Globetrotter

Günter Seitz describes himself as a very active person. “Not someone who typically puts down strong roots,” as he says. So it was that after six years as an assistant at the prestigious University of Hohenheim, the Swabian gave up his academic career and moved to the U.S. in 1996 to join a commercial seed company. In 1999 he joined Great Lakes Hybrids with the task of merging the breeding programs of KWS and Limagrain that gave rise to the joint venture of AgReliant – a “competitive company that went from being insignificant to number three in corn seed in the U.S. within eight years.”

From zero to third place

He enjoyed similar success in Brazil: KWS launched its operations there in 2012 and, after 10 years, is now third in the most important market for tropical corn. What started with a team of one breeder and two employees is now a breeding program with a 120-strong workforce.

The plans for our China business were pointed in a similar direction. The country was actually his cup of tea. “Overall, I devoted most of my time to the China program, but it’s not easy to gain a foothold there,” says Günter Seitz, adding that market access is difficult for foreign companies, in part because the government requires them to obtain licenses for domestically developed transgenes in corn breeding.