Regenerative agriculture: a new blue ocean for agriculture in the era of carbon neutrality
Today, the megatrend of carbon neutrality is increasingly influencing the development of various industries. With the empowerment of innovative technologies such as digitalization and artificial intelligence, the agricultural sector is also building a more low-carbon and sustainable future. Against this backdrop, regenerative agriculture, the next "blue ocean" area of global agriculture full of opportunities, has surfaced and is accelerating into people's field of vision.
More sustainable resource use and production models
In recent years, international organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have strongly advocated regenerative agriculture as the model that best contributes to the achievement of sustainable agricultural goals. Regenerative agriculture focuses on creating a sustainable and environmentally friendly agro-ecosystem, which is one that improves productivity and the economic well-being of farmers and communities, while conserving water resources, mitigating climate change, improving soil health, and protecting and restoring biodiversity.
In this regard, innovative regenerative agriculture solutions will be tailored to a wide range of crops to help increase yields, promote soil regeneration, and minimize the adverse impact of farming on the climate and the wider environment. Moreover, in the development of regenerative agriculture, the trend of digital empowerment has become more and more significant.
Global agricultural giants: Regenerative agriculture is shaping the future of agriculture
Recently, this concept was also highlighted at Bayer CropScience's 2023 Global Agriculture Summit in New York. On this platform to showcase its R&D pipeline and innovative technologies to the outside world, the global agritech giant underscores its strong confidence in expanding into the regenerative agriculture sector. By continuing to maintain its core business strengths in seeds, traits, crop protection and digital agriculture, Bayer intends to focus on regenerative agriculture as a new and important starting point to tap into opportunities in adjacent agricultural markets with a potential market size of more than 100 billion euros.
Rodrigo Santos, President of Bayer's CropScience division and member of the Board of Directors of the Bayer Group, said: "Regenerative agriculture is the future of agriculture. He talked about Bayer's solutions to help farmers produce more with less resources and restore soil health, which will drive the company's growth in the future. ″
Looking ahead, Bayer will focus on solutions for key pillars of regenerative agriculture, including improving production efficiency, socio-economic well-being of growers and communities, protecting water resources, mitigating climate change, improving soil health, and protecting and restoring biodiversity.
This vision is underpinned by a strong R&D capacity for agricultural innovation. In 2022, Bayer made significant progress in a total of 15 projects, including new crop protection active ingredients, new seed traits and digital models. Bayer launched 500 new hybrids and varieties, updated its seed portfolio, and launched 10 new crop protection formulations and more than 250 new registrations. R&D investment in 2022 before special items amounted to EUR 2.6 billion, which will continue to be used to advance pipelines with peak sales potential of more than EUR 30 billion, half of which is incremental from the existing base.
"Bayer is taking digital transformation very seriously, is committed to continuous innovation, and is leading the way in regenerative agriculture by partnering with strong companies," said Rodrigo Santos. Our ambition is to improve agriculture, increase its production efficiency, promote sustainability and make a positive impact on the environment. ″
The Chinese market: regenerative agriculture is coming now
In China, driven by the "dual carbon" goal and the requirements of high-quality agricultural development, the localization of regenerative agriculture has also been in full swing. According to reports, the rice regenerative agriculture project jointly carried out by Bayer CropScience, Nestlé and Netafim has been launched in Xinzhan Town, Zhaoyuan County, Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province. The three parties will work together to explore feasible solutions for regenerative agriculture, so that sustainable agricultural innovation can be combined with tradition, so as to ensure food security, ensure ecological and green development, and achieve low-carbon goals.
In fact, as an agricultural model that relies on the policy environment and innovative technology support, regenerative agriculture in China has a broader space for development.
On the one hand, China attaches great importance to the agricultural sector and regards it as a strategic industry, and has given sound policy support and guarantees in the direction of agricultural technology innovation, agricultural sustainability, and cultivated land protection, which is conducive to paving the way for the development of regenerative agriculture. On the other hand, for digital innovation tools, smart drones, mobile apps, etc., which rely on regenerative agriculture, China's mature infrastructure environment such as communication and electricity covering the vast rural areas can also become a strong support for the better development of regenerative agriculture.
Whether it is the forward-looking insights of the global agricultural innovation giants, or the welcoming gesture of regenerative agriculture in China, one of the world's largest agricultural markets, it marks the beginning of a new agricultural journey in this "carbon neutral" era. In the future, it remains to be seen how much market value and social value regenerative agriculture can unleash.
