BASF’s Verbund in Agriculture

It doesn’t have a direct English translation, but the concept of the Verbund is central to BASF’s approach to business. The Verbund emphasizes the intelligent interlinking of research and development, production plants, energy flows and infrastructure. The Agricultural Solutions division is no exception and has benefitted greatly from the Verbund’s many possibilities.

The Verbund seeks to take advantage of the diverse nature of BASF’s chemical activities by combining all three realms of chemical technology. The first realm, chemical knowledge, involves the synthesis of novel molecules. The second realm is physical chemistry, such as colloidal science, and looks at how tiny particles disperse in a liquid or solid. The final realm is process engineering technology that allows crop protection products to be made on an industrial scale. Combining all three disciplines in-house makes us unique and has been a major factor in the success of our agricultural business.

By incorporating knowledge and expertise from all areas of BASF’s business, we have been able to develop solutions for agriculture by building on chemistry originally designed for other areas and purposes. Some of these areas include construction chemicals, vitamins, water purification, super-absorbing polymers, paper chemistry and oil production. Such close collaboration and dialogue helps our scientists develop unique research tools and products that, in turn, drive innovation and research in other areas. The spiral just keeps on growing.

A perfect example of the Verbund principle in action involves polymer formulation technology