Promise of self-fertilizing attracts investment

Promise of self-fertilizing attracts investment

Bayer bets big on a future where crops are designed to fertilizer themselves

There are a lot of efforts underway to optimize and minimize fertilizer use in crop production. Precision agriculture tools are improving the accuracy of where fertilizer is placed so that as much of it as possible reaches the plants that need it. And researchers from at least two Canadian universities — Ottawa’s Carleton University and […] Read more

(Bayer.com)

Bayer sees more antitrust asset sales ahead

Frankfurt | Reuters — Bayer said it expected antitrust authorities to make the planned acquisition of Monsanto conditional on more asset sales after agreeing to sell seed and herbicide businesses for 5.9 billion euro (C$8.8 billion) to BASF. “By no means did the deal that was signed with BASF constitute the totality of antitrust divestitures… […] Read more


(CropScience.Bayer.ca)

BASF’s new Canadian stake to include three plants, 300 staff

Among the major players still in the world’s crop protection and seed business, remaining competitive comes at a cost. To be sure, several smaller companies remain in the game — but with marriages now consummated for Dow Chemical and DuPont, and for Syngenta and ChemChina, Bayer’s pending takeover of Monsanto and, now, BASF getting set […] Read more

(Photo courtesy BASF SE)

BASF to harvest seeds, herbicide businesses from Bayer

Frankfurt | Reuters — BASF has agreed to buy seed and herbicide businesses from Bayer for 5.9 billion euros (C$8.7 billion) in cash, as Bayer tries to convince competition authorities to approve its planned acquisition of Monsanto. BASF, the world’s third-largest maker of crop chemicals, has so far avoided seed assets and instead pursued research […] Read more



(Bayer.com)

Bayer says needs more time for Monsanto deal approval

Monheim, Germany | Reuters — German drugs and pesticides group Bayer said Tuesday it was now likely to be early next year before it can complete its US$66 billion deal to acquire U.S. group Monsanto, later than previously expected. The European Commission has been scrutinizing the proposed takeover with a deadline of Jan. 8 but […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

EU starts in-depth probe of Bayer-Monsanto deal

Brussels/Frankfurt | Reuters — The European Commission has started an in-depth investigation of Bayer’s planned US$66 billion takeover of U.S. seeds group Monsanto, saying it was worried about competition in various pesticide and seeds markets. The deal would create the world’s largest integrated pesticides and seeds company, the Commission said, adding this limited the number […] Read more

A screengrab from a promotional video for Bayer’s Proline fungicide. (Bayer CropScience Canada via YouTube)

Finer nozzle screens linked to Proline plug-ups

Bayer CropScience is recommending users of its Proline foliar fungicide double-check the nozzles they’re using before spraying, to avoid the “plugging issues” affecting some customers’ sprayers. The company on Wednesday reported a “small” number of cases in which farmers’ sprayers were plugging up during applications of Proline, a broad-spectrum prothioconazole (Group 3) suspension Bayer bills […] Read more