Liam Condon, the former healthcare executive who took up a new role as chairman and chief executive of Bayer CropScience at the start of December, has spoken of his excitement at the prospect of contributing to growth in fresh produce consumption levels and helping to improve the health of consumers.

Condon told the Vegetable Future Forum in Monheim, Germany, how during less than two weeks in the role he had already begun to see the fruit and vegetable business in a different light.

'My family has noticed a change in me over the last couple of weeks,' he admitted. 'For me, the supermarket used to be somewhere I just wanted to get in and out of as quickly as possible, whereas now I am looking at the fruit and vegetables on display and wondering 'where on earth did this come from?'.

Condon, who has spent 20 years working in the healthcare and pharmaceuticals business, succeeded Sandra Peterson, who left the company at the end of November.

He was previously managing director of Bayer Vital, a subsidiary of Bayer HealthCare in Germany, and also head of Bayer Pharma's business in the country since January 2010.

'What I've realised is that I'm going away from the business of curing people to a totally different area that has far more to do with prevention,' he told the conference.

'Bayer as a group makes a lot of money on vitamin tablets and I am now looking at the vegetable business and wondering if we cannot shift some of that success across.'

He added: 'Our desire is to promote innovation for a better life and to develop solutions that add value to products that will then generate returns for almost everyone along the entire chain.'

The Vegetable Future Forum 2012 was organised by Bayer CropScience and held at its international headquarters in Monheim, Germany.

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