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Q1 2025 Agribusiness Earnings Summary: Bayer Crop Science, John Deere, TELUS Ag and Consumer Goods and UPL

Essential news and analysis for agribusiness leaders.

Author

Shane Thomas
May 17, 2025 • Read Time: 6 minutes

Index:

  1. Bayer Crop Science Q1 2025 Results

  2. TELUS Q1 2025 Results (Agriculture and Consumer Goods Segment)

  3. Deere & Co. Q2 2025 Results

  4. UPL FY 2025 Results

About Upstream Ag Professional Agribusiness Breakdowns

Each quarter in Upstream Ag Professional, I shrewdly analyze publicly traded agribusiness earnings, cutting through the noise to highlight the key takeaways that matter for those of us working in the agriculture industry.

By breaking down earnings results and executive commentary, I provide the strategic insights agribusiness professionals need to stay ahead of their competitors, their suppliers and ultimately their customers.

The below is just one portion— more deep dives on the most influential agribusinesses, their market positioning, and strategic initiatives will be published as results become available.

If you want to satiate your curiosity and be the best-informed in the industry, you’re in the right place.

Other Related Breakdowns:

Access the financials I have compiled to be able to effectively look at major agribusinesses in detail here: Agribusiness Financial Data Q4 2022 to Q4 2024 (Excel Workbooks)

Crop Science Financials

  • Revenue was down 4.1% to €7.58 billion (↓ 4.1% reported, ↓ 3.3% Fx adj. & portfolio adjusted)

  • EBITDA (before special items) was down more than 10% to €2.56 billion.

  • EBITDA Margin was down to 33.7% (from 36.0%), but higher than expected.

  • EBITDA was down more, but special charges of €401 million came in, mainly related to Roundup litigation (~€380 related to Roundup).

  • R&D Spend was down €616 million (↓ 1.4%).

Regional Results

  • North America was down 6.1% reported / ↓ 8.2% (adjusted) primarily impacted by dicamba label vacatur (inability to sell due to court overturning registration) and volume phasing.

  • Latin America was down 11.9% reported / ↓ 0.9% (adjusted) primarily impacted by glyphosate volume timing.

  • Europe/Middle East/Africa was up 0.7% reported / ↑ 1.7% (adjusted), whille Asia/Pacific was up 10.0% reported / ↑ 9.6% (adjusted).

Business Segment Highlights

  • Corn Seed & Traits were down slightly to €3.19B (↓ 1.6%) — Growth in EMEA and Asia offset by volume delay in North America and price pressure in LATAM.

  • Herbicides were down to €1.59B (↓ 0.9%) — Non-glyphosate herbicides up with glyphosate sales ↓ 11.1% due to timing.

  • Fungicides were down €916M (↓ 2.0%) with stable volumes, but price declines

  • Soybean Seed & Traits were down to €522M ( - 13.6%) with the major hit from dicamba ruling in the U.S. Seemingly upside for Corteva on this front. Bayer alluded to a lot of this being licensing related, while Corteva noted an increase in licensing.

  • Insecticides were down to €387M (↓ 15.7%) with the biggest reason or the decline being Europe due to Movento™ registration expiry. LatAm insecticide sales were strong.

  • Cotton Seed was down to €232M (↓ 20.0%), primariuly related to regulatory issues in the U.S. In Q3 2024, Bayer took impairment losses to the Crop Science BU of €3.77 billion, largely attributable to dicamba dynamics. This included goodwill impairment of €510 million for Cotton Seed.

    Other

  • Bayer stated that they think some of the growth is being transferred to Q2 vs. Q1 which makes the numbers look worse in Q1, but expecting a more positive Q2.

    Glyphosate

Tariffs

For Crop Science, we expect the direct tariff effects to be limited overall, mainly impacting the crop protection portfolio as seeds and traits are mostly produced in the regions where they are sold. As of now, most of our crop protection active ingredients as well as glyphosate are exempt from the latest tariffs. We're also evaluating indirect business implications. These could include, amongst others, the magnitude of acreage shifts from soy to corn in The United States, potential shifts to lead them in soy as well as several pricing and volume scenarios for glyphosate and the broader crop protection portfolio.

There is likely a small impact on seed from the potential of seed treatment, but unlikely to be significant.

In the first quarter of 2025, TELUS Agriculture and Consumer Goods made material advancements in integrating acquired assets and exceeded integration targets for Proagrica®. Additionally, we launched a single customer service platform and introduced a 24/7 global support desk to enhance our global customer service experience. Notable growth in bookings continued throughout the first quarter of 2025, leading to a substantial year-over-year increase across all lines of business within TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods.

TELUS continues to emphasize the growth in their Agriculture and Consumer Goods business. However, it remains to be seen that they are seeing organic success in the upstream agriculture segment of their business. From the MD&A:

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