ForGround: Bayer’s Digital Platform Beyond Just Carbon
Bayer references it has learned a lot through its Bayer Carbon Program, and as an expansion from that, the company is launching ForGround.
Broader than carbon alone, ForGround aims to encompass regenerative agricultural practices and technologies and then connect those in-field decisions to downstream companies and their sustainability goals.
“As a global leader in agriculture, Bayer is uniquely positioned to help drive lasting change by working directly with farmers and businesses through leveraging our global scale to reduce our impact on the planet and support farms for generations to come”, said Leo Bastos, Head of Global Commercial Ecosystems, Bayer CropScience. “We know that better harvests and a better future start with healthy soils and investing in farmers' success – and believe that the ForGround platform will help them make the transition to more sustainable practices – and ensure agriculture is part of the climate solution.”
ForGround is described as a farmer-first digital platform designed to provide tools, resources, discounts and additional revenue opportunities.
For example, at launch, here are the available features:
- Best-in-class practice transition support with agronomic support, evidence-based field studies & trials, curated content & events, like-minded community and trusted network of leading experts
- Connection to potential new revenue streams for adopting these new practices (i.e., Bayer Carbon Program)
- Reduced transition cost barriers, including incentives and rewards such as a free subscription to Climate FieldView Plus (Climate FieldView is Bayer’s industry-leading digital farming app, allowing even deeper understanding of farmers’ fields)
This initial launch (first announced August 15, 2022) is for the U.S. with global expansion planned in the future.
The regenerative agriculture practices include:
- improved soil health
- increased water availability
- fewer inputs3
- increased weather resiliency
- less soil erosion
One goal is the program is connect on-farm practices through the supply chain to increase transparency of food production. The companies participating in ForGround can offer farmers incentive programs via Climate FieldView.
“ForGround is a key commercial piece of how we are working to achieve our goals of reducing our customers' in-field carbon emissions in major agricultural markets by 30 percent and becoming carbon neutral in our own operations by 2030. Supporting regenerative agriculture goes beyond our own sustainability commitments and together with farmers and other companies we can transform value for collective impact”, concludes Bastos.
