Bayer Crop Science at 56th PMCP Scientific Conference: Regenerative farming plays crucial role in transforming Philippine agricultural production

Inaugural Bayer – PMCP Regenerative Initiative Award awarded to DLSU for novel cacao pest management

Bayer Crop Science underscored the potential of regenerative practices and solutions in driving farmer productivity and environmental sustainability during the 56th Pest Management Council of the Philippines (PMCP) Anniversary and Scientific Conference held in Caticlan, Boracay. During the annual Conference, Bayer Crop Science also awarded its inaugural Bayer Regenerative Initiative Award to the De La Salle University – Biological Control Research Unit (DLSU-BCRU) for its innovative solution for cacao pest management. 

Speaking at the opening plenary session of the Conference, themed “Cultivating Resilience: Harnessing Innovative Technologies for Sustainable Pest Management in a Changing Climate,” Subray Kamath, Asia Head for Sustainable Agriculture and Partnership at Bayer Crop Science, said that the future of farming is regenerative. This regenerative future for agriculture uses a system-wide approach to farming that aims to deliver both measurable and positive outcomes to farmers, society, and planet. 

“Farmers today are faced with the mega challenge to produce food sustainably in a changing climate and increasing threats from damaging pests. One way forward to address this is to switch to regenerative practices and solutions that ‘produce more with less, while restoring more.’ At Bayer, regenerative agriculture encompasses different on-farm tools to bring out outcomes that create commercial value for farmers and generate positive outcomes for nature,” said Kamath.

Kamath shared that Bayer’s focus on regenerative agriculture treats each farm as an individual ecosystem with varying needs. As each farm differs, Bayer uses different on-farm tools to shape a regenerative farm production, including smart cropping systems such as direct seeded rice (DSR), next generation crops through biotechnology, new crop protection like target-based chemistry and biologicals, and precision farming through digital use.

These tools and systems contribute to outcomes including improved yield and socio-economic well-being of farmers, healthier soil, water conservation, climate change mitigation, and biodiversity preservation. Bayer, for example, is advancing regenerative rice cultivation in the Philippines through its DSR system - a tailored farming system designed to move away from resource-intensive transplanted puddled rice cultivation and help farmers reduce water use and dependence on manual labor.

Kamath also shared that Bayer is also designing the sustainable future of crop protection through CropKey. CropKey is Bayer’s bold approach in designing a more targeted and profile-driven crop protection products that safeguard farmers’ productivity from the ever-evolving and damaging pests, weeds, and insects, while protecting non-target organisms. 

During the Conference, Bayer also awarded its first Bayer Regenerative Initiative Award to the DLSU-BCRU for its BioCoat-Z® particle film technology solution. BioCoat-Z® acts as a coat for the cacao crop to protect it from insect pest damage caused by Cacao Mirid bugs and Cacao Pod Borers. The coat also acts as a barrier from extreme heat making the cacao resilient to increasing heat conditions.

“It is the aim of the Biological Control Research Unit of the De La Salle University to contribute to the cacao production targets, which may still be far from the cacao farmers’ goal, but with the right farming strategy partnered with the right pest management program, it is achievable,” said Dr. Divina Amalin, Project Lead and current Head of BCRU.

In partnership with PMCP, the inaugural Award recognizes innovators in finding novel solutions on pest management that help farmers protect their crops while helping the planet thrive. The Award gives DLSU-BCRU with PhP 50,000.00 and opens up possible research collaboration with Bayer on different field solutions for crop protection. 

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