Earlier this year, Monsanto let Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta slip through its hands. After several rejected takeover attempts, Syngenta eventually agreed to be acquired by Chinese chemical corporation ChemChina for €39bn. Now, Monsanto is apparently on the lookout for new expansion targets.

According to reports by Reuters, sources says that the US company has approached Bayer AG with an interest towards acquiring the German company’s crop science unit. A potential takeover would be worth more than US$30bn, the reports says.

The aim is to build up a world-leading position for furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and the polyethylenefuranoate (PEF) based on it. The recyclable PEF is tougher than conventional plastics, making it particularly suitable for food and beverage packaging films and plastic bottles. Building on Avantium’s YXY process for the production of FDCA, the JV will produce and market FDCA and also market the resulting PEF.

Bayer’s new partner, based in Redmond, Washington is involved in a wide range of space-based enterprises, including asteroid mining. With the new deal, Bayer intends to purchase data from Planetary Resources to create new agricultural products and improve existing ones. The new collaboration will be part of Bayer’s Digital Farming Initiative. Financial details were not disclosed.

Experts, enthusiasts and inventors from over 70 cities from 37 countries took part in the international event to exchange ideas and numerous prototypes of the circular economy of tomorrow. Two years ago, the French/German founders of the association Circular came up with the idea behind the events. More than 900 participants came to this year’s OSCE Days in Berlin. The challenges of the circular economy were discussed in presentations, podium discussions, exhibitions and work groups.

After the Leverkusen-based pharma giant increased its offer by two billion to $64 billion (€58 billion) in July, the US seed giant has now brought a new player into the race. As Bloomberg reported, Monsanto is negotiating with the Ludwigshafen chemical company BASF on a merger of the agrochemical divisions. Market experts however view the negotiation as a "poison pill" for Bayer in an attempt to make the purchase unattractive.

In an appeal published on 30 June, the scientists also raise serious accusations against the environmental organisation Greenpeace for its opposition to the development of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture. The authors of the letter, particularly called attention to Greenpeace’s campaign against Golden Rice, a genetically engineered (GE) crop meant to address vitamin A deficiency.

The total value of its R&D pipeline is now estimated to be in the lower single-digit billion-euro range – a figure that is expected to continue growing over the next few years. Already established as world leader in the biotechnological production of amino acids for the animal feed industry, Evonik has ambitious goals – to be the best in innovation.

“Only when we have properly understood our oceans, can we begin to use them sustainably and protect them better,” said Federal Research Minister Johanna Wanka at the official opening of the Year of Science in Berlin in early June. She also used the opportunity to present the federal government’s new programme on marine research (MARE:N), which wants to invest more than four billion euros in the future of the oceans over the next ten years.

In its 81st year, the world’s largest trade fair of its kind has met a record: 1,660 exhibitors from 65 countries are represented this year at the annual event. The Green Week, however, is not just about displaying culinary delights from all over the world; the bioeconomy has also found a firm foothold at the international exhibition. Once again visitors will be convinced at how biobased raw materials are becoming increasingly more common in our daily lives at the specialist trade fair within the Green week for bioeconomy – nature.tec in Hall 4.2.

Over the past ten years, an international team of plant scientists have put great faith in decoding the wheat genome. Now the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) has announced that that it will be able to present the complete sequence of bread wheat by 2017. The scientists are convinced that the knowledge of the molecular blueprint of the crop will spur the development of new resistant and high-yielding varieties of wheat.