How Bayer Aided Farmers Devastated by the Derecho Storms

By Dominique Adomatis, eCommerce- Sales, Consumer Health Division, Bayer

I’ve seen the generosity of our company through donations for relief efforts. With each instance, I’m reminded how Bayer acts on its mission of Science for a Better Life. It’s a source of pride. But I never thought I’d be on the ground floor of one of these experiences, especially across businesses.

That changed this past September when I got a call from a Crop Science colleague. I work in our Consumer Health division. He explained they wanted to do a rapid relief effort for farmers affected by the derecho storms in Iowa. I was impressed by his fast action. Because they were well aware of the profound devastation to the farmland and farmers in Iowa, Crop Science employees had to do something about it. Leaders gave full support.

In early September, the team was figuring out the “what” and more importantly “how” to get this done. By the time Consumer Health got involved, we knew we could create a “gift bundle” for the nearly 2,000 farmers. It was natural for me to get involved since I am the business manager for Pharmapacks, one of our eCommerce customers at Bayer. Pharmapacks is known for their agility and ability to quickly bundle products for consumers. Even though Pharmapacks was a new strategic partner for Bayer, they were an obvious choice due to their relentless collaboration and strong desire to give back to their communities. As soon as I made the call, they were thrilled to support this effort and worked with us every step of the way.

Over the following four weeks, our cross-business team including Consumer Health and Crop Science found 20 Consumer Health products to add to the bundles and wrote a personalized letter from leadership to the farmers. Additionally, our Consumer Health grocery team got gift cards to Hy-Vee, a local grocer in Iowa. Pharmapacks helped by printing letters and reserving labor and warehouse space to meet the rush to send the final bundles. While this took hours of coordination both internally and with Pharmapacks, the dedication was apparent in the speed and care in which farmers received the bundles.

When I asked Pharmapacks Chief Operating Officer, Adam Berkowitz, to share his perspective of the project, he said: “The derecho storms have had a deep and troubling impact on farmers across Iowa. Pharmapacks is proud to partner with the Bayer organization to provide relief and support to those in need, our collaboration is making a real and profound difference.” All of us who partnered on this initiative couldn’t agree more about the feeling of pride in helping those in need.

I am so proud to work for a company that acts when there is a need in our community. From the way we came together across businesses, to the hard work to make this happen, I can say I saw how we truly live our Science for a Better Life mission.