Bayer expands its fruit and vegetable business to strawberries

With the acquisition of UK-based NIAB's strawberry assets, Bayer will expand its focus on professional growers of protected crops to meet growing consumer and retail demand for high-quality, year-round strawberries and will also have varieties available for open field conditions. The announcement was made today.

According to the company, "this agreement allows the company's Crop Science Division to provide a broader range of solutions to growers in the growing protected strawberry market." The strawberry varieties will be complemented by biological and chemical crop protection products from Bayer.

"Strawberries are the fastest growing fruit crop, with year-round demand exceeding supply. In fact, strawberries are the category leader in the produce aisle, accounting for more than 23% of fruit sales fresh," he said Inci Dannenberg (photo below), responsible for Bayer’s vegetable division.

“With Bayer’s entry into the strawberry market, we will offer growers premium genetics combined with innovative crop protection products and digital solutions. The addition of strawberries to the Bayer portfolio is a natural progression that many of our customers are also making.”

NIAB's strawberry breeding program has operated for more than 40 years from its roots at the East Malling Research Station, located in the county of Kent in the United Kingdom, and which has long been associated with excellence in horticultural innovation.

"NIAB in East Malling has built a solid foundation in strawberries, supported by more than a century of world-class horticultural research at our Kent site, and we are proud that this will continue with Bayer," said Mario Caccamo, CEO of NIAB.

“As well as bringing accelerated innovation to UK growers, Bayer will also make these great-tasting strawberries available to more growers and consumers around the world.”

By switching to protected crops, strawberry growers will have more control over the environment, crop management, pests and diseases and, in turn, will see clear benefits in fruit quality, crop safety and consistency. Additionally, plants grown under protection use less water than open field crops and have the potential to increase retail shelf life as they can be grown closer to the consumer.

With its advanced genetic improvement technologies, Bayer will continue to deliver the advances that consumers, retailers and producers need. “We have built a solid foundation in precision breeding capabilities and look forward to bringing these approaches to strawberries,” he said. JD Rossouw (pictured above), head of vegetable research and development at Bayer's Crop Science Division. “Using these techniques will allow us to continue to advance the foundations established by NIAB and provide superior quality strawberries to our growers and the value chain.”

With more than 20 different crops and thousands of vegetable seed selections, Bayer's vegetable seed business supports a diverse range of growers with seed varieties tailored to the tastes and preferences of consumers around the world. The main crops are tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, eggplant, lettuce, melon, onions, peppers, spinach, sweet corn and watermelon. The business unit's sales reached 717 million euros in 2022.

The acquisition is expected to close on January 1, 2024.