Agriculture can now have another solution to positively impact climate change thanks to a new initiative launched by Bayer. Starting this month, Bayer will begin to reward farmers in Brazil and the US for generating carbon credits by adopting climate-smart practices, such as no-till agriculture and the use of cover crops, designed to help agriculture to reduce its carbon footprint and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Bayer's industry-leading Carbon Initiative is the result of years of work validating a science-based approach and methodology to make this happen. It recognizes the critical role that producers and their land can play in helping to create lasting and positive environmental impacts, and is the latest in the company's sustainability commitments specifically aimed at reducing GHG emissions in the field by 30% by 2030. .

"Farmers are passionate environmentalists and stewards of the land they farm," said Brett Begemann, Director of Operations for Bayer's Crop division. Their lives and livelihoods depend on the climate, and they are some of the first to be affected by drought, floods and extreme conditions. If anyone has a vested interest in fighting climate change, it is the farmers and we are committed to developing new business models like this unique Carbon Initiative to help them in that fight. "

Soil is one of the most effective ways to sequester carbon. Encouraging farmers to adopt zero tillage, the precise use of nitrogen, or cover crops helps to further sequester carbon in the soil, reduce the use of fossil fuels, and reduce greenhouse gases. While farmers today are rewarded solely for their food, feed and fiber production, those participating in the Bayer Carbon Initiative will have the opportunity to be rewarded for their best agricultural management practices and other sustainability efforts as well.

The program's 2020/2021 season will include approximately 1,200 farmers in Brazil and the US In both countries, farmers will receive assistance to implement climate-smart farming practices and Bayer will acquire the carbon removals created by those practices at transparent prices. The company is also collaborating with partners like Embrapa in Brazil to build a viable carbon market for farmers.

Bayer plans to expand the program in the US and Brazil to other farmers and then to other regions of the world with personalized approaches that will allow growers to choose which climate-smart practices and implementation work best for them. In Europe, we are exploring how this innovative approach could be adapted as part of the European Green Agreement. In Asia Pacific, our goal is to help increase the productivity of small farmers, as well as reduce methane emissions from rice farming.

"We are excited to partner with farmers through this new Bayer Carbon Initiative," added Begemann. "We are honored to take this great step with farmers to create a carbon-free future for agriculture, an important legacy we can create with farmers to leave the next generation."