The BU Vegetables is making good progress. Paul Degreef and his team will work in the Plus Ultra II building on the campus of Wageningen University
Interview with BU head Paul Degreef
Where the vegetable is at home
A good year after its foundation, the Business Unit Vegetables has a new home in the Plus Ultra II building complex at Wageningen University (Netherlands). Before moving into the new office, BU head Paul Degreef explains the status of our vegetable activities.
The BU's new office in Wageningen will soon be ready to move into. Given that the coronavirus currently still binds many to their home office, who will work here one day?
The new office in Wageningen will be the headquarters of the entire BU Vegetables. It is the central hub from where all vegetable operations will be managed. As a result, all global positions will work from there. The vegetable business will be distributed all over the world with a regional focus. Nonetheless, it is essential that there is close communication among the different teams. The office in Wageningen will be the place to establish and strengthen this cooperation.
What kind of building complex is this?
Plus Ultra II offers office and lab space to start-ups, growing and established companies and organizations that want to build a strong community in the fields of agriculture, food, bio-based, healthy life-style and living environment in collaboration with Wageningen University & Research.
And what did you take into account when designing the office?
As the office in Wageningen at the Wageningen University Campus will be the central hub for the vegetable business, our major focus when designing the office was to create a welcoming working space that offers flexibility, possibilities to host meetings and quiet spaces to guarantee confidentiality. The business plan for the BU Vegetables is based on a solid plan. Nonetheless, we are taking an opportunistic approach and, for various reasons, the plan can change. Thus, we designed the office space in such a way that it offers all current employees of the BU a pleasant working environment but also offers the possibility for more colleagues to join in the future.
◼ The current BU Vegetables team
Paul Degreef
Plant Breeding
Head of BU Vegetables
Marianna van Leeuwen
European Business Management
Management Assistant
Thom Schepers
Agronomy
Global Head of Sales & Marketing
Martin de Vos
Plant Pathology/Entomology
Head of Research
Coert Engels
Plant Breeding
Global Head of Breeding Vegetables
Denny Djuhaeny
Business Economics
Business Controller
Rik Brugman
Molecular Biology
Germplasm Coordinator
Hannah Fry
MSc Agribusiness
Project Manager
Jan Cauberg
HR management
Business Partner HR Vegetables
Ignacio Garcia Losa
Finance and Strategy professional
Head of Business Functions Vegetables
Why is Wageningen the right location?
The vegetable growing business has a long tradition in the Netherlands. Many international, but also start-up vegetable companies have their headquarters in the Netherlands. This ranges from breeding companies and greenhouse technology to the processing industry and trading companies. The vegetable breeding sector in the Netherlands is state of the art worldwide. Being located here gives the opportunity to connect with the companies, spot the latest innovations and be known in the market.
Wageningen University is at the forefront of horticultural and agricultural research in Europe, but also worldwide. It carries out many research programs to solve the most pressing issues in the horticulture of our time. As a result, it attracts many companies for cooperation and a large pool of international students. We as KWS Vegetables want to profit from this network as well as from well-educated potential employees.
Our new Business Unit Vegetables has been in existence for more than a year. How has the business developed since then?
Since the start of the BU Vegetables, we have grown to ten employees in Wageningen. We have set up the first breeding station in Almeria, where currently five people work and four more will start in the coming months. The same has happened in Brazil; here we are now a team of four involved in setting up the breeding station and starting initial breeding activities. Soon we will start business in Turkey, Italy and Mexico. We also have signed our first licensing contracts for varieties from other companies to start establishing our brand in the market and get to know the latest local trends. The light integration of Pop Vriend has been completed and we are working well together. At the same time we are in discussion with potential further acquisition targets.
The BU in Wageningen has ten employees; the first breeding stations are located in Spain and Brazil, soon there will be more in Turkey, Italy and Mexico
In which countries will KWS breed vegetable seeds? And in which countries will the seed be sold?
We have four major regions where we will establish breeding stations: Mediterranean, Latin America, India and China. In the Mediterranean we will set up stations in Spain, Italy and Turkey. In LATAM we will have breeding stations in Mexico and Brazil. The stations are set up in these places because of the optimal climatic conditions that they offer and because the majority of the growers are located there (again due to the good climatic conditions). Thus the countries where we have breeding activities will also be the main sales outlets. However, there may be other countries within the region where we can sell in case we have suitable varieties.
How is the business at Pop Vriend developing?
