Seed companies see a future in hybrid wheat

Chemical group Bayer and breeding company RAGT announced today (Tuesday 20 April) a partnership for the development of hybrid winter wheat varieties.

Bayer is one of the market leaders in crop protection and RAGT is a major player in the European grain breeding market. With the collaboration, the companies want to provide European farmers with new robust wheat varieties with a high yield, which are suitable for sustainable agriculture.

Wheat is an important crop
With an area of ​​25 million hectares in the EU and the UK and a 20% share of global protein consumption, wheat is an important crop according to both companies. “Hybrid wheat varieties offer farmers the opportunity to address the challenges of climate change while increasing yields in a sustainable cropping system,” said Bob Reiter, head of research and development at Bayer Crop Science in a press release. "We are happy to work with RAGT to develop new solutions for the farmer to support the production of quality wheat."

RAGT sees the collaboration as a turning point for farmers. "RAGT strives for sustainable agriculture", says Laurent Guerreiro, general manager of RAGT. "With this collaboration, we are working on better wheat varieties and new cultivation methods. This way we stay in line with developments in the agricultural sector."

Re-entry
In 2018, Bayer had to divest several business units by order of the competition authorities after the acquisition of Monsanto. This included the sale of the R&D department for the development of hybrid wheat to BASF. "Since then, we have been looking for opportunities to re-enter this market. We found them in RAGT," the Bayer press officer said when asked. Boerenbusiness† The collaboration focuses only on winter wheat and not on other crops in which both companies are active.

Jurphaas Lugtenburg

Is editor at Boerenbusiness and focuses mainly on the arable farming sectors and the feed and energy market. Jurphaas also has an arable farm in Voorne-Putten (South Holland). Every week he presents the Market Flash Grains

j.lugtenburg @boerenbusiness. Nl

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