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Bayer says open innovation is the way to go

One of the world’s leading crop product companies says open innovation is the best way to bring farmers the innovative solutions they need.

Dr. Bob Reiter, head of Research and Development for Bayer Crop Science, during the Future of Farming Dialogue, says collaboration is the key, “Despite the fact that I have the great privilege of leading an incredibly talented team and we’re focused on agriculture with our investment and spending ov over 2.3 Billion Euros, we can’t do it alone.”

One of Bayer’s partners is Rantizo, a drone company that targets spraying to specific crops for specific needs. CEO Tom Ott says partnering with Bayer has provided credibility and scale for his business, “We’re spraying insecticide, herbicide and fertilizer. Not, insecticide on our weeds or fertilizer on our insects which people commonly do because there’s (been) really no other way to do it. But now, we have the ability to be really precise like that.”

Another Bayer partner, Pairwise, is getting ready to launch a novel leafy green in 2022, developed through gene editing.