Jana Murche and her husband Hans-Heinrich Knoop went to work for KWS in the U.S. ten years ago
The breeder Jana Murche
The emigrant
Flexibility is a magic word for Jana Murche – one that opens doors. That mindset has proven valuable to the 46-year-old. She left Germany ten years ago to establish our U.S. wheat breeding program.
They applied as a “dream team” and have also become one: Jana Murche and her husband Hans-Heinrich Knoop had worked at KWS for a long time – she joined in 2000 and he has even been with us since 1989 – when a golden opportunity arose for the German couple. “We heard there were plans to establish a wheat breeding program in the U.S.,” says Jana, who is an agricultural biologist.
“I spoke with my husband and then told my boss that we could well imagine going to the U.S. together to work on this project.” And she adds with a laugh: “You could say we were the dream team for the post.” Her husband managed the cereal breeding station in Wohlde and she had experience in breeding, international sales, and portfolio and project management.
Surprise departure from Germany
Their decision to apply came as a surprise to colleagues, family and friends. After all, Jana Murche and Hans-Heinrich Knoop, who got to know each other at KWS, had only just married in 2010. They were in the process of renovating their 150-year-old family farm so they could settle there. There was not a hint that they might leave the area or even emigrate. “You have to spot your chance when it comes,” says Jana Murche. “Sometimes doors open for you when you least expect it. You then need to be flexible, open to new things – and bold.” Living by that maxim has paid off.
After a brief transitional period in Wooster, Ohio, the couple moved to Champaign, Illinois. “Our first years were particularly shaped by our enthusiasm and solution-oriented approach to our new tasks, as well as the friendly and open nature of the people in the Midwest. They make it easy for you to settle, integrate and ask for help.”
◼ How Jana Murche lives and works
Jana Murche has worked in the U.S. for ten years – she and her husband emigrated from Germany in 2011
The result of Jana Murche’s efforts: the very best KWS wheat for the U.S. market
Jana Murche taking samples for various observation trials and disease tests
The U.S. wheat varieties are licensed to American seed companies, which then market them under their own brand name.
Each of these bags in front of Jana Murche contains seed for one yield testing plot; there are 25,000 of them every year.
Counted seed is used for the individual yield testing plots at up to 30 locations in the region around Champaign
Jana Murche and her husband Hans-Heinrich Knoop. They are not only working in their dream profession, but are now also building their dream house in the U.S.
The modern farmhouse is the ideal ambiance for Jana Murche to recharge her batteries for her job, do gardening and preserve food
The couple in front of their current home
Great conditions
They have now lived and worked in the U.S. for almost ten years. Jana Murche is head of KWS’ wheat breeding in the U.S., while her husband manages the small breeding station in Champaign with its eight employees. The varieties bred there go to American seed companies, which multiply them and sell them under their own brand name. “It’s all based on a licensing model,” explains Jana Murche, who then goes on to praise her employer: “KWS created really great conditions for this breeding program, and we enjoy a lot of freedom and trust.”
Jana Murche knew she would feel at home in the U.S. After completing secondary school, she worked as an au pair in New York State for a year. And after studying at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, she returned to the U.S. to write her degree thesis. Her motto “You make your own luck” fits in well with the American way of life. “And also with KWS’ ethos ‘Make yourself grow,’” she adds.
Being a German in the U.S. means for her uniting two mentalities, ways of thinking and characteristics to create something positive. “You adopt the best of both worlds,” she says. “For example, I still strive for accuracy and reliability, but I’ve also become more tolerant and pragmatic as a result of living in a different culture.”
There’s no question in her mind that diversity is always an enrichment. “In a team, you need aptitude for the job, and the chemistry among its members has to be right. Everything else is secondary,” she says. Jana Murche adds that it is completely unthinkable for people in the U.S. to apply for a job by sending a photo of themselves and stating their date of birth, as is customary in Germany. She believes that’s the right way. “It really doesn’t matter how old someone is or what they look like.”
“I love gardening”
How much at home Jana Murche and Hans-Heinrich Knoop now feel in the U.S. is demonstrated by their latest private project: They’re building a new home. The modern farmhouse is the ideal ambiance for Jana Murche to recharge her batteries for her job. “I love gardening and preserving fruit and vegetables,” says the agricultural biologist. Whether gherkins pickled with mustard seed using an old German recipe or cowboy candy (candied hot jalapeños) – diversity and openness to new recipes are also writ large in Jana Murche’s kitchen. |
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