28,000 m2 State-of-the-art lab building and greenhouse at its Monheim site equipped with early safety screens and A.I. designed for next generation of Crop Protection
Bayer significantly strengthens its commitment to innovation in regenerative agriculture with a EUR 220 million investment in research and development (R&D) at its Monheim site. This is the company’s largest single investment in its Crop Protection business in Germany. The anticipated construction period of the new Monheim facility will be around 3 years. Full commissioning is planned for 2026.
The primary focus of the site will be on developing the next generation of chemicals for a sustainable future and enhancing the environmental and human safety of Crop Protection. The new Product Safety complex with labs, offices, and a greenhouse area offers space for approximately 200 employees. The new innovation approach to Crop Protection is also clearly aligned with Bayer’s sustainability commitment to reduce the environmental impact of Crop Protection products by 30% by 2030.
The new facility will boost Bayer’s efforts to become a major contributor to regenerative agriculture by developing and bringing to market new Crop Protection solutions which have even better environmental profiles than those currently available and will play a key role in significantly reducing agriculture’s impact on the environment. Over the past three years, Bayer has also invested EUR 180 million at its Dormagen site, with a focus on expanding production capacities for modern Crop Protection.
Dr. Axel Trautwein, Head of Regulatory Science at Crop Science, pointed said, “The new building will allow tests and studies to be conducted according to regulatory standards and under more realistic conditions similar to those in nature.”
The key focus area will be on environmental safety in addition to residue analytics and metabolism studies in target crops, rotational crops, and livestock. A holistic understanding of environmental exposure and effects of Crop Protection products is achieved through exposure studies in different environmental compartments as well as safety studies on non-target organisms, including aquatic and soil organisms, wild birds and mammals, and pollinators such as honey bees and bumble bees. Furthermore, the flexible lab design can be adapted to changing global regulatory landscapes in the future.
Rachel Rama, Head of Small Molecules at Crop Science said “With our new disruptive innovation approach – what we call CropKey – we are now designing molecules instead of selecting them. This is based on a discovery concept which allows us to create solutions based on the predefined safety and sustainability profiles that go above and beyond current standard. With our investment in Monheim, we are now building a new data powerhouse in a high-tech work environment that will be highly attractive for our researchers and future top talents”.
