Segment profile
The Agricultural Solutions segment consists of the Crop Protection division. We develop and produce innovative solutions for the improvement of crop health and yields, and market them worldwide. The Plant Science competence center conducts research in the field of plant biotechnology. The activities of Plant Science are reported in “Other.”
Indications and sectors
Fungicides
Protecting crops against harmful fungi
Herbicides
Reducing competition from weeds for water and nutrients
Insecticides
Combating insect pests in agriculture and beyond
Functional Crop Care
Biological crop protection, seed treatment, polymers and colorants
Sales
Agricultural Solutions – Factors influencing sales
Agricultural Solutions – Income from operations before special items (in million €)
How we create value – an example
Limus®
Innovative combination of active ingredients for efficient fertilizer utilization
Value for BASF
>10%
Annual market growth for urease inhibitors from 2015 to 2020
Value for the environment
up to 90%
Reduced loss of nitrogen from urea-based fertilizers into the atmosphere
Limus®, our patented formulation from the Functional Crop Care business unit, both improves the ecological profile of urea-based fertilizers and makes them more efficient. Limus® blocks urease enzymes more effectively than comparable products. This improves plants’ nitrogen supply and fulfills increased legal mandates to reduce nitrogen loss. We anticipate annual market growth of over 10% for urease inhibitors from 2015 to 2020.
Farmers use mainly urea-based fertilizers to ensure sufficient nitrogen supply, which is crucial for plant growth. However, urease enzymes break down about 50% of the nitrogen contained in the fertilizer into gaseous ammonia. Released into the atmosphere, this negatively impacts the environment. Limus® is an innovative combination of two urease inhibitors able to reduce nitrogen loss from fertilizers by up to 90%.
Strategy
- Helping to feed a growing world population
- Long-term innovation strategy ensures future growth
- Development of solutions that go beyond conventional crop protection
Our strategy is based on long-term market trends. A key challenge of the future will be to ensure sufficient food for a growing world population. To do so, farmers around the world will need to increase their yields – and yet the natural resources for doing so, such as water and arable land, are limited. We see it as our duty to provide farmers with professional support in producing more – and more nutritious – food as efficiently as possible.
We are committed to the responsible treatment of our products and the environment. We offer our customers a broad portfolio of integrated solutions and continually invest in our development pipeline to create chemical and biological innovations in crop protection.
Our research and development activities range from solutions for protecting plants against fungi, insects and weeds, to seeds and soil management, to plant health.
For example, the Functional Crop Care business unit not only provides products for improving seeds and innovations for better soil management, but also biological and chemical technologies that make plants better able to withstand stress factors like heat, cold and nutrient deficiency.
We are intensifying our investment in growth markets and continuing to expand our good position in our core markets. In collaboration with seed companies, we benefit from the technological competence of BASF Plant Science. In addition, we work together with other BASF divisions and with external partners to be able to offer the best solutions for our customers. Together with John Deere, we collaborate with farmers to further the development of integrated IT applications for precision agriculture. These will provide not only more exact information on crop development, but also support farmers in carrying out the legally required procedures for application and documentation of crop protection measures. In Brazil, our customers can already make use of the DigiLab application to easily diagnose plant diseases and access information on possible and recommended treatments.