Bayer Opens Wheat Breeding Facility in France
20 June 2013 
Bayer CropScience opened a new Wheat Breeding Station located in a major wheat growing region near Paris in Parc Gâtinais. This center is part of Bayer’s growing network of wheat breeding stations worldwide – located in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ukraine and the United States.
The breeding program will focus on improving yields, addressing challenges with regard to water-use efficiency and heat tolerance and improving resistance to wheat fungal diseases. Grain quality is another important criterion. The first commercial varieties from the breeding program at this station are expected by the end of the decade.
Frank Garnier, president of Bayer Group in France, said: “The need for food will dramatically increase over the coming decades. We feel at Bayer CropScience it is our responsibility to heavily invest in innovation and to transform the wheat seed and trait market in a way which will also, for the future, enable French wheat producers to address this major challenge.”
Rick Turner, global head of wheat and oilseeds at Bayer CropScience, added: “Bayer CropScience is committed to innovation in wheat, and we know progress comes from increasing genetic combinations and improved selection, which is why we are linking research to our breeding pipeline. But we cannot do it in just one market alone. The wheat breeding station at Milly-la-Forêt helps form a strong foundation of Bayer CropScience’s wheat breeding program worldwide. Milly, like our other stations, will use local expertise and well adapted germplasm to create varieties best suited to the local market.”
Wheat Overview
According to Bayer, about 25% of the world’s arable land is planted with wheat, making it the most widely grown crop and one of the world’s most important staple foods. Wheat ranks second behind corn in terms of cereals production, with more than 650 million tons grown yearly. Wheat productivity is growing at a rate of less than 1% annually, while the global demand is increasing twice as fast. The main wheat-producing regions are the EU, China, North America, Russia and Australia. France is the leading wheat producer in Europe.
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