Addressing crop consultants attending the BASF Innovation to Action Symposium underway in Grapevine, Texas Tuesday morning, Scott Kay, US Crop Marketing Manager for BASF, focused on “tying all the pieces together.” 

“From productivity to effectiveness, making life easier to creating value,” Kay explained, “Innovation does many things.”

Kay explained that innovation gives farmers more choices, more information, more technology and sometimes, with this volume of information about new products today and for the future, it can offer confusion. So, Kay said it is key for BASF to work with the crop consultants who are the key influencers on the ground floor in getting the innovations communicated and introduced to farmers.

Kay said the products BASF is going to deliver will increase yield and create more efficiencies. BASF will continue to work closely with the crop consultants who are quite often the farmers trusted advisors, to get that message out.

BASF invited crop consultants from across the United States to participate in the BASF Innovation into Action Symposium. 

Brownfield coverage of the BASF Innovation Into Action Symposium is sponsored by:

 

Conversation with Scott Kay

In his opening address to the BASF Innovation into Action Symposium Tuesday morning, Paul Rae, Director U.S. Crop Protection business for BASF, suggested everyone could learn from Colonel Mike Mullane’s presentation Monday night in which he encouraged us to “push the performance envelope.” Rae said that is exactly what BASF is doing with innovation.

Rea talked about how, just like athletes competing in the Winter Olympics, American farmers, BASF and the ag industry in general in this country is much more innovative and “pushing the limits” like never before.

“I think it is important that we understand that just like in sports, for example the Winter Olympics, athletes are always pushing themselves to the extremes of their performance limits. And I think that over the last century, sports are a great source of inspiration for us in terms of what is possible in terms of pushing the boundaries of human performance. I think there is a great analogy to that with agriculture. For the last 100 years the revolution that has gone on within agriculture particularly within the U.S. is just remarkable. Farmers are doing much more with fewer resources than ever before and they are using new technologies like never before. I think the advancements they have made have really pinned the development of society overall in terms of providing a reliable and plentiful source of food.

And how does BASF fit into that picture? Rea explains, “I believe it is very important that we like to consider ourselves a leader in helping farmers get the most from every acre. We have made huge investments in agriculture over our entire history none more so now than today when we see great opportunity for innovation and to really provide farmers with the new tools that they need to succeed in the future. They have unmet needs out there and they have more problems that they need solutions to. It is companies like BASF who are actually making an investment every year in research so that farmers continue to have the tools they will need in the next decade and beyond to be successful.”

Rea believes sustainability is fundamental to business. “I think sustainability is all about doing the right thing today for tomorrow. BASF is extremely committed to that and has made considerable advancements in reducing our imprint on the environment and will continue to do that because it makes good business sense. I think that BASF is a real leader in this area. I think that understanding what our impression is on our environment and society is critical to our long term business success and is something we see is fundamental to who we are.”

As for the future look for agriculture and for BASF, Rea expects challenge, excitement and change.

Brownfield coverage of the BASF Innovation Into Action Symposium is sponsored by:

A conversation with Dr. Paul Rea

Brownfield coverage of the BASF Innovation Into Action Symposium is sponsored by: