IICA recognizes Bayer Crop Science’s contribution to attracting youth and incorporating digital technologies into agriculture of the Americas

San Jose, 24 July 2024 (IICA) – The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) recognized the contributions of Ronald Guendel, Global Vice-President of Smallholder Farming at Bayer Crop Science, to initiatives aimed at attracting youth to agricultural professions as well as fostering the use of digital tools to increase the efficiency and sustainability of this productive activity in the Americas.

IICA Director General Manuel Otero expressed his gratitude to Bayer for its friendship and collaboration, under Guendel’s leadership, to successfully implement projects such as the Interpretive Center for Tomorrow’s Agriculture (CIMAG), the Plaza of Agriculture of the Americas and the Virtual Center of Agricultural Machinery, inaugurated during the 2024 meeting of the Institute’s Executive Committee.

These projects are located at IICA’s headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica—Guendel’s native country.

“If I had to sum up the word ‘friendship’, I could very well use Ronald Guendel as an example. He is someone who is sensitive to the issues of family farming and inclusion, which has allowed us to forge an important partnership for the benefit of IICA’s work”, said Otero.

Bayer is also a strategic partner in the “Living Soils of the Americas” initiative, which seeks to drive soil regeneration in the hemisphere and is co-led by 2020 World Food Prize winner Rattan Lal, who is also an IICA Goodwill Ambassador and Director of the Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration (C-MASC) at The Ohio State University.

“I am grateful to all my friends at IICA. I was a young boy from San José who decided to study agronomy, inspired by my grandfather’s stories about when he was a small farmer. Because of different life circumstances, I had the opportunity to study in the United States and work at Bayer, and eventually ended up managing the global smallholder farming program”, mentioned Guendel.

“When I began to hear about IICA, I realized what a great institution it is and began to consider how we at Bayer could generate partnerships that would impact small-scale farmers and the younger generations. That is what led to the proposal for CIMAG and other projects, thanks to Manuel Otero’s vision and the great team at IICA. We decided to do our part to support agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean”, added the Global Vice-President of Smallholder Farming at Bayer Crop Science.

Guendel was presented with the award of recognition during the regular meeting of IICA’s Executive Committee, which was attended by twelve ministers of Agriculture of the Americas and other senior officials of the hemisphere.

More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int