And suddenly it clicks!

Webinars: Weekly live

When Brescia Terra looks back on the past few weeks, the Marketing Manager for South America gets to talking. "Very successful" is how she describes the idea with which KWS is bridging the lockdown in Brazil - in a phase of the year when agricultural trade fairs are actually followed by field days. "We seemed to have lost the opportunity to talk about technologies and our products."

So what to do? The answer: webinars via livestream. Once a week at 7 pm, farmers can now get information online when KWS colleagues from the Agroservice share their knowledge about corn, for example about optimal silage, in a video chat. "We leverage knowledge from our experts." A presentation lasts 40 minutes according to plan, and farmers can ask questions for another 40 minutes.

"Webinars were something new in Brazilian agriculture until now. We didn't know where to start. It's a continuous learning process." The first webinar on Microsoft Teams had the disadvantage that farmers needed both the app and a special link to attend. With Instagram as a second streaming channel along with Teams, the number of users increased. However, the transmission stopped after an hour. That's why every webinar is now divided into a main part and a question section.

Meanwhile there is also a step-by-step guide for registration. "The easier you make it for the users, the higher the number of participants," observes Brescia Terra. Indeed, within the first three public lectures, the number has tripled to almost 1000.

And it should continue after Corona. "We plan to expand this to other specialties. Webinars never replace human contact - but both can coexist." |

Home office with a child: New routine

The home office has become a temporary work center for colleagues worldwide. Ana Cecilia Perl from Balcarce (Buenos Aires Province) has also been working in her own four walls since mid-March. Always at her side: her four-year-old son Benicio. This is because the kindergartens in Argentina have been closed since 16 March. "This is an enormous challenge – some days are better than others and there are certainly moments of chaos," says Ana Cecilia Perl, who has to balance her role as HR Regional Director for Argentina, Chile and Peru with her role as a mother. And she adds lovingly: "We have a very lively son."

But just like Benicio, Ana Cecilia Perl also has power and together with her husband Diego, she has continued to refine her daily routine. The personnel expert worked early in the morning a few times while Benicio was still asleep. Now, however, everyone gets up together, has breakfast, and then the four-year-old is allowed to watch an hour of children's television. Argentinean Benicio's nap is all important. " Although it´s not his favorite part!."

Desk work, video conferencing, time with their son, evening gymnastics: Ana‘s family has got used to the new routines. Nevertheless, she has felt sorry for Benicio. "He seemed so lonely," says the mother – and had an idea. For a few weeks now, a puppy has been a part of the family and has become a playmate.

She feels very well supported by KWS and her colleagues in the Corona crisis. "We communicate, help each other as well as strengthen networks. And we are all learning to deal with the new situation at the speed of light these days," says Ana.

“The quarantine taught us that there are many ways to practice closeness. Connectedness is the key. So, let´s continue to spread the KWS spirit together, now…virtually!” says the trained psychologist. |

Video selfies from the field

Spring is usually a period of intensive work for cereals sales consultant Steffen Haak, a time when he visits farmers in their fields in the far north of Germany. “But since coronavirus means we can’t get out and about as much, we’ve instead been publishing videos on plant protection, fertilizing and other topical issues,” he says on behalf of his 12 colleagues in Germany; others prefer to use texts and photos. Marie Sandvoß from Online Marketing comments: “We use existing channels for that: our YouTube channels and the consultant pages on our website.”

Steffen Haak therefore met with hardly any farmers during the lockdown; instead, he took out his smartphone and selfie stick on trial fields every one to two weeks to speak into the camera about how the cereals were coming along. “We always have to be a bit ahead of time so that farmers can respond.”

