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Crop protection, seed company executives discuss post-pandemic business environment

Executives of major crop protection and seed companies are planning for business in a post-pandemic world. During a Commodity Classic virtual executive roundtable, Justin Wolfe of Syngenta said people continue to do their jobs, but in a lean fashion that he says has a human cost.

“We’re excited to get out of this thing and back to what would be maybe a bit more normal,” said Wolfe, referring to his anticipation of business being as close to usual as possible. “But there’s no question that the impact of the COVID is going to have some lessons that we’re going to have to take forward.”

The pandemic brought with it a drastic change in the way business is done, but according to Chris Turner with Bayer, technology allowed continuity that otherwise might not have been possible.

“There’s definitely a lot of bad, right, in a pandemic, but there’s also some good,” said Turner, about technological development that accelerated because of quarantining, adding that communication technology developed for virtual meetings, video calls and training will remain following the pandemic. “I would hate to see how we would have had to handle this 20 years ago when we didn’t have technology like we do today.”

Bayer continues to adhere to safety protocols protecting employees and customers, said Turner.

The pandemic has provided an opportunity for farmers to tell their story, said Scott Kay of BASF, because it has made clear people’s emotional attachment to food.

“The key ingredient to sustainability in the last 12 months was the food and the food supply,” said Kay. “That’s why farmers are essential in the U.S. today, and I think we should continue to talk about that.”

“Social license” is a term that should be included in the thinking among crop protection and seed company executives, said Corteva’s Judd O’Connor. “How do you have [consumers] be extremely confident that what we do every day is good,” said O’Connor, “for the environment, for sustainability and the safety of the food that we bring forward?”