Weeds are growing resistant to the herbicides already on the market, and agribusiness companies like Bayer are in a desperate search for new modes of action to help farmers kill them.

Bayer’s Icafolin product will be its first new mode of action herbicide in some 30 years when it launches in Brazil in 2028.

Frank Terhorst, executive vice president of strategy and sustainability at Bayer’s Crop Science Division, told Reuters on Monday that AI could help speed up finding that next new mode of action.

“You want to find the one where you have maximum performance on what you want to kill – weeds, and basically no impact on everything else. And that balance is extremely difficult,” Terhorst told Reuters after an event in Chicago.

AI, he said, helps the company match the protein structure of a weed with a molecule that targets that structure, and enables it to use huge amounts of data.

It is a faster process, he said, and there are fewer dropouts.

Bob Reiter, head of research and development, crop science, at Bayer, said in a statement that with AI tools, the timeline for the discovery of the next new mode of action could be much shorter.

“If we take the example of early research only, we today have at least three times the number of new modes of action compared to ten years ago,” he said.

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Two other larger German mutual fund management houses, DWS and Union Investment, have said they would vote in favour of approving the management board’s actions while shareholder advisory firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) have recommended such a vote.

Bayer CEO Bill Anderson will face questions at the AGM over his decision in March to suspend for up to three years any preparations to break apart the German maker of pharmaceuticals, crop protection products and consumer health remedies.

Anderson, who became CEO in June 2023, has had a tumultuous start with a continued wave of U.S. litigation about an alleged cancer-causing effect of weedkiller glyphosate and a major setback in drug development late last year.

“We don’t regard Mr. Anderson’s start as successful. We would have wished for more of a focus on aspects that are relevant for the share price,” Deka’s head of sustainability and corporate governance Ingo Speich said in a speech made available to Reuters ahead of the AGM.

The vote on ratifying the executive board’s business conduct, which prominently wraps up every German AGM, is largely symbolic because it has no bearing on management’s liability or tenure. But it is treated as a key gauge of investor sentiment.

Anderson said in a statement that he would seek to boost drug development, while also tackling litigation, debt and excessive corporate bureaucracy.

“The soul of this company is alive and well,” he said, adding that he would work hard to address shareholders’ frustration over the falling share price.

Harris Associates, another major Bayer shareholder, has told Reuters it strongly supports Anderson, including his decision to suspend work on breaking up the group.

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In addition to the jury verdict in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Bayer said a California farmer, who said he contracted the same type of cancer from exposure to the product, and his wife on Tuesday voluntarily dropped their lawsuit while a trial was underway in the in state court in Sonoma County, California.

“We continue to stand behind the safety of Roundup and will confidently defend the safety of our products and our good faith actions in any future litigation,” Bayer said in a statement.

Scott Love, a lawyer for Carl Kline, the plaintiff in the Pennsylvania case, said the jury had not been allowed to hear key evidence, including a finding by a World Health Organization body that glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, was likely capable of causing cancer.

A lawyer for the California plaintiffs, Michael and Bobbie Meyer, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It was not immediately clear why the Meyers dropped their case.

Tuesday’s victories come on the heels of another trial win for the company in Arkansas on Friday. Bayer has now prevailed in 13 of the last 20 Roundup trials, while plaintiffs have scored large verdicts totaling more than $4 billion, including $2.25 billion in a single case in January.

The company is appealing its trial losses, which include large punitive damages awards that are likely to be reduced because they exceed U.S. Supreme Court guidance.

Around 165,000 claims have been brought in the U.S. against Bayer over Roundup, which the company acquired as part of its $63 billion purchase of U.S. agrochemical company Monsanto in 2018. Many were resolved as part of a $9.6 billion settlement in 2020, but about 54,000 remain.

Bayer CEO Bill Anderson told investors in a call on Tuesday that he was “considering every possible means to bring closure” to the litigation, including solutions “outside the courtroom,” though he did not offer details.

The company phased out sales of glyphosate products for home use last year, though it still sells other formulations under the Roundup name.

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Earlier this week, a federal court judge “vacated” the U.S. registrations of several dicamba-based herbicides, saying the Environmental Protection Agency “violated procedures mandating public input,” Reuters reported.

