• Bayer’s crop science division is increasingly turning to artificial intelligence in its battle against crop killing weeds.
  • AI helps the company match the protein structure of a weed with a molecule that targets that structure, and enables it to use huge amounts of data.

OUR TAKE
In addition to technological innovations, Bayer is also strengthening its cooperation with farmers and agricultural experts to develop more sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions. Their efforts are not only to introduce new products, but also to provide long-term ecological balance and agricultural production efficiency for global agriculture. Over time, Bayer hopes to help farmers deal with weeds more effectively, thereby improving the yield and quality of crops and reducing their negative impact on the environment.
–Revel Cheng, BTW reporter

Bayer is looking for advanced AI technology to help the company match the protein structure of weeds with molecules that target that structure.

What happened

Weeds are growing resistant to the herbicides already on the market, and agribusiness companies like Bayer are in a desperate search for new modes of action to help farmers kill them.

Bayer’s Icafolin product will be its first new mode of action herbicide in some 30 years when it launches in Brazil in 2028.

Frank Terhorst, executive vice president of strategy and sustainability at Bayer’s Crop Science Division, told Reuters on Monday that AI could help speed up finding that next new mode of action.

“You want to find the one where you have maximum performance on what you want to kill – weeds, and basically no impact on everything else. And that balance is extremely difficult,” Terhorst told Reuters after an event in Chicago.

AI, he said, helps the company match the protein structure of a weed with a molecule that targets that structure, and enables it to use huge amounts of data. It is a faster process, he said, and there are fewer dropouts.

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Why it’s important

Bob Reiter, head of research and development, crop science, at Bayer, said in a statement that with AI tools, the timeline for the discovery of the next new mode of action could be much shorter.

“If we take the example of early research only, we today have at least three times the number of new modes of action compared to ten years ago,” he said.

With the support of artificial intelligence, they are able to screen for effective herbicide ingredients more quickly and design more precise management strategies to address the evolving challenge of weed resistance. This approach not only enhances Bayer’s innovation capabilities in the field of agricultural solutions, but also demonstrates the potential of artificial intelligence in modern agriculture. As technology advances, Bayer expects to be able to further strengthen its support for global agricultural sustainability and productivity, providing farmers with more reliable tools and methods to address the growing challenges of weed management.