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Monheim (Germany) and Ithaca (USA), March 14, 2013- Bayer CropScience and the research company Nature Source Genetics, based in Ithaca, New York, USA, have signed an agreement to expand their already fruitful cooperation. They have entered into a five-year collaboration involving the pre-breeding and enhancement of soybean germplasm. The goal is to create improved seed by making use of innovative technologies to identify and incorporate previously non detectable, naturally occurring genes. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

The partnership will combine the expertise of Bayer CropScience's soybean breeders and geneticists with Nature Source Genetics' technical know-how and the company's bioanalytical platform to identify and utilize the full range of promising germplasm. The partnership also builds on a successful cotton partnership, which began in 2008.

"The collaboration between Bayer CropScience and Nature Source Genetics marks a significant expansion in the strategic scope of our soybean breeding program", said Mike Gilbert, Head of Global Breeding and Trait Development at Bayer CropScience. "With this partnership, we now have access to new and valuable sources of genetic diversity in soybeans, which we can incorporate into our already robust breeding program to further expand and improve the products we offer growers worldwide."

This agreement will provide Bayer CropScience researchers with the opportunity to identify high value genes in previously unused genetic material and incorporate these new genes into commercial germplasm.

"We are very pleased to be entering into this joint venture with Bayer CropScience for the genetic improvement of soy. Nature Source Genetics brings to this partnership unique expertise and proprietary algorithms developed within its bioanalytical platform encompassing diverse competencies from life and computational sciences," said Professor Steven D. Tanksley, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of Nature Source Genetics. "These competencies will significantly expedite the identification and incorporation of new and useful genetic variation into Bayer CropScience's breeding material for the development of improved commercial varieties."

About Bayer CropScience
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care,
 agriculture and high-tech materials. This year the company looks back on 150 years of working to fulfill its mission "Bayer: Science For A Better Life". Bayer CropScience, the subgroup of Bayer AG responsible for the agricultural business, has annual sales of EUR 8,383 million (2012) and is one of the world's leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of seeds, crop protection and non-agricultural pest control. The company offers an outstanding range of products including high value seeds, innovative crop protection solutions based on chemical and biological modes of action as well as an extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture. In the area of non-agricultural applications, Bayer CropScience has a broad portfolio of products and services to control pests from home and garden to forestry applications. The company has a global workforce of 20,800 and is represented in more than 120 countries. This and further news is available at: www.press.bayercropscience.com.

About Nature Source Genetics
 Nature Source Genetics is a company based in Ithaca, New York co-founded in 2006 by Professor Steven D. Tanksley and Dr. Theresa M. Fulton from Cornell University with Dr. Vincent Pétiard, the former Head of Plant Sciences and Technology at Nestlé. Nature Source Genetics offers exclusive services on a crop per crop basis, and is currently working on different field crops, vegetables, and tropical crops with agro-seed and food companies to optimize the benefits of natural genetic diversity in target crops. Nature Source Genetics has also started to explore with animal breeding companies the opportunities of use of its computational genomics capabilities. More info at: www.naturesourcegenetics.com

Find more information at www.bayercropscience.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
 This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup 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 the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

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