The Agriculture Division of Bayer Corporation, Kansas City, MO, has contracted with Wayne, PA-based Planalytics Agriculture to employ Weathernomics^SM technology to better understand and plan for seasonal product demand a full year in advance.

Weathernomics provides manufacturers and retailers with the specific impact of future weather on consumer demand by product, location, and time. Using artificial intelligence modeling of historical business results and weather data, Weathernomics determines how weather influences product demand. Then, using Planalytics' unique and proprietary long-range forecast data, Weathernomics provides visual presentations and datasets to support informed and improved planning and forecasting, product distribution, and advertising and promotion timing.

"Bayer has always been committed to the customer," said Bob Grant, Vice President of Supply Chain Operations. "Weathernomics is another tool in our arsenal that helps us better anticipate and fulfill customer demand, which is very often driven by regional weather fluctuations."

"For many agribusiness firms, weather is the most important variable in success or failure," said Frederic Fox, President and CEO of Planalytics. "We will identify weather-related supply chain risks and opportunities 12 months in advance, allowing Bayer to more effectively plan for future demand."

Bayer's Agriculture Division has businesses in animal health, crop protection, and garden and professional care and offers such products as Advantage® flea control for cats and dogs and Premise® termiticide. Bayer Corporation is a research-based company with major businesses in health care and life sciences and chemicals. The company had 1999 sales of $8.9 billion and employs approximately 22,200 people. Bayer Corp., with headquarters in Pittsburgh, is a member of the worldwide Bayer Group, a $29 billion international life sciences, polymers, and specialty chemicals group based in Leverkusen, Germany.

Planalytics (www.planalytics.com) is a supply chain planning portal serving three vertical markets: retail, agriculture, and energy. The company's proprietary technologies make supply chains more effective by providing vital future intelligence into supply chain planning, quantifying how, where, and when weather, economic, demographic, and competitive shifts from year to year will affect supply and demand for specific products and services.

In addition to Bayer, Planalytics has more than 120 retailer and manufacturer clients, including Cargill, Zeneca Ag, Color Spot, W.W. Grainger, The Home Depot, Kmart, Lowe's, Monsanto, Scotts, Sears, Tractor Supply, and Wal-Mart.