The ruling affects Bayer’s XtendiMax, BASF’s Engenia and Sygnenta’s Tavium. The herbicides are applied during the growing season to soybeans and cotton crops that have genetic tolerance to dicamba.

The change in registration status doesn’t affect Canadian growers, said Ginger Rozmus, Bayer Crop Science Canada communications spokesperson.

“The recent court ruling in the U.S. has no impact on Canada’s use or registration of Roundup Xtend 2 and XtendiMax 2 herbicide with VaporGrip technology,” she said in an email.

Further, she said, soybeans that have been sprayed with dicamba can still be exported to the United States.

“The recent U.S. ruling is a result of a procedural error and not related to the safety of the product,” Rozmus said.

“There are no changes to MRLs (maximum residue levels) enabling export of agricultural products.”

While Canadian farmers can relax, the court decision could have massive implications for soybean and cotton growers in the U.S.

The ruling could impact more than 50 million acres of dicamba-tolerant soybeans and cotton, says the American Soybean Association.

“If the administration does not issue an existing stocks order so we can use the millions of dollars of product already ordered for spring planting, we are in a world of hurt,” said Josh Gackle, ASA president and a soybean grower from North Dakota.

The timing of the ruling is problematic because most farmers have already ordered their seed and herbicides for this growing season.

“There are few alternative products available to cover the capacity of a nationwide switch,” the Soybean Association said.

The court in Arizona ruled that the EPA failed to provide public notice and a comment period before re-registering dicamba products in October 2020.

“The court outlined the massive damage to stakeholders that were deprived of their opportunity to comment, such as growers that do not use over-the-top dicamba,” said the Centre for Food Safety, an environmental group and one of the plaintiffs in the case.

The Feb. 6 court ruling is the latest twist in a complicated story related to dicamba.

After dicamba-tolerant soybeans and cotton entered the market, there were thousands of reported cases of dicamba drift and damage to other crops in 2017. Part of the problem was that many growers used older formulations of dicamba that were more volatile.

The University of Missouri estimated that 3.6 million acres of soybeans suffered off-target damage in 2017, and there were 2,700 complaints across the U.S.

In response, the U.S. EPA introduced label changes for in-crop spraying of dicamba, saying it could only be applied at lower wind speeds and during daytime hours to avoid temperature inversions that can cause drift.

Dicamba drift has also been an issue in Ontario. A grower may plant Xtend soybeans with tolerance to dicamba on one field, but the next field over could have beans that are sensitive to dicamba.

Drift has been less of a problem in Manitoba’s soybean industry, possibly because the province has a cooler climate and growers apply herbicides early in the growing season.

The drift complaints in the U.S. led to lawsuits, and environmental groups challenged the EPA in court.

In June 2020, a U.S. court ruled that the EPA understated the risk related to the drift of the herbicide. It vacated the registration for over-the-top use of dicamba products.

However, the EPA decided farmers could use their existing supplies “before it eventually reauthorized use again with new restrictions in October 2020,” said CropLife.com.

That EPA decision prompted another lawsuit, which led to the Feb 6. court ruling in Arizona.

The American Soybean Association and other farm groups are asking the EPA to issue an existing stocks order as soon as possible so growers can use dicamba over the top in soy and cotton crops in 2024.

––Robert Arnason writes for the Western Producer from Manitoba.

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“I’m not a big technology guy,” said Ferguson, who with his wife Regan farms 3,000 acres at Melfort, Sask.

But for him, using the various data-based management tools available in farming today isn’t just helpful, but essential. The problem is that bringing it all together in one place is critical so that he can handle it and not become overwhelmed, which is why he like Bayer’s FieldView.

AG IN MOTION VIDEO: Farmers review their data-driven decisions

The system brings together data streams from various sources, allowing a farmer to take a more holistic approach to management than hopping from app to app to app.

“Take time to learn it,” said Regan Ferguson, who likes the logistic and cost insights the program allows her to develop.

On Tuesday at Ag in Motion, Bayer put together a farmers’ panel to talk about how each uses the program. While it allows for much sophisticated analysis, if that’s what a farmer wants, it also allows for simpler but essential tasks, said Chris Bauer of Lake Lenore, Sask.

“We mark rocks with FieldView,” said Bauer about one of those basic uses, in which rocks are spotted during field operations, pinned and then picked up later.

Integrating data flow is important when most farms run various types of equipment.

