Agricultural Solutions
Efficient farming is fundamental to provide enough healthy and affordable food for a rapidly growing population while reducing environmental impacts. Working with partners and agricultural experts and by integrating sustainability criteria into all business decisions, we help farmers to create a positive impact on sustainable agriculture. At BASF, we believe that the way forward for agriculture is finding the right balance between economic, environmental and social value creation – for farmers, agriculture and future generations.
Sales by region 2022 (location of customer)
Sales by direct customer industry 2022
1 Aquaculture, forestry, home and garden, industrial weed control, ornamentals, public health, turf, urban pest control
Digital farming
With products from xarvio® Digital Farming Solutions, we enable precision farming and help farmers globally optimize crop yield using fewer natural resources and crop inputs.
- We developed ONE SMART SPRAY together with Bosch. This technology recognizes weeds and allows precise herbicide application, maximizing crop production and reducing environmental impacts. In 2023, it was launched commercially in Germany and Hungary.
Field crop seeds & traits
Proven seed germplasm, trusted trait products and a pipeline of innovation that addresses current and future needs of farmers:
- A strong seed brand portfolio that delivers high-quality seed germplasms via high-performing hybrids and varieties that adapt to the growing conditions of local farmers. The portfolio includes InVigor® canola (oil seed rape), FiberMax® cotton, Stoneville® cotton and Credenz® soybean seed.
- Herbicide-tolerance, insect resistance and agronomic trait technologies that help crops realize their full potential. The portfolio includes pod shatter reduction technology, LibertyLink®, GlyTol®, TwinLink®, TwinLink® Plus, Clearfield® Production System and Provisia® Rice System.
- Committed to bringing future innovation to farmers through research and technological advancements in areas of breeding, trait research and trait development.
Fungicides
Conducting pioneering research to find new active ingredients and provide our customers new options to control fungal diseases:
- Revysol® is our latest compound. It meets the highest level of regulatory standards and offers outstanding biological performance against difficult-to-control pathogens in specialty and row crops. The active ingredient has received registrations in all regions. Revysol®-based products have been introduced globally in all major crops.
- Xemium® is a key component of BASF’s fungicides portfolio due to its broad-spectrum disease control. It has excellent mobility in the plant and long-lasting residual action. Xemium® is available in more than 80 countries for roughly 150 different crops.
Herbicides
Reducing competition from weeds secures yield and harvest quality, enabling no-till farming practices:
- Luximo®, with no known cross-resistance, provides soil residual control against a broad range of grasses in cereal crops.
- Tirexor® is a PPO-inhibiting herbicide (protoporphyrinogen IX oxidase) for controlling weeds currently resistant to other PPO inhibitors, effective burndown of broadleaf weeds and suppression of annual ryegrass.
- Liberty®, Rely®, Finale® and Basta® are glufosinate ammonium-based herbicides designed to control weeds in a number of row and specialty crops.
Insecticides
Combating insect pests in agriculture and beyond:
- Axalion® Active insecticide, developed by BASF, is a new class of chemistry with a novel mode of action. Axalion® provides long-lasting control of a broad spectrum of piercing and sucking pests, including whiteflies and aphids, while working harmoniously with beneficials and the environment when applied according to the label. Australian farmers had first access to Axalion® with the launch of this active ingredient in April 2023; additional launches are planned in Asia, Europe and South America in the coming years.
- Inscalis®1 insecticide offers an alternative mode of action for the control of piercing and sucking insects such as aphids, whiteflies, and leafhoppers in row and specialty crops as well as ornamentals.
- Broflanilide2, with a novel mode of action, is highly efficacious against chewing pests, such as caterpillars and beetles in specialty and row crops. It also combats ants, cockroaches and flies in the professional pest management market.
Seed treatment
Biological and chemical products, functional coatings and colorants to improve seed performance:
- Poncho® Votivo® is a systemic insecticide and biological seed treatment for use on a wide range of crops to control insect pests and protect against soil plant pathogenic nematodes.
- ILEVO® seed treatment for soybeans provides broad-spectrum nematode protection against soybean sudden death syndrome and cyst nematode, two of the top yield robbers.
- Teraxxa® and Teraxxa® F4 are the only seed treatments that not only control wireworms but eliminate them by interfering with nerve signal communication in the insects’ cells.
Vegetable seeds
Developing solutions to make healthy eating enjoyable and sustainable, by creating improved varieties through conventional breeding and working closely with partners throughout the value chain. Under the Nunhems® brand, BASF markets more than 1,200 vegetable varieties for 24 crops.
- Since early in the outbreak of the Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV), BASF has actively sought and offered solutions to growers to battle the virus. New seed varieties resistant to ToBRFV are being launched to meet the needs of growers and the market.
1 Co-developed with Meiji Seika Pharma Co. Ltd
2 Co-developed with Mitsui Chemicals Agro, Inc.
The Agricultural Solutions division holds one of the top four market positions in nearly all of the strategic business areas in which it is active.
The main competitors (alphabetical order) include Bayer, Corteva, FMC and Syngenta.
With an estimated peak sales potential of more than €7.5 billion, our innovation pipeline comprises products and solutions across all business areas. Throughout the next decade, we will launch major projects, including several industry-leading weed control solutions, further products based on Revysol® fungicide and digital farming solutions based on the agronomic intelligence of xarvio®. We spent €944 million on R&D in the Agricultural Solutions segment in 2022, representing 9% of the segment’s sales.
(from 2020 onward)
| Product group | Description | Year |
| Crop protection/active ingredients | Streamlining of global glufosinate-ammonium production network | 2020 |
| Acquisition of proprietary technology for L-glufosinate-ammonium from AgriMetis™ | 2020 | |
| Divestiture of active ingredient for control of plant-parasitic nematodes to Mitsui Chemicals Agro | 2021 | |
| Digital farming | Founding of BOSCH BASF Smart Farming GmbH | 2021 |
| Acquisition of Horta S.r.l. (Italy) | 2022 | |
| Formulation capacities | New formulation capacities for glufosinate-ammonium (United States, Europe, Asia) | 2020 |
| New production facility for seed treatment formulations (United States) | 2020 | |
| New formulation facility (Singapore) | 2022 | |
| Seeds | Divestiture of HILD Samen business to Graines Voltz |
2020 |
| Expansion of tomato breeding facilities (Netherlands) |
2021 | |
| Acquisition of melon breeding company ASL |
2023 |
Reducing on-farm carbon emissions
With our global Carbon Farming Program, which was launched in 2022, we support farmers in reducing CO2e emissions while benefiting financially. BASF and Boortmalt, the world’s leading malting company, entered into a first-of-its-kind collaboration that enables farmers in the malting barley value chain to reduce on-farm carbon emissions in barley production and also certify the reduction. With tailor-made solutions ranging from seeds, traits, innovative chemical and biological crop protection products to digital farming and fertilizer management solutions, farmers can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sequester carbon in the soil and make their farms more resilient to climate change.