Bayer CropScience

Bayer CropScience (BCS) was a German agrochemical company and subsidiary of the Bayer Group. It was formed in October 2002 during a restructuring of Bayer AG, combining Bayer’s former plant-protection division, which dated to 1924, with Aventis CropScience, acquired in 2001. The company was headquartered in Monheim am Rhein, North Rhine-Westphalia. Its European regional headquarters for the EMEA area was in Lyon, France, and its German production locations included Dormagen, the Höchst industrial park in Frankfurt, and the Knapsack Chemical Park in Hürth. BCS had nearly 90 subsidiaries worldwide and operated across three main areas: Crop Protection, Environmental Science, and Bio Science. Crop Protection was its largest activity, centered on chemical protection of plants in agriculture. Environmental Science covered non-agricultural applications, including lawn-care products and insecticides. Bio Science offered solutions in biotechnology and plant breeding. The company’s work therefore spanned agricultural crop-protection products as well as products and technologies for other environmental applications and plant improvement. Research and development in seeds and plant biotechnology were prominent parts of its stated plans. In 2011, then-director Sandra Peterson announced plans for annual investment of €400 million in plant genetic engineering by 2015, and for total seed research and development spending to rise by 20% to €850 million annually. The company also stated an intention to move away from older conventional crop-protection products, including phasing out insecticides considered particularly harmful by the World Health Organization. Bayer CropScience was involved in significant controversies concerning seed-treatment insecticides and genetically modified rice. In 2008, clothianidin, an active ingredient in a Bayer CropScience seed-treatment insecticide, was identified as the cause of substantial honeybee mortality in parts of southwestern Germany; German authorities suspended the use of clothianidin and other neonicotinoids. In 2006, the company reported traces of its experimental herbicide-tolerant LL 601 rice in US food and animal-feed supply chains. The resulting rice contamination litigation included a 2011 Arkansas court award to Riceland Foods and a later settlement covering producers of long-grain rice grown from 2006 to 2010. The Bayer CropScience company identity ended as a standalone company on 1 January 2016, when it was replaced by Crop Science as a division of Bayer under the group’s “New Bayer” strategy. The name is therefore associated with a former Bayer business rather than a currently separate operating company.

Bayer CropScience emerged from the restructuring of Bayer AG in October 2002. Its formation brought together Bayer’s former plant-protection division, established in 1924, and Aventis CropScience, which Bayer acquired in 2001. It operated as an agrochemical subsidiary of the Bayer Group, with its headquarters in Monheim am Rhein, North Rhine-Westphalia. The company also had an EMEA regional headquarters in Lyon, France, and production sites in Germany at Dormagen, the Höchst industrial park in Frankfurt, and the Knapsack Chemical Park in Hürth. The company reported having nearly 90 subsidiaries worldwide. Its operations were organized into Crop Protection, Environmental Science, and Bio Science. Crop Protection was the largest business area and concerned chemical plant protection in agriculture. Environmental Science served non-agricultural applications, including lawn care and insecticides. Bio Science offered biotechnology and plant-breeding solutions. These activities placed the company across agricultural crop protection, environmental products, and plant-improvement technologies. In 2011, director Sandra Peterson announced plans to invest €400 million per year in plant genetic engineering by 2015 and to increase total seed research and development spending by 20% to €850 million annually. The company also described a transition away from older conventional crop-protection products, including the planned withdrawal of insecticides assessed by the World Health Organization as particularly harmful. Two controversies documented in the supplied account involved clothianidin and experimental genetically modified rice. In spring 2008, substantial honeybee mortality was observed in parts of southwestern Germany, and clothianidin—an active ingredient in a Bayer CropScience seed-treatment insecticide—was identified as the cause. German authorities suspended the use of that substance and other neonicotinoids. In 2006, Bayer CropScience reported traces of its experimental, herbicide-tolerant LL 601 rice in US human-food or animal-feed supply chains, although the company had not intended to commercialize the variety. The US Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration concluded, after reviewing available scientific data, that there was no health or environmental risk. The European Commission also reported finding traces in rice imports from the United States. In 2011, a Stuttgart, Arkansas court ordered Bayer CropScience to pay Riceland Foods $136.8 million; later that year Bayer CropScience agreed to pay $750 million to settle litigation related to the contamination, covering producers who had grown long-grain rice from 2006 through 2010. The standalone company was replaced on 1 January 2016 by a Bayer division named Crop Science, as part of the group’s “New Bayer” strategy. Bayer CropScience is consequently a former company and historical business identity within Bayer, rather than a separate company continuing under that name.

• Bayer’s plant-protection division established

• Bayer acquired Aventis CropScience

• Bayer CropScience formed in Bayer restructuring

• Traces of experimental LL 601 rice reported in supply chains

• Clothianidin linked to honeybee mortality in southwestern Germany

• Arkansas court awarded damages to Riceland Foods

• Agreed to rice-contamination litigation settlement

• Standalone company replaced by Bayer Crop Science division

A Bayer agrochemical business combining agricultural crop protection with non-agricultural environmental applications and biotechnology and plant-breeding solutions.

• Crop Protection

  The company’s largest business area, focused on chemical plant protection in agriculture.

• Environmental Science

  Non-agricultural applications, including lawn-care products and insecticides.

• Bio Science

  Biotechnology and plant-breeding solutions.

• Clothianidin seed-treatment insecticide

  A Bayer CropScience insecticide used for seed treatment; its active ingredient clothianidin was identified as the cause of substantial honeybee mortality in parts of southwestern Germany in 2008.

• LL 601 rice

  An experimental herbicide-tolerant rice variety that Bayer CropScience said it did not intend to commercialize.

• Clothianidin and honeybee mortality

• LL 601 genetically modified rice contamination and litigation

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• Planned increased investment in plant genetic engineering and seed R&DOther

• Planned withdrawal of older and particularly harmful insecticidesOther

• Transition to Bayer Crop Science divisionOther

1. 1Bayer CropSciencefr.wikipedia.org
2. 2Bayer CropSciencewikidata.org
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