Produce Industry Leaders Join Bayer CropScience in Recognizing Innovation

December 16, 2014

Judges for inaugural Bayer CropScience Produce Innovation Award announced

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. (Dec. 17, 2014) – Bayer CropScience has enlisted leaders from three top produce industry groups as judges for the first-ever Bayer CropScience Produce Innovation Award. The winner of the inaugural award program will be announced Feb. 24 – 25 at the 2015 Ag Issues Forum in Phoenix.

Produce Innovation Award judges are Tom Stenzel, president, United Fresh Produce Association; John Keeling, executive vice president and CEO, the National Potato Council; and Bryan Silbermann, CEO of the Produce Marketing Association. Adrian Percy, global head of research and development at Bayer CropScience, completes the judging panel.

The award will honor a leader in the produce industry whose thinking, practices and use of technology enhance the role of produce in creating better lives. Bayer CropScience is accepting applications for the award through 5 p.m. on Jan. 12, 2015.

“We are honored that top influencers from key produce industry organizations share our excitement about discovering growers whose innovations lead the way in enhancing lives,” said Rob Schrick, Bayer CropScience Strategic Business Management Lead – Horticulture. “The industry has a tremendous positive influence on health and nutrition, both in individual lives and for society overall.”

The Bayer CropScience Produce Innovation Award will recognize a grower whose innovative efforts improve yield and quality of a produce crop; increase accessibility of produce to a broader group of people; or increase demand for produce by expanding awareness and appreciation for the health benefits of fruits and vegetables, including tree nuts and potatoes.

The award is open to any grower who receives a significant portion of income from the production of a crop within the citrus, grape (including wine grape), pome fruit/stone fruit, tree nut, vegetable, berry or potato industries. In addition to recognition as a produce innovator, the winner will receive a $10,000 grant to advance their award-winning innovation or to support a project in their local community that also increases the positive contributions of produce in people’s lives, as well as an all-expense paid trip to the Ag Issues Forum in Phoenix, and a $2,000 gift card to the Apple Store to further efforts in business technology.

Bayer CropScience aims to leave a better world, harnessing cutting-edge agricultural innovations to deliver on Bayer’s mission: Science For A Better Life. Bayer’s horticulture group offers customized, integrated crop solutions based on high-quality vegetable seeds, effective chemical and biological crop protection, and complementary services.

Visit www.bayercropscience.us/ProduceInnovationAward for more information or to submit an application. See official rules for more details.

Bayer CropScience Twitter Page:
http://twitter.com/bayer4cropsus
http://twitter.com/bayerbeecare

Bayer CropScience Blog:
http://connect.bayercropscience.us

Bayer CropScience is committed to bringing new technology and solutions for agriculture and non-agricultural uses. For questions concerning the availability and use of products, contact a local Bayer CropScience representative, or visit Bayer CropScience online at www.bayercropscience.us.

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About Bayer CropScience
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture and high-tech materials. Bayer CropScience, the subgroup of Bayer AG responsible for the agricultural business, has annual sales of EUR 8,819 million (2013) and is one of the world’s leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of seeds, crop protection and non-agricultural pest control. The company offers an outstanding range of products including high value seeds, innovative crop protection solutions based on chemical and biological modes of action as well as an extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture. In the area of non-agricultural applications, Bayer CropScience has a broad portfolio of products and services to control pests from home and garden to forestry applications. The company has a global workforce of 22,400 and is represented in more than 120 countries. This and further news is available at: www.press.bayercropscience.com.

Contact:
Bayer CropScience Media Hotline, 1-862-404-5118, or

Casey Allen
Manager of External Communications
Bayer CropScience LP
Tel: (919) 549-2607
Email: casey.allen@bayer.com

Jenell Loschke
Charleston|Orwig
Tel: (262) 957-6031
Email: jloschke@charlestonorwig.com


Find more information at www.bayercropscience.us.

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