Steffen Haak posted every film on his WhatsApp status, where around a hundred farmers can see his advice. Marie Sandvoß loaded the content onto the website and promoted it on Facebook or by e-mail. The number of clicks increased by 60 percent from March to April. Due to the strong response, the format is to be continued after the restrictions are lifted and the video format is also to be expanded to the digital field day. |

A different sort of lunch break

No one at our cereals location Wohlde in Northern Germany would probably have thought they would have to spend lunch alone in front of the computer – until the coronavirus pandemic. But then the Coronavirus Task Force was forced to implement stringent hygiene regulations for 200 employees: work from a home office or in individual offices, social distancing rules, packed lunches instead of meals in the canteen. All of a sudden, everyone was on their own. “It was clear we had to find a way to motivate employees to communicate with each other and preserve their customary sense of community,” says Patrick Klaus, Head of Marketing at the BU Cereals.

And so he came up with the idea of adapting the Working Out Loud management method. Three times a week, at 12:30 p.m., an employee gave a presentation on WebMeeting on a freely selected topic to their colleagues working at home or in an individual office. There were no guidelines on its design or content; the only constraint was it couldn’t last longer than the lunch break. An average of 50 to 70 colleagues simply soaked up the entertainment on screen in these thirty minutes and learned, for example, why the Japanese fall asleep at meetings, what makes watching cows so fascinating, why fire brigade festivals are the best and how coronavirus is impairing breeding in Northern Italy.

“What made the format so successful was the personal touch,” says Patrick Klaus. “A photo someone had taken themselves or an emotional story made everything come to life and thus interesting for listeners – and it all worked wonderfully throughout Germany and across departments.”

The format in Wohlde was actually designed only for the peak of the coronavirus crisis in April and May. “But its success is making us think about how we might transfer it live to the location when fall nears and the season is over.” |

360 degree camera in the middle of the variety demo

The sun shines, ears of grain sway in the wind, farmers, seed dealers and scientists exchange ideas. KWS UK customers are familiar with this image from the field days of past years – but this time the idyll is part of the new virtual summer tour "Cereals 360". The walk through wheat, barley, rape and hybrid rye seems so real that you can feel the fresh summer breeze.

Cereals360.com was successfully launched in February 2019, but now the digital platform is experiencing a boom. "We had more visitors within two weeks than in the whole of last year," says a delighted Scott Manning, Head of UK Marketing. In the period from May 1 to 11 alone, 1,449 interested people went on a virtual tour.

No wonder: The website enables farmers and customers to obtain detailed information about KWS UK's seed portfolio from the comfort of their own homes and without the risk of infection. One click on a flag with a variety name in the field and the visitor can find out everything about yield, cultivation, disease resistance and end markets – in text and video.

The idea for "cereals360.com" was born after a 2017 survey of British farmers. "We analyzed their buying behavior and interests, as we had previously noticed that fewer and fewer participants were coming to our open day," reports Scott Manning. The farmers cited lack of time in the summer months as a reason. They preferred a field day in winter. About half of the respondents also indicated that they increasingly seek information about new varieties online. "That was the clincher," says Scott Manning. "We will continue to develop our digital concept in the future." |

Field day live: 800 spectators from 14 countries

The challenges were enormous. KWS Argentina was in the middle of preparations for its field day when the Corona pandemic caused a nationwide curfew.

Product and brand manager Federico Larrosa and his colleagues Florencia Cerutti and Joaquín Kaspar did not take long to think things over. "We’d had the idea on our future agenda of broadcasting the field day via live stream one day anyway," says Federico Larrosa.

Although they had not planned that it would happen so quickly, the employees of KWS succeeded in transferring the Virtual DAR (Demostrativo Agronómico Regional) to the Internet within only ten days. The four-hour Virtual Field Day started on 9 April 2020. Corn and fodderbeets, field impressions, aerial shots, camera pans in the production facilities, interviews, statements from employees and many interesting facts – live elements alternated with previously recorded films at the Virtual DAR. The 14 speakers held their lectures in advance in their own protected four walls, but were then connected live to answer questions.

More than 800 spectators from 14 countries took part. A great success for Federico Larrosa and his team. |