Breaking through the Clouds…and Charting a Brighter Future
March 4, 2020 – a day that stands out freshly in my mind but feels like it was an eternity ago.
That morning, I was in Arizona for the grand opening of our Marana Greenhouse. I remember feeling extremely optimistic that this celebration would be just one early milestone in an exciting year not only for our organization, but also the communities and customers we serve. The idyllic setting only furthered my good mood – the buzz of people gathered in conversation, the curiosity around Marana and the bright sunshine anchoring the cloudless blue sky and making a late-winter morning feel like spring had sprung.
Little did I know that the Marana celebration would be one of the last true days of "normalcy" for many of those in attendance. One week later, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic as the novel coronavirus continued to spread. It was the last time I would see many of my colleagues in person, one of the last major onsite events for Bayer Crop Science…and the last time a handshake would be "socially acceptable."
2020 was one of the most challenging years our society and industry have experienced, and many of my colleagues and neighbors are just ready for it to end. The shifts in how the world works, lives and communicates have felt overwhelming at times and made it challenging to follow anything close to a typical routine. For the growers Bayer serves, the pandemic just added another element to a devastating mix of natural events, storms and insect infestations that further pushed them to the brink.
While the year feels like one giant dark cloud in many ways, I'm encouraged at how it's reinforced the essential roles of science and agriculture in day-to-day life and the value of resilience in the face of chaos. Despite global restrictions and threats to health and safety, the industry kept food chains operating and prevented this crisis of health from becoming one of hunger.
Since it's way too easy to focus on what the year disrupted or took away, I'd rather reposition the spotlight on what agriculture (and Bayer in particular) achieved and why I feel that when all is said and done, 2020 will still be a turning point for agriculture:
· Redefining our Purpose: I've always firmly believed that agriculture's purpose is not just about what happens in the field, but how what happens in the field impacts the world. COVID-19 exposed the fragility of our food systems and the need to strengthen the entire supply chain to sustain our growers and those who rely on them. For a leading life science company like Bayer, this was a loud reminder to reexamine our long-term ambitions. In April, we introduced our "Health for All. Hunger for None." vision to chart new and more sustainable courses for producing and delivering nutritious food. Shortly after, we launched our "Better Farms, Better Lives" campaign to provide seeds and tools to nearly two million global smallholders reeling from COVID-driven operational disruptions.
· Boosting Agriculture's "Health": 2020 also furthered the intersection of agriculture and healthcare – two industries dedicated to fostering a healthier humanity. I'm particularly proud of the creativity, resiliency and generosity these industries exhibited to meet the needs of neighboring communities. Just one of the many examples of this came from our Bayer U.S. team, who rose to the occasion by reallocating facilities and equipment to assemble testing kits, face shields and protective equipment for St. Louis-area healthcare providers.
· Forging Ahead Together: The purveying theme of the pandemic's early days was the idea that "we'll all get through this together." For agriculture, 2020 simply validated our long-standing commitment to collaboration and Open Innovation. It was inspiring to see the ingenuity and perseverance that emerged this year, whether from local businesses and producers aligning to set up pop-up food stores or supply chain lines welcoming partners to deliver valuable food and supplies. Bayer also explored new – and at times non-traditional – avenues to tackle global hunger challenges alongside leading organizations who share our mission:
o Through a new research collaboration with Oxitec, we will develop Friendly™ fall armyworms to safely and sustainably combat a destructive pest capable of wiping out millions of Brazilian corn acres each year.
o In partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), we are working with West African National Research Systems to develop and deliver new pest- and disease-resistant cowpea varieties – improving the yield potential of more than 100 million smallholders in humid and semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa.
o We also closed the year by announcing a collaboration with Syngenta Crop Protection and Rothamsted Research to establish the Pest Genomic Initiative (PGI), an effort to reduce crop losses and conserve biodiversity by sequencing and annotating the genomes of key global pests and beneficial insects.
· Continuing Curiosity: Even as many members of our global R&D team were pulled away from labs and into remote work, we continued to further research initiatives that will play a key role in shaping the future of agriculture. The events following Marana's opening should not undermine the exceptional research already taking place in and complementary to the facility. We seamlessly transitioned in-field consultations and testing to virtual environments. And I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the exceptional work of Dr. Ralf Nauen, one of Bayer’s leading insect researchers and a three-time Clarivate "Highly Cited Researchers" honoree!
In reflecting on 2020, I am even more inspired by and grateful for the agility of farmers and everyone who keeps agriculture going against often challenging circumstances. Through the resiliency and innovative thinking that emerged this year, I have no doubt that brighter days are ahead.