Crop Science

Market

The global seed and crop protection market recorded currency-adjusted growth of approximately 2%¹ in 2025, largely driven by an increase in planted area for corn in the United States that partly came at the expense of soybean and cotton acreages. Market growth was also seen in Brazil and Argentina following the decrease in corn acreages in the prior year. The vegetable seeds segment continued to experience strong growth across all regions. Meanwhile, market development in the crop protection segment was mostly flat, with competitive pressure from generics again causing headwinds. However, increased infestation and pest pressure in certain regions had a positive impact.

Sales

Sales at Crop Science increased by 1.1% (Fx & portfolio adj.) to €21,622 million in 2025. Growth was mainly driven by Corn Seed & Traits, which registered significant gains across all regions and more than offset the headwinds arising from regulatory impacts relating to the vacatur of the dicamba label in the United States and the expiration of the Movento™ registration in Europe.

• Sales at Corn Seed & Traits advanced by a double-digit percentage, with significant growth across all regions from strong product performance, an increase in planted area and the resolution of a licensing agreement in North America.

• Business at Herbicides was at the prior-year level. Our non-glyphosate-based products saw strong performance in Latin America and Europe/Middle East/Africa, offsetting lower prices and volumes in North America. As for our glyphosate-based products, increased market prices and higher volumes in North America were mostly offset by lower volumes and prices in Latin America.

• Sales at Fungicides came in below the prior-year level, largely due to declines in North America and Asia/Pacific from market- and weather-related factors. By contrast, we recorded an increase in volumes in Europe/Middle East/Africa.

• Our Soybean Seed & Traits business saw sales decrease against the prior year, with the dicamba label vacatur and lower planted area in the United States resulting in substantial declines. By contrast, sales in Latin America posted robust growth thanks to strong Intacta 2 Xtend™ adoption.

• Sales at Insecticides declined considerably, primarily due to the expiration of the Movento™ registration in Europe.

• Our Vegetable Seeds business recorded a strong increase in sales that was driven by higher prices and volumes in nearly all regions.

• Sales at Cotton Seed decreased substantially, with business mainly down in the United States due to the aforementioned dicamba label vacatur and lower planted area.

• In the reporting unit “Other”, we recorded a slight decrease in sales that was mainly attributable to lower volumes in the other parts of our seed portfolio.

Earnings

EBITDA before special items at Crop Science decreased by 3.2% to €4,188 million in 2025 (2024: €4,325 million), and included a negative currency effect of €208 million (2024: positive currency effect of €37 million). Earnings benefited from strong growth at Corn Seed & Traits and cost savings from our efficiency programs. By contrast, earnings were impacted by regulatory headwinds, higher expenses for the Group-wide short-term incentive (STI) program and strategic actions, including in particular costs associated with portfolio streamlining and the absence of prior-year income from the divestment of noncore businesses. The EBITDA margin before special items was 19.4%, and was therefore unchanged from the prior-year figure.

EBIT came in at minus €2,532 million in 2025 (2024: minus €2,756 million) after net special charges of €3,956 million (2024: €4,416 million) that were primarily attributable to litigation-related expenses of €5,520 million. The special charges were partially offset by net impairment loss reversals of €1,843 million arising from unscheduled impairment testing in the second quarter as well as our regular annual impairment testing. This unscheduled impairment testing in the second quarter resulted in the recognition of impairment loss reversals in the cash-generating units Corn Seed & Traits (€647 million) and Cotton Seed (€389 million), as well as an impairment loss in the cash-generating unit Vegetable Seeds (€196 million). These net impairment loss reversals arose in conjunction with the division comprehensively revising its business strategy (Five-Year Framework), which also involved modifying long-term modeling assumptions and the allocation of costs. During the regular impairment testing at the end of the year, we recorded additional impairment loss reversals in the cash-generating units Soybean Seed & Traits (€838 million) and Cotton Seed (€160 million) that were attributable to improved business prospects.

Fourth quarter of 2025

Sales

Sales rose by 6.3% (Fx & portfolio adj.) to €5,396 million in the fourth quarter. Corn Seed & Traits saw a particularly strong increase in sales, with double-digit percentage gains registered in all regions. Growth was mainly driven by the resolution of a licensing agreement in North America and strong business performance in Latin America. Sales in the Herbicides business were lower year on year due to significant declines for our non-glyphosate-based products in North America and Asia/Pacific. By contrast, our glyphosate-based products posted strong sales growth thanks to higher volumes across all regions and increased prices in North America. Sales at Fungicides were down against the prior year, with business mainly impacted by substantial volume declines in Asia/Pacific and North America. By contrast, we registered a strong increase in volumes and prices in Europe/Middle East/Africa. Our Soybean Seed & Traits business posted an increase in sales that was largely attributable to continued strong adoption of Intacta 2 Xtend™ in Latin America. At Insecticides, we recorded substantial declines, with business mainly down in Latin America amid increased competitive pressure from generics. Our Vegetable Seeds business saw a substantial increase in sales that was primarily driven by higher volumes and prices in the North America and Europe/Middle East/Africa regions. Sales at Cotton Seed decreased substantially, with business mainly down due to lower volumes in North America and Asia/Pacific. This effect was only marginally offset by higher volumes in Latin America. In the reporting unit “Other”, we registered significant gains in the canola business that were primarily driven by the aforementioned resolution of a licensing agreement.

Earnings

EBITDA before special items decreased by 16.5% to €766 million in the fourth quarter (Q4 2024: €917 million). The decline in earnings was primarily due to higher STI expenses compared with the prior year thanks to a higher level of target attainment. In addition, year-on-year performance was impacted by strategic actions, including in particular costs associated with portfolio streamlining and the absence of prior-year income from the divestment of noncore businesses. There was also a negative currency effect of €106 million (Q4 2024: positive currency effect of €48 million). By contrast, earnings benefited from the aforementioned resolution of the licensing agreement in North America and cost savings generated by our efficiency programs. The EBITDA margin before special items declined by 2.8 percentage points to 14.2%.

EBIT declined to minus €2,317 million in the fourth quarter (Q4 2024: minus €170 million) after net special charges of €2,359 million (Q4 2024: €409 million) that were primarily attributable to litigation-related expenses. These charges were partly offset by special gains relating to the aforementioned impairment loss reversals that were recognized in the cash-generating units Soybean Seed & Traits and Cotton Seed as part of the regular annual impairment testing.

1 Source: Bayer’s estimate (as of January 2026), plus various local sources