BAYER
“ TO DISCUSS IMPORTANT MATTERS DEEPLY I THINK YOU NEED TO BE IN THE SAME ROOM , ENGAGED IN A CREATIVE PROCESS WITH A FLIP-CHART AND SIX OR SEVEN OTHERS . THAT ' S THE WAY TO CREATE REAL SOLUTIONS TO REAL PROBLEMS ”
KLAUS KUNZ HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY , BAYER explain the problems . Continuing the paddy rice example , to save communities more than 50 % of the water now required and still grow a crop will require new varieties with greater stress tolerance and this opens new opportunities for innovation . “ I used to make the mistake of promoting impact reduction , which some in the business equated with revenue reduction : now I think we all see that huge new opportunities are opening for us – for example the carbon business that we now have didn ' t exist before . If we want to drive culture change in the business , these are the key messages we need to understand .”
Another example is reducing pesticide impact . “ Will this mean taking products off the market ? Well , Bayer has been screening products for decades , not just selecting those with the greatest efficiency against pests and diseases but for safety , the protection of beneficial organisms , and more selectivity : this is more embedded than ever , and any product coming into our pipeline today has to meet these standards . The entire business is beginning to really engage here , and I find that extremely exciting as we all start to see added value and new revenue streams coming out of sustainable practices .” As a commitment , five years ago , Bayer announced that it would make its vast database on its crop protection products , previously only shared with regulators , publicly available : a huge step he says in establishing public trust .
On the matter of pesticide safety , the burden does not rest solely on manufacturers . What can be done about end users who over-use products , or in extreme cases dispose of empty containers unsafely , or wholesalers that supply irresponsible retailers ? But Bayer is playing its part . He has a team working on business stewardship . It ' s one thing to have proper labelling and user guidelines , but many farmers may not be able to read . “ It ' s so important that we train and train farmers , talk to governments in those societies to make sure there is proper use of crop protection . Professionalism is often lacking in the downstream supply chain . I have teams working on these problems : for me end-to-end sustainability is central to our work .” sustainabilitymag . com 41