BASF, a German company intent on keeping agriculture biotechnology and food safety foremost in crop production, has completed its takeover of American Home Products' American Cyanamid.
During a distributor/field representative meeting in Las Vegas, NV, Oct. 2, Dr. Friedrich G. M. Vogel, president of the Agriculture Products Division, told the 1,500 in attendance that BASF looked at the buy out as more of a merger than a takeover.
Vogel relieved the fears of distributors from throughout the United States by telling them that while BASF wants to be involved in e-commerce, it will not do so at the expense of its distributors and the great service they give customers.
"We believe agriculture chemicals belong in a different class through distribution channels," he stated.
BASF officials also reassured distributors that no products have been dropped from the crop-protection list but 15 new products will be introduced in the next six years.
Vogel said BASF would offer a complete portfolio of products and continue its same drive to meet the needs of its customers world wide.
"We will be No. 3 (in size after the Snygenta merger)," he continued. The company's world-wide crop-protection headquarters will be in Parsippany, NJ.
Vogel said until consumers are convinced they will be helped through biotechnology, it will have little value. In the future, BASF will add better varieties and use leading technology of molecular biology to select lines for modification. "This will be the system of tomorrow," he stated.
Vogel said some of the developments could be foods with more protein, better oils, starch and improved digestibility. He said BASF wants to be a leader in biotechnology.
Dr. Hans Kast, president and CEO of the BASF Plant Science division, assured attendees that the minor crops such as potatoes and sugarbeets would not be forgotten in product research and development.