Bayer Launches New “Vegetables by Bayer” Brand Platform to Reaffirm Commitment to Customer and Partners

With more than 20 different crops and thousands of innovative vegetable seed varieties, Seminis^® and De Ruiter^® have long provided cutting-edge solutions for customers in diverse open-field and protected environments. Now, they will join forces as part of “Vegetables by Bayer” with refreshed branding and an even deeper commitment to delivering value at every step – to growers, partners, consumers, and the planet. 

“By bringing together world-class experts and resources from across Bayer, the new ‘Vegetables by Bayer' umbrella enables our Seminis^® and De Ruiter^® brands to provide value to our customers and partners in new and exciting ways,” said Inci Dannenberg, President of Global Vegetable Seeds at Bayer.

That value is reflected across four core pillars: partnership, innovation, performance, and sustainability.

• Partnership: Beyond the farm, the Vegetables by Bayer brands are deeply engaged in Bayer’s Food Chain Partnership initiatives which bring together growers, food processors, retailers, traders and others along the food value chain. With a network of 70 Food Chain managers across 44 countries, the Food Chain Partnerships team coordinates initiatives to improve sustainability, food safety, quality, yields and transparency in more than 70 different crops.
• Innovation: With one of the most diverse germplasm libraries in the industry, combined with digital and crop protection innovations, Bayer is committed to developing integrated solutions that improve yield and adaptability, while delivering on consumer demand. This investment in innovation is seen in the recent launch of new tomato varieties with intermediate resistance to Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV), a viral disease that can be easily transmitted through farming tools and equipment, plants, water, soil and people. For the grower, these new varieties mean an opportunity to protect more marketable yield without fruit and leaf symptoms and provide a more consistent supply into the food chain. 
• Performance: From best-in-class seeds to an expert agronomic service with tailored  digital solutions, “Vegetables by Bayer” partners with growers and customers to support insightful accurate decisions in relation to crop steering and management consistently building more confidence with our top varieties. For example, its Advanced Precision Horticulture (APH) Venture Initiative combines data science, plant phenotyping, optimized glasshouse climate conditions, and tangible customer insights to help autonomous monitoring of plant growth and balance to better steer plant performance, building confidence every step of the way and allowing growers to maximize crop yield and returns.
• Sustainability: According to the FAO, approximately 1/3 of all food produced for human consumption globally is lost or wasted each year. With its Seminis^® and De Ruiter^® vegetable seeds, Bayer is committed to helping reduce food loss and waste, ensuring high-quality, nutritious produce reaches more consumers.
  • For example, as much as 40% of India’s tomatoes are lost before making it to the supermarket. New Bayer tomato hybrids such as ‘Ansal’ provide improved shelf life and the firmness required to survive the long and challenging journey from field to market.
  • Similarly, the ‘Yellow Gold 48’ watermelon launched in select geographies, turns yellow at the exact moment of perfect ripeness, signaling to the farmer that it is time for harvest. By collecting the fruit at this crucial moment, the melons reach the consumer at their peak freshness, and maintain that same quality for longer.
  • The Pocono onion offers incredible market flexibility thanks to its long-term storage potential of up to seven months, with exceptional quality out of storage, giving growers and value chain partners greater flexibility. 

The launch comes as the United Nations celebrates the “International Year of Fruits and Vegetables 2021,” which aims to raise awareness of the benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption. “From our industry-leading R&D to tailored solutions that go beyond the seed to meet the evolving needs of the market, ‘Vegetables by Bayer’ reflects our commitment to helping our customers grow their businesses so together we can foster a healthier, more sustainable world,” said Dannenberg.