BASF unveils future-proof farming solutions: Innovating for sustainable crop protection and carbon farming excellence

Date:09-20-2024

"Agriculture in Europe is undergoing the greatest change we have ever experienced, and BASF will play a central role in this," emphasized Gustavo Palerosi Carneiro, Senior Vice President BASF Agricultural Solutions EMEA & CIS at BASF at this year's press conference of BASF Agricultural Solutions Deutschland. With a flexible, diverse, and sustainable portfolio, the best team, and through collaboration with partners along the value chain, BASF will support farmers in facing climate change, meeting the diverse demands from society and politics, and reliably, sustainably, and competitively producing food.

New product innovations

Which product innovations can achieve this, BASF experts presented at the press conference. For example, in cereal cultivation: With climate change, winters are milder and the vegetation period is extended, as plants start the season earlier. This increases the risk of infection for Septoria and rust, especially in the early growth stage. With Xenial^®, BASF is bringing a cereal fungicide to the market for the coming season that helps protect all cereal crops from all early cereal diseases. It also consists of three non-cross-resistant active ingredients, so it also supports farmers in resistance management. The BASF portfolio of cereal fungicides is complemented by another BASF innovation: Navura^® works particularly well against the very different diseases during the sensitive ripening process, such as Septoria, Fusarium, yellow and brown rust, and can be used for final treatment in all cereal crops.

An increasing problem in cereal cultivation is blackgrass. The withdrawal of active ingredients and resistance development also play a role here, making the weed a very serious problem in cereal cultivation. With the herbicide Luximo®, BASF researchers have managed to develop a completely new mechanism of action for controlling blackgrass and thus a crucial building block for resistance management. In field trials in Germany, Luximo^® has shown excellent performance even against resistant biotypes. In addition, it works very stably regardless of soil type, temperature and humidity conditions, and disease pressure.

Another crop protection innovation that BASF has brought to the market this year is the potato seed treatment Allstar®. The company has already built up comprehensive expertise in potato cultivation in the past and has developed a wide range of products for agriculture. Just last year, the fungicide Belanty^® was introduced to the market to combat Alternaria. With Allstar®, a seed treatment now follows that is approved for all indications and all application techniques, thus reliably protecting the tubers from Rhizoctonia solani, silver scab, and Colletotrichum wilt disease. A foliar blight fungicide and a new active ingredient against sucking insects are to complete the portfolio in the coming years.

In the vegetable sector, BASF's offering under the Nunhems brand includes around 1,200 vegetable varieties from 20 crops for all important vegetable markets worldwide. These also include more than 25 tomato varieties that are resistant to ToBRFV (Tomato brown rugose fruit virus), a devastating disease that affects tomato cultivation. Just this spring, the company opened a "Tomato Experience Center" near The Hague, which houses over 150 ToBRFV-resistant varieties and serves as a forum for exchange between customers, producers, and cultivation consultants from all over the world. In addition to the ToBRFV-resistant tomatoes, carrots were also presented at the press conference that are very resistant and perform well under all weather conditions; resistant and productive cucumber varieties, from small to long; and leek solutions for all markets, including the new summer variety Maxton, which stands out for its profitability.

Farmers need comprehensive offers including crop protection

In addition to the choice of the right seed and crop protection agents, topics such as digitization, species diversity, and carbon farming are increasingly important for farmers. BASF therefore offers comprehensive solution packages with "Connected Offers" to support them comprehensively. This means they can rely not only on new product innovations. The company also offers digital solutions with xarvio^®, which help them achieve high yields resource-efficiently and a carbon farming program that allows them to reduce their CO₂ emissions at the same time. "Every component of our offer contributes to a good result for the farmer, the consumer, and the environment in the end," emphasizes Michael Wagner, Vice President Agricultural Solutions EMEA North at BASF. However, for this to be possible in the future, innovations in chemical crop protection are indispensable, according to Wagner. "Across-the-board reduction targets for crop protection agents do not automatically lead to more environmental protection, but to a threat to supply security and competitive disadvantages for farmers. I am convinced that integrated crop protection, where chemical crop protection is provided as a last resort, is the right way." More leading than bans would be, on the one hand, targeted promotion of alternatives to chemical crop protection, and on the other hand, a program to strengthen chemical crop protection in the sense of supply security and the quality of the harvest. Supply security only works with a broad range of active ingredients, also to prevent resistance. Therefore, farmers urgently need the products needed to protect their harvests from diseases, weeds, and pests.

CO₂ certificates in agriculture for the first time

But not only the yields and qualities have to be right, but also the climate has to be protected. BASF has therefore established a Carbon Farming Program, in which farmers will produce wheat for the first time this year that has up to 30% fewer CO₂ emissions. The CO₂ reductions are commercialized in the form of certificates, thus guaranteeing farmers an additional income. The "KlimaPartner Landwirtschaft" Carbon Farming Program was initiated and established in cooperation with the Raiffeisen Waren-Zentrale Rhein-Main AG (RWZ). In the first pilot year (sowing 2023/harvest 2024), 21 farmers cultivated 8,200 hectares of winter wheat and implemented measures from a specially developed catalog for climate-optimized cultivation. After the harvest, soil samples were taken on the respective fields and the data was passed on to a certifier, so that the first certificates for CO₂ avoidance, storage, and biodiversity measures are expected in the first quarter of 2025. The buyers for these certificates have already been found. Both a milling company from Belgium, a large bakery from Scandinavia, and a global industrial company have already agreed to reward the commitment of the farmers by purchasing the CO₂ certificates.

"With KlimaPartner Landwirtschaft, we have developed a carbon farming program that not only reduces CO₂ per ton of harvested goods, but also promotes biodiversity while maintaining quality and productivity, and also enables farmers to obtain a financial surplus for their societal services," explains Markus Röser, Head of Communications, Public Affairs & Sustainability, Agricultural Solutions, Europe North at BASF. In addition to agricultural consulting, BASF supports farmers with solutions from the areas of nitrogen management, digitization, and crop protection to achieve the target of up to 30% CO₂ reduction per ton of harvested goods.

The program is to be expanded in the coming season. Under the motto "More countries, more area, more cultures," in the 24/25 season, 33 agricultural operations in Germany and Romania will already be growing not only climate-optimized wheat but also rapeseed on 16,700 hectares. For the 25/26 season, 100,000 hectares are already planned, as well as the expansion to spring barley.