BASF, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, has strengthened it activities in research and development for sustainable agricultural innovations to continue helping farmers to overcome environmental and economic challenges and meet consumers’ demand for more sustainability produced food.
With solutions launching throughout the next decade, the pipeline supports the company’s goal to annually increase its sales share of agricultural solutions with substantial contribution to sustainability by 7%.
By 2030, more than 30 major research and development projects will complement BASF’s connected offer of seeds and seed treatment products, chemical and biological solutions and digital services. This brings the pipeline to an estimated peak sales potential of more than $8.4 billion in United States dollars. In 2020, BASF spent around 11% of the agricultural solutions division’s segment sales on research and development.
“BASF leads in solutions for sustainable agriculture. In addition to developing innovations, we also provide a connected offer, combining effective products as well as new technologies and services, tailored to farmers’ needs,” said Paul Rea, senior vice president, BASF Agricultural Solutions North America. “Sustainability is engrained in our entire R&D process. It leads the way in how we develop our innovations, which help farmers produce more crops and increase efficiency while preserving natural resources.”
BASF has committed to ambitious sustainability targets for its agricultural business by 2030. Besides increasing the annual sales share of sustainable agricultural solutions farmers will be supported in reducing their carbon dioxide by 30% per ton of crop produced. Further, company strives to apply digital technologies on more than 400 million hectares of farmland cumulatively by 2030, while continuing to ensure the safe use of its products.
By 2050, farmers will have to feed an estimated 9.7 billion people, requiring an increase in productivity of 50%. Digitalization has the potential to make an important contribution to this. The company is advancing its digital technologies together with other innovations across its entire portfolio. This combination allows farmers to achieve better yield on existing arable land, while supporting biodiversity preservation.
