Fruit Logistica 2023: Bayer focuses on partnerships, sustainability, and innovation

At this year’s Fruit Logistica taking place in Berlin from February 8-10 Bayer highlights its solutions towards regenerative agriculture (Bayer booth: hall 1.2, stand C23), meaning the balance between productivity outcomes and environmental protection, while supporting the needs of society and farmers. Key to regenerative agriculture is partnering with players along the whole food chain. "The pressure on food systems is rising each year. To nutritiously feed a growing world population while protecting the planet’s boundaries, we need to produce more food with less resources and develop solutions that can cope with climate change," said Inci Dannenberg, President of Global Vegetable Seeds at Bayer’s Crop Science Division. "The challenges are so big and multi-faceted that they can only be addressed if we join forces."

Biologicals innovation with tremendous environmental and business potential

One pillar in that collaborative approach towards regenerative agriculture is Bayer’s advancement in Biologicals, in other words agricultural inputs that are derived from biological instead of synthetic processing. The company has recently entered multiple promising collaborations in that space which will be showcased at Bayer’s booth at Fruit Logistica.

Bayer just lately entered a strategic partnership with Spanish biologicals company Kimitec focusing on accelerating the development and commercialization of biological crop protection products, as well as biostimulants to promote plant growth. Bayer also entered a partnership with French company M2i Group to supply fruit and vegetable growers around the world with pheromone-based biological crop protection products. In 2022, Ginkgo Bioworks became a multi-year strategic partner with Bayer to develop biological solutions in areas such as nitrogen optimization, carbon sequestration, and next generation crop protection.

Driving the development of biologicals is promising as it addresses environmental and business potential likewise. While it reduces the impact on the environment the biologicals market is expected to grow to nearly €25 billion by 2028.¹

Advancing sustainability and access to essential nutrients through seed innovation and food chain partnerships

The world is not only facing food insecurity, the need for a more sustainable and regenerative food system, and climate issues but also a nutrition gap. Bayer, through its Vegetables by Bayer business along with its Seminis^® and De Ruiter^® brands, has been developing various innovative solutions to address these challenges. Examples that are highlighted at Fruit Logistica include Strabena tomato with excellent attachment to vine and improved shelf life reducing the need for plastic packaging, Orange Candy^® melon with good field holding and longer shelf life helping to reduce losses, or the Huntington sweet pepper which is a climate resilient variety. Bayer will also present its comprehensive offering to fight the tomato virus (ToBRFV), one of the biggest challenges for growers. This includes the De Ruiter^® varieties with Intermediate Resistance2 to ToBRFV, such as Strabini, already growing commercially in many glasshouses and the two new varieties Ferreira and Novero recently launched in North America and Mexico.

To enable access to essential vitamins and minerals, particularly in underserved communities, Bayer, through The Nutrient Gap Initiative, also engages in direct intervention, education and advocacy. Originally an initiative by Bayer’s Consumer Health division, Bayer’s Crop Science division will also be part of it from 2023 onwards adding the importance of access to essential nutrients from fruits and vegetables.

Another example of how Bayer is contributing to food security and nutrition supply through engaging with partners along the food value chain is the company’s effort to curb the spread of Tropical Race 4 (TR4). This disease threats the existence of the banana as it is known. It causes a lethal wilt in banana plants and an infested plantation will lose its entire production for that year, and potentially several years more. Bayer has engaged with the Global Alliance Against TR4 and, through a module of its BayG.A.P. program, has trained hundreds of banana farmers on prevention against TR4. BayG.A.P. is a service program which supports and educates farmers worldwide to get certified and connected to the food value chain.

¹ Source: DataM Intelligence, 2021: Global Agriculture Biologics Market; Market Size, Share and Forecast; Market Outlook, Opportunity and Data Analysis 2021-2028;

² To find out more about disease resistance and the applicable levels of disease resistance, visit www.worldseed.org, and view the "Definition of the Terms Describing the Reaction of Plants to Pests for the Vegetable Industry" paper in the Vegetable Resources section.