In a change to the leadership team at BASF’s UK headquarters, two new appointments have been made following the move of Michael Wagner, the former business director, into a new leadership role based at Limburgerhof in Germany.
Neil Kay, currently head of marketing, will take over from Mr Wagner as the agricultural solutions business director for UK and Ireland.
Replacing Mr Kay will be Ben Miles who has worked with BASF for four years, including in the company’s xarvio digital services and AgriTech investments. He previously held positions with Syngenta, including eight years in Australia and New Zealand.
Prior to working in the Agricultural division, Neil Kay spent a number of years in Germany working for BASF’s distribution organisation as a sales manager and then led a European business unit.
As a former chemist, Mr Kay is passionate about innovation, and has been the driving force behind the company’s ‘Go to market’ strategy. He has been responsible for developing new ways of approaching industry challenges. As an example, the company’s trials network the Real Results Circle. Mr Kay is keen to foster both stability and innovation at a time when the agricultural community needs both in equal measure.
“Farmers have a diverse range of skills and multitude of things to manage; we are committed to working with them, in partnership with their advisors, to help gear their businesses for the future,” he says. “There is a great deal of scope to grow profitable farming businesses by investing in attention to detail, new technologies and partnerships.
“BASF is committed to agriculture globally and is investing in its future technologies,” he adds.
Commenting on his role, Ben Miles said: “We’re entering an exciting time for our business with the launch of Revysol and Luximo over the coming seasons. An important part of our role in introducing these new products will be ensuring sound stewardship, including the use of integrated crop management practices like the use of varietal disease resistance, using pre-planting weed control and drilling dates so as to not overuse of the chemistry.
“Both molecules are coming at an important time, given the loss of other important active ingredients and the growing challenge of resistance to chemistry,” he notes.
Both Neil Kay and Ben Miles took on their new roles on 1stSeptember.
