As you prepare to break bread this holiday season, how often do American consumers think about the farmers who make that meal possible? And how many consumers think about the tools in the farmer’s toolbox to keep that food affordable?
Jessica Christiansen, Head of Bayer Crop Science Communications, says most consumers don’t appreciate how challenging food production is. One of the keys to success, she notes, is innovation, allowing farmers to produce more per acre while using fewer inputs and, ideally, being profitable.
“If those things don’t happen, then food prices will continue to be pressured at the end of the chain in the grocery store. Innovation is super critical to that. I mean, farming’s hard, as I said. So, a farmer has to deal with weeds, diseases, bugs, and changing weather patterns. So, we have to, as Bayer, companies like Bayer, that’s what we do. We have innovation at our heart, and we have to provide a continuous toolbox for our farmers to really be able to combat all these problems and pressures they have.”
Christiansen added that innovation plays a key role, allowing farmers to stay ahead of the many curveballs Mother Nature tries to throw each and every year. That means inputs need to evolve as well.
“If we don’t keep that funnel open, you know, just in that crop protection example, if we didn’t have crop protection tools, it could cost American families up to $10 billion more a year, $10 billion more a year in food costs. That’s how important innovation is.”
Christiansen says this holiday season, while you’re enjoying all of that great food, she asks everyone to think about the role science, technology, and innovation play in your everyday life.
And she asks that everyone thank farmers for all the hard work they do.