Corn à la carte

Station Manager Jerome Guerif begins telling the history of the station in Alzonne by looking back at the beginnings of KWS’ corn breeding in France in 1986, when the company inaugurated the first station of its own in Champhol, west of Paris. “Various silage corn varieties were created – and the aim was to expand the range to include grain corn.” However, Champhol offered limited options for late varieties, as “the market for grain corn is in southern France.”

Alzonne was chosen because of an existing partnership with a cooperative, which had a seed production plant on site, and local farms were already familiar with seed propagation – on suitable soils in a suitable climate. There was also a water reservoir in the mountains that ensured sufficient irrigation in the summer. “This specialized network was also an advantage for KWS.”

And so, in 1995, breeding of grain corn for the French market began in Alzonne, followed shortly afterwards by support for breeding programs in Eastern Europe, for example in Hungary and Romania. In 2000, Alzonne became the first location outside Einbeck to use doubled haploid (DH) technology for corn – for more than 20 years before all DH development activities for corn were transferred to the new station on Gran Canaria.

Since then, the 27-strong team in Alzonne has focused once more on its now three crops, for which 75 hectares are available. Corn is still the mainstay, accounting for three breeding programs based in Alzonne and 81 percent of the area. Then come sunflowers, which KWS has been breeding in Alzonne since 2010: Our colleagues grow them on 15 percent of the land and support the Eastern European programs. Finally, since 2018, oilseed rape has also been part of the breeding station’s portfolio, taking up four percent of the area. “This allows us to support our colleagues in Einbeck because we can produce and make available early rapeseed, which is useful for the colleagues from Germany for the further process,” says Jerome.

Own harvesters

To improve the harvest process, KWS collaborated with an external supplier to develop its own harvesting machines, which are now in use in Champhol, Alzonne and Buzet-sur-Baïse. “When I started at KWS in 2017 and saw the Puma harvester at our BU Sugarbeet, I thought: We also need that for corn,” says Jerome. The machine can harvest row by row separately, package the seeds and label the bags. “That improves the reliability of our breeding and means we work more efficiently.”

The machine is just one example of technology neutrality, an aspect that Jerome believes to be important. “We’ve also learned a lot from DH production and, with each new crop, we offer the team the opportunity to grow along with their new tasks.” At the anniversary celebration on July 4, he cited the results of an employee survey conducted in 2024, which showed that “open and honest communication” and “support from KWS in tackling changes” were valued by the team.

As Felix Büchting noted, this strategic commitment is a must. High performance is at the center of our focus – always in line with essential qualities of the KWS Group: agility and flexibility. The basis for this is strong partnerships as well as the reciprocal commitment of its permanent and seasonal staff. |