home > Bayer > news   Bayer CropScience supports beekeepers in Baden-Württemberg Bayer CropScience AG is working with the authorities in the Southern German state of Baden-Württemberg and other companies to provide support for beekeepers in Baden-Württemberg who are currently affected by the loss of bees in the southwest of the state   20 May 2008 , Monheim : Bayer CropScience AG is working with the authorities in the Southern German state of Baden-Württemberg and other companies to provide support for beekeepers in Baden-Württemberg who are currently affected by the loss of bees in the southwest of the state. These beekeepers will be receiving financial assistance through the Ministry for Food and Rural Affairs in Baden-Württemberg with the primary aim of avoiding situations which could threaten their beekeeping operations. This unbureaucratic aid is being provided on a voluntary basis while the circumstances of the bee losses are being clarified. The loss of bees in southwestern Germany was reported in early May 2008, and on May 15, 2008 the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) suspended the registration for eight insecticidal seed treatment products used in canola and corn, among them the active ingredient clothianidine. Corn sowing had largely been completed by this time. Farmers in the affected region had been required by the local authorities to use treated seed because of the threat posed by the western corn rootworm, an insect classified as a quarantine pest. Bayer CropScience began investigating the situation in collaboration with the responsible authority as soon as the problem became known. First results of studies available to the company indicate that unusually high quantities of dust had been emitted into the environment during sowing as a result of abrasion of corn seed from batches which had not been treated correctly. The origin of the defective batches of seed is currently being traced. The drift of the abraded material was evidently intensified by the use of certain pneumatic corn-sowing machines, by the dry conditions which had prevailed for weeks, and by strong winds during sowing. Acting in cooperation with seed companies and equipment manufacturers As a manufacturer of seed treatment products, Bayer CropScience is keen to establish a certification system in cooperation with seed companies in order to avoid incorrect use of seed treatment products in the future. At the same time, the company is working with manufacturers of pneumatic corn-sowing equipment to develop ways of avoiding the drift of product particles during sowing. Seed treatment is one of the most specific and environmentally compatible ways to use crop protection products. “We are saddened by the loss of the bees and the situation which has resulted for beekeepers in Baden-Württemberg,” commented Dr. Richard Schmuck, an ecologist at Bayer CropScience. “The common goal of the authorities, manufacturers of crop protection products and the seed and agricultural machinery industry must now be to make sure that the innovative seed-treatment technology for safeguarding harvests can be made available to farmers again as quickly as possible.” All the players are therefore collaborating closely to further improve application technology. Bayer AG is a global research-based and growth-oriented enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. Bayer CropScience AG, a subsidiary of Bayer AG with annual sales of about EUR 5.8 billion (2007), is one of the world’s leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of crop protection, non-agricultural pest control, seeds and plant biotechnology. The company offers an outstanding range of products and extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture and for non-agricultural applications. Bayer Crop­Science has a global workforce of about 17,800 and is represented in more than 120 countries. This and further news is available at: www.newsroom.bayercropscience.com. More information is available at www.bayercropscience.com.   home > Bayer > news     Legal Policy | Copyright © 2005-2006 The Information Company Private Limited. All rights reserved.