MONNHEIM, GERMANY - Bayer is expanding its expertise to include more vegetable seed offerings. The freshly launched Vegetables by Bayer will bring to market more organically produced seeds in three key crops for the greenhouse and glasshouse sectors: tomato, sweet pepper, and cucumber. This expansion will then be followed by tomato rootstock varieties in 2023. Varieties will be sold under both the Seminis^® and De Ruiter^® vegetable seed brands.

“We serve growers all over the world and believe that they should have the freedom to choose the tools or the practices that best suit the needs of their farms and the needs of their customers,” said Inci Dannenberg, President of Global Vegetable Seeds at Bayer. “The launch of our certified organic vegetable seeds represents an opportunity to continue to bring our best-in-class varieties and industry-leading disease resistances to growers in the organics market, while supporting consumer choice.”

According to a press release, Bayer’s expanded portfolio is in direct response to increased customer need for high-quality organic seed. Global consumer demand for certified-organic products continues to grow and is predicted to drive market expansion.

“Organic certification standards require us to use certified organic seed where available, and that is what our customers expect, too,” said Ricardo Crisantes, Chief Commercial Officer of Wholesum Family Farms. "We are very pleased that Bayer is supporting our market by offering certified organic seed and look forward to having a high-quality selection of De Ruiter seeds for our organic glasshouse production.”

As noted in the release, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) estimates that today’s global organic food market is worth more than €106 billion (USD 124 billion). The global organic food seeds market was valued at $355 milion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $480 million by 2025 with a 6.2 percent CAGR.

For many reasons, this increased demand presents a valuable opportunity for many of Bayer‘s vegetable seeds customers to grow their businesses while supporting consumer food choice and promoting access to nutritious fruits and vegetables.

“Across everything we do, Bayer and our Vegetable Seeds business remain committed to being the partner of choice, providing best-in-class varieties and tailored solutions to support our customers and partners in growing their businesses while providing people around the world with safe, nutritious, and delicious fruits and vegetables,” said Dannenberg.

The commercial launch for the new certified organic portfolio is planned for early 2022 and will focus on the high-growth organic markets of Canada, United States, Mexico, Spain, and Italy with potential for future expansion based on market demand.

As it prepares for heightened demand, Bayer is taking all necessary steps to obtain the proper certification at its facilities to prepare for the receiving, processing, storage and distribution of certified organic seeds. The vegetable seed offerings will join Bayer’s non-synthetic crop production and crop protection products, or biologicals, as another critical tool for certified organic growers around the world.

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