Miller Magazine Issue 137 May 2021

26 MILLER / may 2021 NEWS New partnership aims to provide farmers with new high-potential wheat varieties, enhancing sustainable agricultural practices. RAGT and Bayer have entered an exclusive collaboration to jointly develop state-of-the-art hybrid wheat varieties. The two companies, which seek to meet the evolving needs of farmers in Europe, will pool their strengths by combining Eu- rope's leading soft wheat genetics with access to the latest breeding methodologies, high-performing seed production systems and advanced digital solutions. Wheat is the most widely grown food crop in the world. In the European Union and the United Kingdom alone, more than 25 million hectares are under yearly cultivation. Wheat provides about 20 percent of the proteins consumed in the world. Securing the wheat harvests through hybrid wheat production systems that help increase yield and robustness of the crop will help meet the expected increase in food con- sumption to feed a growing world population. Through a combination of Bayer’s leading position in wheat crop protection, expertise in seed production systems and its front-running digital solutions in agriculture, and RAGT’s, leading position as a cereal seed company in Europe with constant varietal seed innovations, both companies intend to advance the development of hybrid wheat technology and provide an innovative wheat growing system. “Hybrid wheat offers farmers the opportunity to meet the challenges of climate change while achieving higher produc- tivity in sustainable cropping systems,” says Bob Reiter, Head of Research and Development at the Crop Science division of Bayer. “We are delighted to partner with RAGT to bring wheat farmers new solutions that support their efforts to pro- duce a quality wheat crop.” Bruno Tremblay, Regional head of Europe, Middle East and Africa for the Bayer Crop Science division confirms: “Our agreement with RAGT kicks off another exciting collabora- tion of two historical partners with the complimentary inno- vation and digital capabilities needed to unlock the potential of the agronomic performance in wheat. Together, we will bring an industry-leading hybrid wheat production system to our growers in Europe. This will also contribute to a more self-sufficient European food and feed production system.” Laurent Guerreiro, General Manager of RAGT Semences, also sees this collaboration as a turning point for farmers: “RAGT has continuously pursued a sustainable agriculture approach. This agreement, which aims to provide improved wheat and new cultivation practices, will enable us to sup- port farmers even better. We are in line with the needs of an evolving agriculture. These innovations will enable meet- ing the needs of different types of agriculture: Concretely, by associating parent crops who each have innovative char- acteristics, we will be able to offer farmers wheat varieties that address the main problems farmers face in any of their fields,” says Laurent Guerreiro. RAGT and Bayer collaborate to develop hybrid wheat seeds for European markets