Bayer forms the Alliance for Modern Agriculture to ensure continued access to Glyphosate for U.S. farmers

Recently, Bayer announced that it will lead the formation of the Modern Agriculture Alliance in the United States. The coalition, which is joined by more than 60 agricultural organizations, aims to ensure continued access to Glyphosate for U.S. farmers. 

According to the announcement, the organization will call on the U.S. federal government and state policymakers to pass legislation to ensure consistency in pesticide registration and labeling requirements, so as to ensure that farmers can use innovative agricultural products such as pesticides for a long time. Market participants believe that the main goal of the agricultural alliance is to lobby the U.S. government on the safety of glyphosate and inform regulators that there is an urgent downstream demand for the product. Glyphosate is a registered pesticide, but is currently banned by several states in the United States.

Glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide in the United States, has long been an important tool for American farmers to control weeds, Bayer said. Now more than ever, American farmers need innovative agricultural products. Bayer looks forward to working with coalition members to advance legislation to ensure Glyphosate can circulate.

In addition, Bayer said it is accelerating the development of a new alternative to the Glyphosate herbicide and plans to bring it to market by 2028. This is seen as the first major innovation breakthrough in the agri-chemicals industry in 30 years.

Now that the active ingredient of this new herbicide is in the testing phase, Bayer says it is a top priority for the company to develop a new generation of herbicides that will give farmers around the world more weed control options. 

In 2018, Bayer spent $63 billion to acquire Monsanto, the owner and producer of the Glyphosate herbicide Roundup.

Due to the controversy over the potential cancer risk of Roundup, Bayer has faced tens of thousands of related lawsuits in the United States and been awarded billions of dollars in damages, most of which are still in the appeals stage. As of the end of January, Bayer had 54,000 Glyphosate lawsuits pending in the United States.

Bayer has repeatedly said that decades of research have shown Glyphosate is safe for humans, but that developing alternatives has become a necessary way to resolve disputes and rebuild its image. Company officials said they hoped to speed up the reconciliation process and remove this obstacle to development.