Carbon neutral: they launch a program that benefits producers

07/24/2021 5:36 AM

• Clarín.com

• Rural

Updated 7/24/2021 5:36 AM

With the aim of building a carbon neutral agriculture from this 2021/2022 campaign.

The Bayer company launched PRO Carbon, a program that is part of the Bayer Carbon initiative and that offers new opportunities to Argentine producers who are willing to expand their productivity and increase carbon sequestration in the soil through the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices.

"A few years ago, Bayer Crop Science assumed its global commitment to sustainability, with the purpose of contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture by 30%," explained

Mauricio Rodrigues

, Director of Commercial Operations at Bayer LATAM .

“In this way, he said,

we want to be pioneers in the construction of a carbon neutral agriculture

, based not only on reducing emissions, but also on eliminating greenhouse gases already present in the atmosphere.

We will do this based on science and innovation and creating opportunities for producers to count on agriculture as a solution to climate change ”.

In this sense, Bayer's Carbon initiative is based on science, is transparent and, thanks to its focus on producers, seeks to develop solutions that help guarantee food safety and take care of the environment with the aim of

creating value together with the main actors in the chain.

"Through programs such as PRO Carbon,

producers can be rewarded not only for how much they produce, but also for how they do it

; in line with our sustainability commitments and the objective of transforming agriculture into an increasingly strategic actor for solve the planet's climate challenges ”, detailed Rodrigues.

For his part,

Juan Farinati

,

Head

of Commercial Operations at Bayer Crop Science Southern Cone pointed out that “

Argentine agriculture is already one of the most sustainable on the planet

, but there is still room for improvement.

When we intensify management through sustainable agronomic practices, we increase the possibility of extracting the real value of each germplasm, producing more and more responsibly ”, he explained.

All PRO Carbon participants will apply management practices that increase carbon sequestration in the soil.

In return, they will be able to benefit from greater soil fertility and carbon analysis, access to content and professionals who are benchmarks on the subject and also receive the support of a technical consultancy for the project area.

The initiative will also make it possible to achieve significant profits over three years.

As explained by

Fernanda Otero

, Commercial Operations Leader of Bayer Carbon Venture for Argentina "on the basis of the projects and scientific studies that we have already carried out, we estimate that at the end of the program it will be possible to increase carbon sequestration in soil, stubble and biodiversity, added to potential benefits, which, on average, could be close to more than 10% in yield and more than 6% in profitability. "

How does it work

The project began in Argentina in 2014, hand in hand with the Bayer development team, with the participation of academics from different institutions and universities, along with experts and referents from some producer associations. With them, the first steps were taken in 55 lots distributed in 8 provinces, with 110 different operations and where approximately 11,000 soil samples were carried out. Added to this is the experience of the Program in Brazil, where the results of 400 producers in 15 States were studied, with more than 80,000 soil samples analyzed.

Thanks to this joint work, it was possible to learn and gain knowledge of the behavior on the real dynamics of carbon in temperate soils, measurement methods, development of models aimed at expansion and scalability and methods for quantifying soil health. "The robustness and solidity of the program that we are launching today is due to many years of working together," said

Patricio Gunning

,

Head

of Public Affairs and Sustainability at Bayer Crop Science for Argentina.

For Gunning, “from the carbon program

we want to transform sustainability into a new business model

, rely on digital platforms, incorporate sustainable agricultural practices in order to achieve more productivity, more sustainability and greater carbon sequestration in the soil, building the ecosystem called PRO Carbon ”.

The objective in Argentina for this first phase is to have 100 producers.

Meanwhile, those who join this proposal will have 5 benefits:

In the first place, they

have a socio-environmental diagnosis

, a tool through which they will give transparency and credibility to the way they carry out their activities.

In addition, by

using Field View

, Bayer's digital platform, with its premium FV PLUS license, will have a tool with great potential that will allow them to be more efficient in handling data and achieve transparency, in addition to having productivity maps. and carbon.

Likewise, from the

soil sample

taking

, it will be possible to know what the initial soil carbon situation is at the start of the program.

A

technical consultant

will

also

be accompanying them in the implementation of the management processes and providing them with a three-year management plan to ensure the results of the program.

And finally, they

will have training

 through the coordination of meetings with technical references.

For his part,

Gustavo Idígoras

, president of the Chamber of the Argentine Oil Industry (CIARA) pointed out that “the demand of the purchasing countries for Argentine commodities is in strong growth, not only from the European Union, but from the Asian countries too ”.

He warned that “we must structure responses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other measures aimed at achieving carbon neutrality in the medium term. Argentina has enormous opportunities to promote the decarbonization of agriculture and position itself as a world leader in this area and have opportunities to access new markets and differential prices. On the contrary, if we don't, we run the risk of losing markets and having a price penalty for not being able to access them ”.

With this initiative

, Bayer seeks to lead agricultural decarbonization

. With a global presence and an integral value offer that is adapted to each region, it offers climate-smart solutions that help producers to grow in a sustainable way both environmentally and financially. Additionally, the science-based approach ensures that our carbon efforts are measurable, scalable, and support global efforts to keep global temperature rise below 2 ° C.

For Bayer, agriculture is part of the solution to climate challenges, as it has the potential to help solve the environmental crisis through the large-scale adoption of good practices based on the optimization of the use of resources, the efficiency of new technologies and digitization.

With this initiative, the company offers tailor-made solutions to accompany producers with innovation, development and technology, working to make agriculture increasingly competitive and sustainable and thus fulfill its vision "Health for All, Hunger for Nobody"

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