Bayer CropScience tackles weed resistance at Expo

At an interactive session held during the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Seed Expo in Chicago, Bayer CropScience outlined the growing weed resistance crisis and its commitment to delivering sustainable solutions from seed to shelf through its products Ignite herbicide and LibertyLink trait, the strength of its traits platform and ongoing research.

"With this environment we're in, there's really no new herbicide mode of action on the horizon," said Dr. Larry Steckel, University of Tennessee and presenter at a session hosted by Bayer CropScience. "These traits are going to play an integral part on how we're going to manage weeds for the foreseeable future."

As an independent and academic weed specialist, Dr. Steckel addressed the session outlining the growing weed resistance crisis.

Long committed to creating innovative technologies that protect and improve crops to help farmers achieve high quality yields, Bayer CropScience also announced that it is increasing its investment toward BioScience research and development, germplasm, technologies and infrastructure to accelerate breeding advancements and trait development. Between 2009 and 2018, the company is investing 3.5 billion euros to support growth in this area. Bayer CropScience also outlined how Ignite herbicide in a LibertyLink program provides the most reliable weed management solution today and provided insight into its research and development across seeds, traits and crop protection.

"Bayer CropScience is on the leading edge of offering solutions to agriculture's biggest challenges with our leading position in the weed and insect management sector and our strong trait platform in corn and soybeans," said Christophe Dumont, Global Head of Soybean and Corn, Bayer CropScience.

As part of the interactive session, seed company owners and representatives as well as other strategic partners participated in several live polls aimed at gauging their awareness of the magnitude of the weed resistance crisis and Bayer CropScience's broad platform of seeds, traits and crop protection products.

• 80% of session attendees believe weed resistance is a significant problem in the Midwest.

• 66% of session attendees are convinced that Bayer CropScience will be a significant trait provider for soybeans in the future.

• 92% of session attendees believe a LibertyLink weed management system, including Ignite, is more reliable in controlling driver weeds such as waterhemp and Palmer Amaranth than a glyphosate tolerant system.