The Pop Vriend team consists currently of about 100 employees. A new head of breeding started in June, a new Head of Operations started in April and a Head of Sales has been hired and will start in October. The business continues to grow and the team is working more closely with the rest of the Business Unit in Wageningen. They are stepping up their research activities with the help of the team and facilities of KWS.
How should we envision the development of our vegetable business? (for example you could repeat the three legs again: licensing business, acquisitions, own breeding programs)
The build-up of the Business Unit is based on three pillars. First: organic growth, i.e. the set-up of own breeding programs from scratch through the acquisition of land, hiring breeders, gathering material. Secondly: acquisitions, i.e. the acquisition of small breeding companies in target regions and crops. And third: licensing business, i.e. licensing varieties from other breeding companies to sell them in the market.
As mentioned we have hired our first breeders, set up a breeding station in Spain and are looking for potential land and greenhouses in other areas. In Spain as well as Brazil, the first plants have been sown. We are gathering material from public institutions and gene banks to set up the breeding programs. At the same time, we are looking for potential acquisition targets to speed up our growth. Ideally it will be small companies that are located in an area where we want to set up breeding and have breeding programs in the crops that we are targeting. These companies can be the starting platform in the respective area and be smoothly integrated into our Business Unit. Furthermore, we have signed our first licensing contracts. This can help us establish our brand in the market and get to know the dynamics in each region. Our sales team is starting to grow and while at the beginning they will sell solely licensed varieties, the goal is to sell our own material in the market. So, with further growth of the Business Unit the three pillars will meld into one solid foundation.
◼ The new office is taking shape: an inviting place with room for growth
How does the licensing business for vegetable seeds work in practice?
In general the licensing business can work for all vegetable seeds. There is no clear rule on how it is always organized, but it is dependent on the contractual terms that the two parties agree on. In our case, we will sign a contract with another vegetable breeding company. This contract states that we are allowed to sell certain varieties from that company. In the contract the varieties, the regions, the branding and financial terms are specified. It can specify many more things, but as mentioned, that differs from contract to contract. We will then sell the varieties in our target sales markets to growers or distributors, always depending on the agreement made in the licensing contract.
What is the status of setting up our own breeding programs?
For the Business Unit Vegetables Coert is the Head of Breeding, steering the global breeding activities. In Brazil and Spain we have hired regional Heads of Breeding. They have already located and signed leasing contracts for greenhouses and land. Together with our Germplasm coordinator, Rik, in Wageningen they are continuously sourcing material. Recently, two breeders started in Brazil and in the next few months two breeders will also start in Spain. The first sowings have already taken place, so the breeders can soon make the first crosses. In Turkey a Head of Breeding will start in November. The procedures are the same as in the other countries: finding land/greenhouses, hiring breeders, gathering material. At the same time our Head of Research, Martin, is screening for markers and testing protocols in cooperation with the lab in Einbeck to speed up the breeding process. The whole group works closely together.
„We will have our first tomato varieties ready in 3 years.“
Paul Degreef
When will the first self-bred KWS vegetable varieties come onto the market?
We will have our first tomato varieties ready in 3 years. Nonetheless, it takes at least five years until we can sell the first varieties from these activities.
Where will the BU Vegetables be next year, on its second birthday?
On its second birthday, our BU will be even more visible inside the KWS group and outside in the market: Growers in many regions of the world have heard of KWS Vegetables. They want to buy some of our licensed varieties, waiting excitedly for our own material. A bigger, though still growing team, breeders with identified breeding goals and first successes from this year’s sowings. We will soon be in the midst of integrating the successfully acquired companies into our team. At the same time, processes have established and run smoothly within the group and the ONEGLOBE structure. The team in Wageningen has settled in the new office and it fulfills its purpose as the central hub of the BU.
When it comes to vegetables, an attractive optical appearance is essential: Will there also be a tomato in our corporate color orange?
Breeding in vegetable varieties is highly focused on qualitative traits. It is very segmented and diverse within one crop (e.g. cherry, cocktail, roma tomatoes) and between the regions. Thus, a successful portfolio needs to be broad, but at the same time locally specific. The breeder needs to focus on several traits, such as resistances, taste, color, ingredients, and many more. At the same time, he or she needs to know what is demanded in the market by the growers, but also by the supermarkets and the end consumer. Consequently, it is key that the breeders work closely together with the sales department to determine their breeding goals in line with characteristics that will be in demand in the future.
So if we as the end consumer create a significant demand for it, maybe a tomato in our corporate color will be a breeding target in the future. |
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