“With the rainbow of colours of equipment on the farm, having a single data point … was number one for us,” said Bauer.

Eston, Sask. farmer Dave Hewlitt said that as well as the management and production gains that are possible with better data management, being able to show others a farm’s true results is likely to become more and more important.

“Verification might start to really matter,” he said.

While systems like FieldView are relatively new developments, in another way they have been around as long as farmers have been able to read and write.

“We used to say you have to put it down with pen and paper,” said Mike Ferguson.

“Now it’s on a tablet.”

— Ed White reports for the Western Producer from Winnipeg.

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Bayer said that the impact of the coronavirus on its crop science business will be deeper than originally expected due to low commodity prices, intense competition in soy, and reduced biofuel consumption, compounded by negative currency effects.

As a result, Bayer expects to take non-cash impairment charges in the mid- to high-single-digit billion-euros range on assets in the agricultural business.

Bayer’s share price has been pummelled by a deal it made in June to pay around US$11 billion to settle U.S. lawsuits over its Roundup herbicide. Bayer acquired Roundup with its purchase of Monsanto for US$63 billion in 2018.

Bayer said the new cuts come on top of annual savings of 2.6 billion euros as of 2022, which were announced in November 2018, adding that the company was also considering exiting non-strategic businesses or brands below the divisional level.

It said the restructuring, which may also lead to extra job cuts, is in the early stages of planning.

It expects its pharmaceuticals business to return to growth in 2021 and its consumer health unit to outpace peer growth, and could consider bolt-on acquisitions for both.

It expects 2021 sales to be about the same as in 2020, despite significant headwinds from COVID-19, and core earnings per share to be slightly lower at constant exchange rates.

It will leave its dividend policy unchanged, but expects payouts in coming years to be at the lower end of 30-40 per cent of core earnings per share, rather than at the upper end as in previous years.

— Reporting for Reuters by Emma Thomasson.

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Bayer has said the deal, which would put the size of its agricultural business on a par with its health care unit in terms of revenues, would enable it to develop new combinations of seeds and pesticides to compete against big rivals such as Dow and Dupont, which plan to merge their agricultural businesses.

However, in 2017 Bayer’s Crop Science division is expected to produce underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) unchanged from last year, the group said on Wednesday in reporting fourth-quarter group earnings that slightly beat market expectations.

The shares were down 1.8 per cent at 106.95 euros (C$148.68) at 1319 GMT, reversing gains made over the last three trading sessions to leave the price up 7.9 per cent so far this year.

“We’ve had outstanding harvests over the last three years, resulting in a certain oversupply in crops and a cyclical dent in our business,” said Liam Condon, the head of Bayer’s Crop Science unit, adding that the trend could soon change.

“Given the likelihood of extreme weather phenomena, it doesn’t take much for the cycle to turn,” he said.

A recovery in demand was likely to be seen first in Asia, eastern Europe and Latin America towards the end of 2017, while markets in North America and Europe would not see a return to more robust growth before 2018.

Bayer said in its annual report it expected seed and crop protection market growth of one per cent this year compared with a one per cent decline in 2016.

Prices of agricultural commodities such as corn, soy and wheat have recovered somewhat from multi-year lows hit in September last year.

The group also said that it was on track to gain all regulatory approvals for the takeover by year-end, with Condon saying that this forecast anticipated a likely in-depth investigation by the European Union’s competition regulators.

Last month Bayer said its chief executive Werner Baumann and his counterpart at Monsanto had had a “productive” meeting with Donald Trump, before Trump took office as president, to discuss the proposed merger.

For the group overall, Bayer predicted a medium single-digit percentage increase in adjusted EBITDA for 2017, helped by fast-growing revenues from stroke prevention pill Xarelto.

In the fourth quarter, adjusted group EBITDA rose 13.7 per cent to 2.18 billion euros (C$3.03 billion), above the average estimate of 2.09 billion euros in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Growth in prescription drugs sales were partly offset by weaker than expected earnings at its consumer care products division, with sales of allergy treatment Claritin falling nine per cent, coming under pressure from rival products.

— Ludwig Burger is a Reuters correspondent covering the European chemical and pharma sectors, based in Frankfurt.

