From cannabis to peppers

New country, new job, new language – if willingness to embark on an adventure were a contest, Emmanuel Emokol would be way ahead of the pack. His roots lie in Bukedea, a town in eastern Uganda and a five-hour drive from the capital Kampala. He grew up there on his parents’ farm – and developed a passion for his future profession: “Agriculture should be sustainable, conserve water, energy and resources and support every farmer with good solutions, regardless of the size of their farm.”

After gaining his bachelor’s degree at Kyambogo University in Uganda, Emmanuel went on to study for a master’s in “Plant Sciences & Food Security” at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

His first job after that? “I worked as Lead Agronomist for the only company in Uganda that was licensed to sell GACP (Good Agricultural and Collection Practice) medical-grade cannabis,” says Emmanuel. “I then came to the Netherlands with a load of enthusiasm and experience, especially in the fields of Controlled Environment Agriculture, irrigation and water treatment systems, as well as plant nutrition and physiology. That experience allowed me to dive into the Dutch research landscape.”

The first in a new team

KWS first attracted the attention of the 30-year-old due to its proximity to the university in Wageningen. Then in December 2022, he joined KWS Vegetables as the first member of a new and growing team: as a Plant Growth Specialist for Double Haploid plant cultivation in the Phytotron Facility, a special chamber in which plants can be bred and studied under controlled environmental conditions. “My tasks are varied and include optimizing cultivation processes and developing protocols for high-quality donor plants for the production of doubled haploids (DHs) in order to speed up KWS’ global vegetable breeding programs.”

And Emmanuel adds: “My horizons keep expanding, the way of thinking has changed again here: Thanks to the proximity to Wageningen University and the related research, I’m constantly on the lookout for solutions, not only for our DH plants, but also to make processes more efficient.” His current focus is on peppers and cucumbers – he has reduced the generation time for peppers using “Speed breeding” to 108 days, for example. The protocol for that is now being used at the Wageningen site and at our breeding locations in Spain. However, technical support is also part of his job, most recently in relation to the new greenhouse for the R&D Facility in Andijk or when discussing DH1 seed production with other teams.

Even though being the first person in a new team made him nervous at the start, collaborating with his colleagues, further training and his wealth of experience quickly helped him settle in – or as Emmanuel puts it: “I’m learning all the time, but the fact that KWS and my manager have this trust in me has helped enormously.” He finds the dialogue across crops, national borders and teams particularly valuable. “Every time you visit a breeding station or production site, you’re welcomed like a long-lost family member, which is a wonderful feeling,” he says with a smile. |