Bayer y Rothamsted Research han firmado un acuerdo marco estratégico para mejorar las colaboraciones en áreas científicas que respaldarán el desarrollo de soluciones agronómicas más personalizadas para los agricultores.
Sobre la base de un historial de colaboraciones, los socios están formando esta alianza estratégica para apoyar una revolución digital para detectar y gestionar amenazas bióticas como plagas, patógenos y malezas de forma más sostenible. Las actividades coordinadas, en el laboratorio y en el campo, generarán los datos, los conocimientos, las herramientas y las tecnologías que ayudarán a respaldar una transición hacia una protección de cultivos más inteligente.
Los socios trabajarán juntos en una serie de áreas de investigación: desde la detección en tiempo real de plagas en el medio ambiente hasta la comprensión de la evolución de la resistencia; y desde la identificación de nuevos modos de acción de los insecticidas hasta enfoques novedosos para el control de plagas.
“The strategic alliance with Rothamsted will help us find further sustainable solutions for the challenges that we face in modern agriculture. Bundling the expertise, know-how and exchange of ideas will lead to further innovation in our company,” said Dr. Adrian Percy, Global Head of Research and Development at Crop Science, a division of Bayer. “Crops are exposed to a wide range of both biotic and abiotic stresses, and we expect our enhanced collaboration with Rothamsted to help us develop a better understanding of how these factors can be more sustainably managed to reduce crop losses worldwide and manage resistance more effectively.”
“At the heart of our research lies the need to feed a growing world population in a more sustainable manner,” said Achim Dobermann, Director and Chief Executive of Rothamsted. “Although research institutions such as ours can contribute much in addressing that challenge, we need to partner with others, including industry, to achieve real breakthroughs and have bigger impacts. This alliance will provide us with a whole new opportunity to work together on complex challenges, towards making farming more precise, more productive … and more sustainable.”
“We are absolutely convinced that Digital Farming will revolutionize agriculture,” Tobias Menne, Head of Digital Farming at Bayer pointed out. “New technologies that detect stress factors long before they become visible to the human eye can help farmers to make better informed decisions earlier and more precisely. Fertilizer and crop protection can be applied at the best possible time and at the optimal dosage, using no more or less than needed by the plant.”
Menne added: “Innovative digital solutions, which combine data, agricultural knowledge and farming experience, help farmers to increase their profitability and take further steps towards a more sustainable way of farming.”
“Over the years we have conducted many projects in collaboration with Bayer, in the areas of both animal health and crop science,” said Lin Field, Head of Biointeractions and Crop Protection at Rothamsted. “These collaborations have allowed us, for instance, to take our fundamental knowledge of insecticide mode of action and resistance into the wider agrochemical industry to support more sustainable use of insecticides for both veterinary applications and crop protection.”
Field added: “A major ongoing project concerns ‘bee toxicogenomics’, which seeks to understand how bees metabolise insecticides and to inform the design of more selective chemistry. The new alliance will foster and support further collaborations and exchanges of ideas in areas of science and innovation that are of great importance for everyone.”
El progreso hacia prácticas más sostenibles avanza a un ritmo sin precedentes. El entorno agrícola es ahora uno en el que se pueden recopilar datos y acceder a ellos electrónicamente para modelar y pronosticar rápidamente cómo están evolucionando las amenazas, y así proporcionar a los agricultores una orientación mejor y más oportuna.