BERLIN, GERMANY - Bayer has presented its new Food Chain Partnership initiative at Fruit Logistica in Berlin this week, seeking to connect partners along the value chain to help enable safety, quality, affordability, transparency, most importantly, sustainability—all the way from seed to shelf. 

"The Food Chain Partnership exemplifies our commitment to sustainable agriculture, food safety, and food security at Bayer,” explained Mathias Kremer, Member of the Executive Committee at the Crop Science Division of Bayer. "In its eleventh year, the initiative continues to yield collaborations across the food chain that benefit not only food chain partners but also ultimately the consumer."  

For Bayer, sustainability is an integral part of the company’s business strategies along the entire value chain from growers and processors to traders and retailers, the company shared in the release. Kremer says that is why Bayer focuses on improving resource efficiency in agriculture and offering stewardship and safe-use trainings to mitigate the potential impact on people and environment.

The Food Chain Partnership wasn't the only topic the company addressed at Fruit Logistica. Bayer also noted its work with bee health experts, as well as its cooperation with a banana producer in the Dominican Republic that works according to organic farming principles. 

"We offer this partner a high-quality portfolio of biological crop protection products backed by training measures, demo plots and a stewardship program,” explained Silke Friebe, Head of Food Chain Management. "Our partner benefits from a reduced number of product applications, with a clear focus on alternative solutions to tackle black sigatoka, a severe disease threatening banana crops."

Also the host of its own Exhibitor Forum, Bayer invited a series of experts from external partners like Coca Cola, UNIVEG, GlobalG.A.P. and the French owner of the Bayer ForwardFarm Chateau Lamothe, to address key trends and challenges, according to a press release. Each participant helped showcase initiatives like Bayer ForwardFarming, Bayer’s certification tool Bayg.a.p., the company’s efforts to develop digital solutions, and its work to combat citrus greening. Professor Dr. Fred Brouns, Health Food Innovation, Maastricht University, also gave a keynote speech in which he noted the various challenges and needs in food production and how everything is interconnected.  

"The growing interest in our sustainability concept at the Fruit Logistica showed once again, that Bayer Food Chain Partnership is a journey of continuous improvement,” said Friebe, who also shared that in addition to the company’s numerous projects in fruit and vegetables, the Food Chain Partnership initiative is currently in the process of being extended to broad-acre crops such as oilseed rape, wheat, and rice.

For more on Bayer and its developing fresh produce programs, stay tuned to AndNowUKnow.

Bayer