When Gov. Mike Parson traveled to Germany and the Netherlands on a trade mission this summer, Bayer and BASF were among the companies he conferenced with.
“Bayer is a very important company for St. Louis,” said Becky Willard, executive director of the Hawthorne Foundation.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, Bayer is the sole owner of St. Louis-based Monsanto, which it acquired for $63 billion. The company is embroiled in thousands of lawsuits alleging its herbicide Roundup causes cancer.
Trial is currently under way in St. Louis County accusing the company’s weed killer Roundup of causing the cancers in three plaintiffs.
“We have a lot of German companies that are in Missouri and Missouri companies in Germany," Willard told the St. Louis Record. "Gov. Parson was there cultivating those relationships, making sure things are going okay, that they're happy in Missouri, that they are aware of available programs, and if they're looking to expand, maybe they look in Missouri instead of other states.”
Missouri exported some $679 million in products to Germany in 2021 and more than $223 million to the Netherlands, according to media reports.
Parson participated in the trade mission abroad with his wife, Teresa, for eight days.
Stops in Germany and the Netherlands included Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Amsterdam, and the Hague. In March, he traveled to Ireland and Great Britain.
“In November, we are planning a redo of a mission to Israel, Greece, and the United Arab Emirates that has been canceled twice due to COVID,” Willard said.
While the Department of Economic Development (DED) selects the countries for the governor’s trade missions and organizes the itinerary, the Hawthorne Foundation funds the trips.
“Our charge is to provide the support for the governor to travel internationally and to purchase gifts, to entertain, and to do what’s necessary as part of business attraction,” Willard said. “It’s something we still do so that taxpayers do not pay for it.”
The Hawthorn Foundation was founded in 1981 by former Gov. Christopher “Kit” Bond and currently has more than one hundred members, including corporations, labor unions, local economic developers, and institutions of higher education.
“We do special events to try to raise money and because the trade missions generally have been successful as far as the governor coming back and having good things to tell about the reception that Missouri gets and projects that are announced afterward, we find people are receptive to financially supporting this effort,” Willard added.