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Bayer call for modern agchems
May. 14, 2008
Bayer CropScience has called for Europe to embrace “modern crop protection and agricultural biotechnology”. Chairman of the board of management Dr Friedrich Berschauer warned that rising food prices would continue for the next few years, in an interview last month for the German newspaper, Die Welt. He addressed the issue of competing markets for agricultural land between food and fuel production, saying that Bayer’s guiding principle is: “Food production takes priority”.
Dr Berschauer complained that “the West” had become complacent about food production, saying that westerners believed that “food falls from above”, while the trend towards organic production makes “considerably less efficient use of land than conventional agriculture”.
Dr Berschauer explained the importance of “modern” crop protection, saying that without it “global harvest[s] would be 30-40% lower”. The Bayer chief stressed the cost effectiveness of pesticide products. “Expenditure on crop protection products accounts for about 8% of wheat production costs in Europe.” He compared that to the cost of machinery, energy and wages, which that accounts for “three-quarters” of farmers’ costs.
The Bayer chief also highlighted the importance of agricultural biotechnology. “One thing that could also contribute considerably to increasing productivity, if used responsibly, is plant biotechnology,” he said. Dr Berschauer claimed that the exclusion of such technology was ethically unjustifiable. “We in Europe must not persist in closing our eyes to the opportunities inherent in genetic engineering.”
Source: Bayer
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