Breeding
Tour de France
One country, three companies, seven breeding stations:
We explain the big picture in France.
In the early 1980s, a breeding center was established in Fayel (near Compiègne) for sugarbeet experimentation and was relocated in 2000 to Roye, the new KWS France station headquarters. The first real station for breeding early-maturity silage corn followed in 1986 in Champhol, west of Paris. “That was a logical step, because this market in France is one of biggest after Germany,” says Jean-Claude Castelle, Head of Global Breeding and Research Services. Testing of hybrids from Germany was initiated there, before research and development for the domestic French market was added.
“In 1995, we said to ourselves: We’re now among the top three in the market with our silage corn – and now we also want to develop the mid-late grain corn market.” Consequently, a sub-station of Champhol in Reignac and, for late-maturity breeding material, the new station in Alzonne in the south of France were initially established.
“70 percent of all corn hybrids originate from our French stations.”
Jean-Claude Castelle
KWS France
Likewise in the south of France, KWS France’s only production site for commercial seed was inaugurated in Buzet in 1996. “And it’s the first genuine multicrop station in France,” emphasizes Jean-Claude. Research and development later complemented the activities there. Together with the stations in Roye, Rennes, Champhol, Alzonne and Buzet make up the company KWS France.
KWS Momont
Moreover, KWS acquired a total stake of 49 percent in the French breeding company Momont in 1999 and thus entered the cereals market in France. Since the complete takeover in 2014, the company has operated as KWS Momont with two stations. Our colleagues there conduct research into, produce and market cereal seed and oilseed rape, as well as peas, corn, sorghum and fodder beet. Regarding services and breeding at the multicrop station level, KWS France and KWS Momont are increasingly collaborating to share knowledge and experience in research and development by harnessing tangible synergies.
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Three companies
In addition to the two companies KWS France and KWS Momont (each with research and development and distribution), there is a third company, KWS Mais France, headquartered in Champhol. This has no research activities and is responsible for sales of corn and oilseed rape in France.
Expansion for the future
The portfolio has also expanded over the decades: Momont’s oilseed rape program, for example, merged with a second breeding program from Germany. France was also the starting point for sunflower breeding at KWS in 1996. The program was initially discontinued and then returned to France via the Southeastern Europe breeding program in 2015. The primary focus of our activities is in two key areas: “Supporting all KWS breeding programs with an extensive trial network across France and producing hybrids for research and breeding purposes for all European markets. For instance, 70 percent of all corn hybrids originate from our French stations.”
Several expansions are planned so that the stations will be ready for the future: The one in Rennes will relocate to Janzé, 30 kilometers away, by November to meet the demands of the breeding program in this main region for silage corn. A new processing line for corn hybrids in Buzet and Champhol will be established, and Mons-en-Pélève will be expanded and modernized under a masterplan at the cost of around six million euros by 2028. “We want to renovate all the greenhouses and build laboratories for the doubled haploids.” The future can come.
Our breeding stations in France
© KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA 2025
