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Technologies to Increase Productivity
Technologies to Increase Productivity
Raise Yields, Protect Natural Habitats
Bayer CropScience is researching many different ways to increase crop yields. And this work not only benefits farmers. Higher yields also help protect natural habitats – as well as the animal and plant species living there. After all, available areas of arable land will only be sufficient to supply the constantly growing world population with enough food and agricultural raw materials if crop productivity can be increased.
| High productivity uses less land: Natural habitats are conserved. | Low productivity uses more land: Natural habitats and biodiversity are destroyed. |
However, the obvious solution to this problem – i.e. finding additional arable land – is not desireable. Increasing the area of arable land would mean sacrificing natural habitats, such as forests or jungles. This would have negative effects for biodiversity, since these are the very habitats that are home to a particularly large number of different animal and plant species.
In general, there are two ways to increase yields. One way is to successfully control pests that destroy much of the potential yields. Innovative technologies that improve the productivity of the plants themselves – in other words, their yield capabilities – are also crucial in this equation. Bayer CropScience is active in both fields and makes major contributions through its new developments.
Increasing agricultural output on the available farm land
An example of one of these new developments is hybrid seed technology. With this technology Bayer CropScience has succeeded in increasing certain crop yields substantially. The advantage of hybrid technology is the ability to combine the specific genetic information of different varieties. By carefully selecting the “parent plants,” it is possible to obtain seeds with optimized properties – especially in terms of yield capabilities.
Hybrid rice varieties from Bayer CropScience have already been commercialized in some Asian countries and in Brazil. The yields of these rice varieties are in some cases 30 percent higher than rice crops from conventional seeds. Especially for Asian countries with their high population growth, these increased yields provide a major contribution to securing food supplies, while only making use of land areas currently available for cultivation.
 | Drought: lack of water and heat are two of the main stress factors that cause harvests to fail. |
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Seed-enhancing technologies do not only focus on the crop’s yield capabilities. In some cases, other traits are also selectively optimized. For example, Bayer CropScience is working to increase the so-called stress tolerance of plants. The idea is to ensure the ability to produce full yields even in adverse growing conditions, such as in drought, in hot or cold climates or in areas with excessive soil salinity. This field could gain in importance due to the consequences of a possible climate change. The first drought-tolerant sorghum and rice varieties have already been commercialized, for example in India.
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[ last update: Friday, June 6, 2008 ]