Growing Together

Anniversaries are a perfect time for reflection. It’s hard to believe that just one year ago, Bayer and Monsanto came together to create a new global leader in agriculture. And while it’s tempting to look back at what we’ve accomplished, our grower customers know what matters most is how well we manage the seasons ahead.

Over the last year, we’ve worked hard to successfully combine our two companies. And although we faced some significant challenges along the way, we’re working hard to resolve them. Most importantly, we haven’t lost sight of the road ahead of us and the contribution we aim to make for agriculture and society.

That’s why we’ve committed to spending more on R&D in agriculture than anybody else, and why we’re so excited to bring growers the tools they need with the full support of our broad portfolio and our dedicated employees under one global roof. By aligning our creativity and expertise, we have an unprecedented opportunity to help improve farming, protect our planet and serve the diverse needs of consumers like you and me.

Our goal in combining two companies was never about just getting bigger; it is all about getting better. Being better is what we expect of ourselves, and what the world expects from us.

A newly released report from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) paints a grim picture of agriculture’s future, noting that we must completely transform how we use our land and grow our food to help address climate change. We couldn’t agree more. Making crops that grow more with fewer resources isn’t just an economic consideration – it’s also an environmental one. Billions of people will join our world in the next few decades, and like all of us, they’re going to need food, water and somewhere to live. With the right set of tools, farmers can feed the growing population without increasing the amount of land used for agriculture. We can and must preserve non-farmland for biodiversity and green space, whilst ensuring that agriculture is as sustainable as possible.

What I love about being in agriculture is that you get to work with Mother Nature every day. And you get to work with hard-working, down-to-earth farmers who need support to do their job as productively and sustainably as possible. Farmers have been innovating for thousands of years and we are working collaboratively with partners from all sectors of society to help make sure they can continue to do so in the future as well. After all, the future of everybody in the world depends on their success at feeding us without starving our planet.