Helping Farmers Weather Climate Change

Bayer’s FieldView™ platform helps farmers maximize yields and manage risks using personalized data, real-time insights and satellite imagery.

Canadian farmers are acclimated to living and working in one of the most diverse weather systems in the world. Yet as major storms and weather events like floods and drought become increasingly unpredictable and severe, the impact on agriculture can be devastating.

“Farmers are on the front lines of weathering climate change; weather can impact farmers from the start of seeding to the final harvest,” says Al Driver, Country Division Head, Bayer Crop Science Canada “All weather events can impact the volume and quality of the crop. With the increasing frequency and severity of weather events farmers crop and agronomic decisions become so critical.”

Farming as the Solution

To support farmers, Bayer is unlocking products and solutions to make agriculture more climate-resilient, resource-efficient and sustainable. At the same time, it’s developing breakthrough innovations that flip current thinking on its head.

“When we think about climate change, we see farmers as part of the solution,” Al explains. “For example, we are reimagining the potential of the world’s massive tracts of farmland poised to pull carbon back into the ground, where it benefits crops and also the environment.”

Bayer’s FieldView™ platform provides farmers with data-powered, real-time insights and satellite imagery. “FieldView™ enables smart carbon practices that can reduce soil erosion; support better soil water retention and nutrient availability for crops; increase soil organic matter accumulation; enable higher crop productivity,” says Matt Eves, Digital Farming Solutions Lead – Canada.

Technology Connected to Sustainability

Just as climate and weather are evolving, so too are our products to withstand weather events and better protect the environment.

Technology helps us farm more sustainably. Overall, we’re using less to produce more and that certainly has benefits in terms of the environmental impact.

Ontario Farmer.

“With industry-leading R&D investments that are bringing more technology to North American farmers than ever before, we prioritize breeding innovations, Crop Protection products and digital solutions that maximize yield potential and focus on stronger healthier plants that need fewer inputs and fewer trips across the field with farming equipment,” Al says.

For example, Bayer’s new BUTEO® start protects canola seed needs against flea beetle pressure, enabling a stronger plant right off the start, even in dry conditions. Transformative products in the pipeline include Bayer’s Smart Corn System with Short Stature Corn, which provides improved standability in difficult weather and more optimized and targeted use of crop protection and nitrogen fertilizer in season.

“The data and insights provided by tools like FieldView™, with accurate predictive models to forecast and respond to issues, coupled with our trust in the strength of our seeds and traits (e.g., corn, soybean and canola) and crop protection technologies, allow us to explore new business models that share some of the risk and provide more reliable revenue streams for farmers as they navigate a more volatile climate,” Al says. “We are both energized and humbled by the opportunity to help shape the future of agriculture to the greater benefit of farmers and our planet.”