Editor’s note: Jim Blome is the president and CEO for Bayer CropScience LP, as well as the head of crop protection for the company’s North American region, headquartered in Research Triangle Park, N.C. He grew up on a family farm in Hubbard, Iowa, and is a graduate of Iowa State University with more than 25 years of leadership experience in agriculture. Prior to his current position at Bayer CropScience, he held executive positions at Valent USA®, Agriliance LLC, Agtrol International and Griffin LLC. Jim serves on the executive board of directors for CropLife America, the sponsor’s board of directors for Future Farmers of America (FFA), the North Carolina Agricultural Biotechnology Advisory Council and the foundation board for the National Wild Turkey Federation. He has two daughters and is an avid outdoorsman.

 

The exponential growth of the Triangle’s science and technology sector has made the nation take notice of our area. National news sources continually name the greater Raleigh-Durham area as one of the country’s top locations to live and work. Future success, however, remains dependent on providing our children with a solid STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education today. Forbes Magazine notes that local STEM employment grew 15 percent in the last decade, and Bayer CropScience wants to support this trend.

Reaffirming our commitment to the greater Raleigh area, Bayer CropScience recently announced a $600,000 grant from the Bayer USA Foundation to Passage Home, an organization fighting poverty and homelessness in Wake County. The four-year grant will aid in the development of a new community garden in the Brown Birch neighborhood of South Raleigh and for increased support of STEM education for students involved in Passage Home’s after-school and summer school programs at the neighborhood’s Safety Club. The garden will allow students to become scientists by getting their hands in the dirt to learn about how agriculture is science and the role it plays in producing food. This kind of experiential education cannot be stressed enough, as it equips young minds with a lifelong love of STEM learning. An introduction to science at a young age also prepares children for the science-related careers that are in high demand around the country, especially in the Triangle.

Last week, we were honored to welcome Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, to Raleigh to present the Bayer USA Foundation’s grant to Passage Home. Dr. Jemison has been the national spokesperson for our award-winning Making Science Make Sense® program, a hands-on science literacy initiative, for the past two decades. She met with children at Passage Home’s Safety Club and talked with them about how science knowledge, combined with hard work, can make reaching for the stars and achieving their goals a reality. Dr. Jemison asked the children what they intend to be when they grow up, rather than just what they wanted to be. She interacted with them to create excitement about science, and talked about how science can change the world around them in many positive ways. Children also heard about her time with NASA, as well as all the science that goes into being an astronaut.

Most importantly, Dr. Jemison showed the community that investing in experiential science learning will lead to a brighter, more sustainable future for our children. She noted that Passage Home’s strategy to create economically-sustainable urban neighborhoods by promoting urban green spaces for residents and improving STEM education for students is a critical and important demonstration that science is a fundamental part of our everyday lives. Just as we depend on science now to help us achieve abundant and nutritious food sources to feed a hungry planet, future generations in the Triangle and around the world will need STEM initiatives to answer pressing scientific issues.

With this grant to Passage Home, we are actively deepening our roots in an area of the country that is not only our North American and global Seeds business headquarters, but also one of the most fertile areas for STEM education and jobs. We invest in the Triangle community in the hopes that children will be inspired by examples like the one Dr. Jemison sets, and become our future scientists and STEM leaders. Working with Passage Home on a community garden in South Raleigh is just the first step. Please consider investing in STEM education in your community, and join with Bayer CropScience and the Bayer USA Foundation in helping our children embrace science learning and achieve their dreams.