Paul Degreef

Global Head of Crop Development for Vegetables, Bayer

Company Expert Bayer

Expert Bio

As Global Head of Crop Development for Vegetables, Paul Degreef and his team are responsible for developing 28 varieties of vegetable crops globally. In order to achieve this, his department exploits 24 breeding stations with, in total 70 breeding teams. With teams so spread over the world, the varieties are developed under the right climatic circumstances, soil conditions and with the right disease pressure.

Before taking this crop development lead role in 2007, Paul held various positions within Bayer across the globe including breeder and Regional Head of Breeding.

Paul speaks French, German, English and Dutch. He graduated from Wageningen University in The Netherlands with a Plant Breeding degree in 1986.

Studies, Articles and Answers

Filter by

Showing 1 out of 1 results

Question

Q: How are biotechnology companies like Bayer and researchers like IRRI working to prevent reduction in crop varieties from thousands of heirloom and conventional crops to a few commercial and GM crops?

Answered By Paul Degreef - Apr 19, 2016

A: After a long research process, only a few crop varieties reach the market and become commercial. Whether those crops are GMO and or non-GMO, it is valid to say that only varieties that have the best combination of genes make it to market. Companies like Bayer recognize the importance of detecting and maintaining many different genes available in heirloom, old varieties and landraces, which are ancient, local varieties. The reason being that these genes may not be so important now, but they could become very important in the future. There are many examples of new diseases on the horiz [...]

Business Practices