Bolstering the food supply

$Young visitors Golriz Ranjbar, Henrique Leimkuhl-Schulz and Kun Wang (from left) also wanted more information on \"Bayer: Science For A Better Life\".$

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Young visitors Golriz Ranjbar, Henrique Leimkuhl-Schulz and Kun Wang (from left) also wanted more information on "Bayer: Science For A Better Life".

Wenning anticipates that the global seed and crop protection markets will provide a positive environment for Bayer CropScience again this year. Also of interest to the discussion participants was the increasing use of plants to produce fuel. “We are well aware that food and feed crops may sometimes be competing with fuel-producing plants for land,” Wenning said, adding that safeguarding food supplies in the face of a sharply increasing world population is without doubt among today’s most pressing challenges. He said Bayer is actively searching for ways to help cope with the growing demand for agricultural products. The goal here, he said, is to optimize the targeted use of crop protection products and to more effectively exploit both the possibilities offered by modern plant breeding methods and the opportunities inherent in plant biotechnology.

The Bayer MaterialScience subgroup expanded strongly in 2007, Wenning said in response to a stockholder’s question. He explained that the extent to which further increases in raw material costs can be passed on to customers in the form of higher selling prices depends on supply and demand in the various markets. Wenning was also asked about the future of the MaterialScience subgroup against the background of possible further acquisitions in the health care field. Said the Bayer Chairman: “MaterialScience is a core business for Bayer that makes outstanding contributions to implementing our corporate strategy.”