Bayer AG is seeking to double the sales potential of its crop-science division by tapping opportunities to reduce carbon emissions from farming.
(Bloomberg) — Bayer AG is seeking to double the sales potential of its crop-science division by tapping opportunities to reduce carbon emissions from farming.
The chemicals firm sees more than €100 billion ($109 billion) in possible revenue from segments adjacent to its core agricultural businesses, it said in a statement Tuesday, without specifying a time frame. These include precision digital tools to reduce fertilizer waste, as well as using living organisms to control pests, it said.
With the push into so-called regenerative agriculture, traditional chemical makers such as Bayer and Syngenta AG are seeking to capitalize on the early stages of sweeping changes aimed at mitigating farming’s impact on climate change and biodiversity loss.
The new opportunities represent a doubling of accessible markets, Bayer said. The German company’s crop-science division, which has traditionally operated in areas such as seeds, genetically modified crops and pesticides, posted sales of €25.2 billion last year.
Agriculture accounts for almost a quarter of global emissions, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The production of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers — a key element to the productivity boom of the 1960s and 1970s that became known as the Green Revolution — accounts for 3% of emissions alone, Bayer said.
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