Bayer CropScience Introduces Good Growing Link

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer CropScience announced today at the National Potato Expo (NPE) in Orlando, Fla., the launch of Good Growing Link, a Web-based tracking tool powered by food safety and traceability technology leader FoodLogiQ, Inc.

The Good Growing Link helps users identify, measure and improve their sustainability efforts, and provides a tool to merchandise these contributions to customers and other stakeholders. Bayer CropScience expects the Good Growing Link will help the entire food chain demonstrate and communicate its commitment to sustainability—starting at the farm level. 

"Agriculture has been and must continue to be focused on sustainability due to the link between the land and growing practices and their impact on the world around us," said Brian Hrudka, food chain manager for Bayer CropScience. "However, we at Bayer see a growing interest from consumers and the food chain regarding the origin of food and how it is produced. That's why we worked closely with FoodLogiQ to create the Good Growing Link—a secure online reporting tool that allows everyone within the food chain, including growers, processors, retailers and food service suppliers, to track, measure, improve and report their sustainability profile.  Perhaps most importantly, it helps users create a sustainability trail marking the operation's progress over time, acknowledging that sustainability is not a destination but a journey."

As a member of the Good Growing Link online community, users can enter new data or extract existing data from other sources regarding operational inputs and practices such as water, energy and chemical usages.  The tool collects that data and generates a sustainability report, or dashboard, customized for the downstream customer. Once the report is created, users can create a link directly to their own website for public review or print to satisfy a customer's specific sustainability criteria.

"We developed the Good Growing Link," continued Hrudka, "as a tool to help all those within the food production enterprise measure and improve on their efforts to utilize resources carefully and more efficiently in order to continue providing safe, affordable and healthy food to a growing world population."

In 2011 Bayer CropScience, in partnership with the National Potato Council, implemented a Good Growing Link trial project with growers and processors within the potato industry, the results of which are being presented at several panel discussions throughout the NPE event. 

The Good Growing Link sponsorship, one of several projects within the Bayer CropScience global Food Chain Partnership, is part of its broader commitment to sustainability efforts that help ensure a healthy and abundant global food supply. 

For more information on Good Growing Link, visit bayercropscience.us, talk to your local Bayer CropScience representative or call 1-866-99-BAYER (1-866-992-2937).

About Bayer CropScience
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. Bayer CropScience, a subgroup of Bayer AG with annual sales of EUR 6.830 billion (2010), is one of the world's leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of crop protection, non-agricultural pest control, seeds and traits. The company offers an outstanding range of products and extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture and for non-agricultural applications. Bayer CropScience has a global workforce of 20,700 and is represented in more than 120 countries. This and further news is available at: www.press.bayercropscience.com.

Find more information at www.bayercropscience.us.
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Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

SOURCE Bayer CropScience