Bayer is an international inventor company employing around 112,000 people worldwide and 1,000 in Australia and New Zealand. Bayer CropScience – the agriculture subgroup of the Bayer Group established in Australia – has invested $14 million into a state of the art Breeding Centre to innovate in Australia’s unique agricultural conditions. For this initiative, Bayer CropScience has been recognised as an ABA100 Winner for Community Contribution in The Australian Business Awards 2014.
Located at Longerenong College near Horsham, Victoria, the Breeding Centre will further establish the local community and wider Horsham area as one of the leading regions for grain research and development in Australia. This will allow new varieties of wheat to be studied, developed and trialed in local conditions to produce healthier quality crops that deliver higher yields. This new centre has created new jobs for the region and will act as a learning hub for local agricultural students. John Goldsmith, General Manager of Longerenong College saidthat the breeding centre has “already established a whole new world of opportunities for the existing and future agricultural students of our college.”
Innovation is at the heart of the Bayer CropScience. Developing new varieties of wheat and oilseed will create healthier, more sustainable crops capable of surviving the unique environmental stresses in Australia and ensure a higher resistance to disease. Rob Hall, General Manager of Bayer Seeds ANZ explained that the state-of-the-art facility is an “investment into the long term sustainability of the agriculture industry in Australia and in addition to cutting edge R&D will also provide young agricultural students with the opportunity to develop crucial skills working with the best technology and learning from our scientists.”
A commitment to enhancing world food security, Bayer CropScience works closely with Australian farmers to understand their requirements today to help meet their needs for tomorrow. “At Bayer we believe in Science For A Better Life and these strong partnerships are enabling us to develop new technologies which will help farmers become even more efficient and sustainable in the future,” said Mr Hall.
