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Monday - November 19, 2007

Bayer CropScience at the “Bayer Climate Program" Press Conference:

Responding to Climate change with stress-tolerant plants and higher yields

Innovation is the key to protecting crops and safeguarding harvests

Leverkusen, November 19, 2007 – As part of the “Bayer Climate Program” press conference, Bayer CropScience organized a workshop titled “Climate Change and Crop Production: Perspectives from Bayer CropScience” to present the contribution that the subgroup is making to meeting the challenges of the future. The main impact of climate change on farmers is the potential loss of harvests as a result of climatic variations. Bayer CropScience has specifically focused its research activities on ways of safeguarding harvests and increasing yields. “In the context of limited arable land and an ever-expanding world population with a growing need for food, feed and energy, our concern is to safeguard and increase yields of agricultural crops,” explained Dr. Rüdiger Scheitza, Member of the Board of Management of Bayer CropScience and Head of Global Portfolio Management. “The development of stress-tolerant plants can help to mitigate the impact of climatic variations.”

Better stress protection for plants

Plants are exposed to a variety of stress factors which can have a negative effect on their growth and health. This can be due to insects, fungal infections, weeds, bacteria or viruses, for example, all of which are known as “biotic” factors. The “abiotic” stress factors include drought, heat, cold and soil salinity. These factors are responsible for the sometimes dramatic yield losses in many regions of the world. Bayer CropScience is responding to these challenges with a chemical and a biological approach. “Confidor® Stress Shield Inside” is the proprietary name under which the company is already marketing active ingredient formulations capable of protecting against both biotic and abiotic stress factors. Recent research has also shown that this technology, when used in the insecticide Gaucho®, can make rice plants more resistant to fluctuations in the salt content of brackish water.

Bayer CropScience is also focusing its plant biotechnology research on new solutions to the stress-related loss of energy in plants. The PARP protein plays a key role in this process as it consumes a great amount of energy when the plant is under stress, and this leads to yield losses. Initial field trials have shown that canola plants with genetically enhanced properties are better able to withstand drought conditions and other forms of stress. Significant increases in yield compared with plants which are not stress-resistant have also been achieved under field conditions.

High-yielding canola for biodiesel

The growing global demand for biofuels is leading to a distinct increase in the use of agricultural raw materials to produce plant-based fuels. Bayer CropScience markets a comprehensive range of crop protection products for the major energy crops sugar cane, corn and wheat, all used to produce bioethanol and oilseed crops such as canola and soybeans which are used to produce biodiesel. In addition, Bayer CropScience has for many years held a leading position in the North American market with its high-yielding InVigor® canola seed which can be processed into biodiesel. It has been shown that InVigor® can produce yields which are about 20 percent higher on average than those achieved with regular hybrid varieties. If we translate the yield of Canadian canola, for example, into the liter yield of biodiesel per hectare, InVigor® produces around 190 liters more biodiesel per hectare than other hybrid canola seed. Biodiesel produces around 1.5 kilograms of CO₂ per liter less than fossil fuel. The fossil-fuel input into the production of biofuel has already been factored into this calculation.

One approach to respond to the acreage competition involves the inedible jatropha plant. It flourishes in soil that is unsuitable for food production. Jatropha seed is over 30 percent oil, which can be used as a raw material for biodiesel. Bayer CropScience is planning to cooperate in a research project with partners to drive the use of jatropha-based biodiesel. The company’s particular know-how regarding the question of a future-oriented, economically efficient cultivation of this crop will be proving very useful.

Bayer AG is a global research-based and growth-oriented enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. Bayer CropScience AG, a subsidiary of Bayer AG with annual sales of about EUR 5.7 billion (2006), is one of the world’s leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of crop protection, non-agricultural pest control, seeds and plant biotechnology. 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 about 17,900 and is represented in more than 120 countries. This and further news is available at: www.newsroom.bayercropscience.com

More information is available at www.climate.bayer.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer CropScience AG 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 Bayer CropScience AG or our holding company Bayer AG and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in public reports filed by Bayer AG with the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (including Form 20-F). Neither Bayer AG nor Bayer CropScience AG assumes any liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.