Citing earlier cutbacks in research and development spending, a senior Bayer CropScience official predicts that the spectacular crop productivity gains of the 1970s and 1980s are unlikely to be repeated any time soon. But the good news, he adds, is that research and development in the crop protection field are still alive and well.
 |
| Bayer's Rudiger Scheitza says the company has "lots of new molecules" in its product pipeline. |
Speaking at the Pan American Weed Resistance Conference in Miami, Rudiger Scheitza, head of portfolio management and a member of the board of management at Bayer headquarters in Germany, said short supplies of most crops in 2008 and growing consumer wealth have again put agriculture on the public agenda.
That's bullish for food prices, which in turn generates incentives for the crop protection industry. He also listed the threat of climate change, increased demand for meat, pressure to find new energy feedstocks, and concerns about greenhouse gas emissions as further reasons to expect market strength for farm commodities in the years ahead.
Significantly, he added, while the food commodities bubble of 2008 soon deflated, most crop and oilseed prices have not returned to pre-bubble levels.
Scheitza went on to suggest that this more optimistic outlook would stimulate ag research aimed at higher productivity. Specifically, in Bayer's case, he mentioned increased investment in new conventional crop protection products.
"Bayer has lots of new molecules in the pipeline," said Scheitza. He also expects expansion in the company's seed and trait lines.
Emphasizing the need to maintain glyphosate's "enormously valuable role" in the face of developing weed resistance to the herbicide, he predicted an expanding role for Liberty in corn and soybeans; new traits for both crops; more licensing agreements with other crop protection suppliers; "generation 3" stacking of non-selective herbicides with selective herbicides; and canola with combined glyphosate and Liberty resistance by 2012.