concept of the Center of Expertise on Tropical Agriculture was also introduced. The event was held at the Research and Innovation Center of Bayer CropScience in Paulínia, São Paulo.

The inauguration was part of the investments of the company in Brazil with focus on the development of innovative and technological solutions to overcome the challenges faced by farmers working with tropical agriculture. According to the Global CEO of Bayer, Liam Condon, the goal is to offer innovative approaches to make rural producers face the challenges of tropical agriculture.

"In the last four years, Bayer invested R$ 31 million at the Brazilian center, and of those US$ 22 million only in 2015. We are committed to our growth strategy in the short-term and to supply integrated solutions to sustainable agriculture,” declared the CEO.

The Center is a collaborative platform to establish public-private research partnerships that contribute to the development of integrated solutions focused on the challenges of tropical agriculture in Brazil and other countries in Latin America. The Monitoring laboratories will supervise constantly the evolution of fungus, plagues and weeds to develop the specific solution toward the resistance management. The Center of Technology and Application will concentrate its activities on the development of solutions for the application of agrochemicals, appropriate for local realities.

The president of Bayer CropScience for Latin America, Eduardo Estrada, added that even in a challenging scenario, the company believes in Brazil and the strength of farm business: “We are looking to all key sectors that influence the productive chain for the sustainable development of the activity in all fields in the country. The tropical agriculture requires different attention and new laboratories will contribute to speed up the necessary support to farmers”.