Bayer Food Chain programme making connections

While the definition of a “food chain” as the connection between producers and consumers may sound very simple, the current need for connections with traders, processors and retailers make the food value chain for every product much more complex. Bayer Food Chain Partnerships offer all food chain actors a proven business model for collaboration, with peer-to-peer support in every area of regenerative agriculture, such as in residue control or new growing techniques. The primary goal is to promote Bayer’s sustainability commitments, which mostly aim to help value chain players reduce their environmental impact, improve carbon sequestration and connect with smallholders.

Main Bayer programmes in Asia and Latin America

Bayer is part of worldwide programmes seeking to solve some of the biggest challenges in collaboration with partners. The firm is involved in projects such as Living Soils of the Americas, the Global Alliance Against TR4 and the FCP Passport. The Bayer Field Passport (FCP) is being implemented extensively in India, where it is used as a valuable tool by both growers and food chain partners to continuously guarantee crop quality and manage supply risks. A mobile app was developed for the capture of crop production data, with real-time tracking. Living Soils of the Americas (LiSA), meanwhile, is an initiative led by the Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and Dr Ratan Lal (OSU) aimed at restoring soil health and maximising carbon sequestration in the Americas. And together with the IICA, Bayer helped create The Global Alliance Against TR4. This is a collaboration between several food-chain partners aimed at guiding farmers with regard to TR4, the fusarium fungus disease affecting banana production in South and Central America.

Close cooperation with retail

Bayer is an active member of SIFAV – the Sustainability Initiative for Fruits and Vegetables. SIFAV unites more than 30 organisations, including Fyffes, ElbeFruit, Fresh Solutions and Berries Pride. All members share sustainable commitments, such as a 25% carbon footprint reduction, 25% less food loss and waste reduction. Bayer also remains an active member of The Sustainability Consortium (TSC), which is continually developing a framework that evaluates responsible pest management approaches and their effectiveness in a transparent and cost-effective manner. The RPM framework is the first-ever standardised science-based, stakeholder-informed assessment protocol that provides a common methodology for responsible pest management. The framework focuses on food, fibre and forest production around the world.

Global engagement with small farmers

Bayer is committed to supporting 100 million smallholder farmers in developing countries by 2030 and has set up a dedicated service programme called BayG.A.P. The initiative aims to train and advise smallholders by providing support on good agricultural practices and regenerative agriculture ideas to improve yields and create access to local and international markets. The programme is being implemented via partnerships in 18 countries in all regions and has already reached about 19,000 farmers.

Ronald Guendel, global head of Partnerships-Food Value Chain at Bayer: “We work to help the private sector respond to increasing consumer demands for farming practices which follow the principles of regenerative agriculture.”