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The Bayer CropScience operation comprises the world’s second-largest pesticides supplier but remains a much smaller player in seeds, where boss Liam Condon sees the greatest growth opportunities, particularly in wheat and soy seed markets.

“We always look at any opportunities that come up as long as they fit,” Condon said on the sidelines of the news conference after German drug group Bayer reported full-year results below market expectations.

“There hasn’t been a success in wheat hybridization that has led to a significant increase in yield. But we see a great opportunity there,” Condon added, referring to the development of two separate parent lines that are cross-bred into a more robust hybrid seed for farmers.

“In soy, we continue to see great opportunity in Latin America through bolt-on acquisitions.”

Bayer CropScience has strong market positions in rice, vegetable and canola seeds, but it is determined to meet the challenges presented by sector consolidation.

DuPont and Dow Chemical agreed in December to combine their seeds and pesticides businesses to create a new industry giant, and ChemChina is planning to make a friendly takeover offer for Syngenta, the global leader in crop chemicals.

Condon signalled that Bayer may need faster growth in seeds than in crop chemicals to offer customers a more balanced package of products and services.

“If you have seeds, if you have crop protection and a supporting, decision-making platform with digital services, and you can prove to the farmer that you can increase yield with less resources, that’s a very compelling offer.”

A new precision farming industry has been emerging that provides services such as satellite-guided spraying and harvesting, often by the square yard, enabling farmers to make optimum use of their resources.

“For us it’s about putting that compelling offer together as opposed to being overweight in crop or overweight in seeds. It’s a combination,” Condon said.

— Ludwig Burger and Patricia Weiss are Reuters correspondents based in Frankfurt.

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Asked for a comment on remarks by Monsanto executives that the U.S. seeds giant was in internal discussions about tie-ups in the industry, a Bayer spokesman said the CropScience unit was an “integral part” of Bayer.

“We have just recently announced our focus on life science businesses. That includes both HealthCare and CropScience,” he said.

Monsanto executives said on Tuesday they were discussing whether they should acquire or merge with major rivals in the seed and agrochemical industries.

Bayer is the world’s second-largest farming pesticides maker after Syngenta.

— Reporting for Reuters by Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt.

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European grape growers reported deformed leaves and lower yields after using Bayer CropScience’s Moon Privilege, also known as Luna Privilege in Canada and some other markets.

In Switzerland, losses are estimated at 80 million Swiss francs (C$109 million), according to marketing group Swiss Wine.

Bayer has acknowledged “atypical symptoms” in vines where the fungicide was applied in 2014. Bayer said it was collecting data and assessing how much it will offer to wine growers.

“Bayer will on a voluntary basis compensate affected wine growers which have used the Moon Privilege/Luna Privilege fungicide last year,” a Bayer spokesman said, adding no “clear cause” had been determined.

Bayer has said it expected more than 250 million euros (C$370 million) in annual peak sales from its Luna product line launched in 2012 for fruits and vegetables.

Austria Wine, the marketing arm of that country’s wine industry, didn’t immediately respond to requests for figures for possible damage that may be linked to Moon Privilege.

Jean-Marc Amez-Droz, Swiss Wine’s general secretary, estimated harvest losses totaling 6.65 million kg of grapes in 2015, or about 4.85 per cent of 2014’s crop.

Hardest hit were Pinot Noir grapes, often grown in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and Chasselas, a white wine grape prevalent in French-speaking Vaud canton. A few growers lost their entire 2015 harvest, Amez-Droz said.

“Wine makers are missing about six million bottles of wine,” he said. “The very young berries just didn’t grow. The development of the berries was totally out of the ordinary.”

Growers who deployed the fungicide late in 2014 in rainy conditions saw more damage than those who applied it earlier in dry weather, Amez-Droz said, a trend confirmed by Bayer.

Switzerland’s Federal Office of Agriculture suspended its approval of Moon Privilege in wine growing in July.

On Wednesday, a spokesman said private growers would need to resolve their own damage claims but the agriculture ministry would continue to work with Bayer to determine the cause. The ministry was also aiming to boost approvals stringency.

“Approval will take at least a year longer, as now we’ll have to investigate damage that might occur a year following application,” spokesman Juerg Jordi said.

Bayer must start from the beginning if it is to sell Moon Privilege again in Switzerland for grape growers, he added.

— Reporting for Reuters by John Miller in Zurich and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt.

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