Review and outlook
“A special year for our KWS”
In this interview, our CEO Hagen Duenbostel reviews the past year and looks optimistically to the future: KWS will continue to grow in 2020.
Mr. Duenbostel, 2019 is drawing to a close. Looking back at the year, what changes at the company first come to mind?
2019 was a special year for our KWS: We entered the vegetables business in June, taking a big step that will enable our company to participate in major trends long term. The world’s population keeps on growing, while people are also eating more and more healthily. And vegetables play a crucial role in that. This move is all the more important for KWS, as it will help us build our expertise as one of the world’s leading plant breeding companies and drive profitable growth in an additional business segment.
But that won’t come about overnight ...
That’s right. You need staying power. After all, it takes several years to breed a vegetable variety. That’s where our special ownership structure again proves to be an advantage: The majority shareholders from the Büchting and Arend Oetker families give us that staying power. They know that breeding plants takes time.
“Entering the vegetables business is a big step for us.”
How important in that is the new legal form KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA the company has had since July?
It ensures the independence of our KWS. What is so special about this legal form is that the family shareholders retain control of the company even if their stake in KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA falls below 50 percent.
Vegetable business therefore still has to grow. How is KWS’ core business – sugarbeet, corn, cereals, rapeseed, catch crops and organic seed – faring?
Sugarbeet again delivered very good numbers in the past fiscal year. Our breeders keep on boosting variety performance to ensure that beet remains a competitive crop in the future. Our world market share of 59 percent speaks volumes.
We also believe corn has great growth potential. We intend to grow strongly in North and South America in the coming years. In Europe, we aim to consolidate our good position in silage corn and really take off with grain corn.
With cereals, we want to continue the success story of hybrid rye in North America and Central and Eastern Europe. Wheat and barley will remain key pillars. We continue to work on developing hybrid varieties for them. Our goal is to capture a leading market position in rapeseed, catch crops and organic seed.
What role will plant breeding play in future agriculture?
Agriculture faces huge challenges: The world’s population is growing, while cultivation area is stagnating. Climate change means we need varieties that are tolerant to heat and aridity. The options for using chemical pesticides are narrowing, but insects, weeds and fungal diseases continue to pose a threat to yields. The importance of plant breeding will therefore keep on growing. It’s the key technology for safeguarding and increasing yields moving ahead. We aim to be a strong partner to farmers and offer them the varieties and services they need to run their businesses successfully.
How much does KWS spend on research and development?
Our research and development expenditure has surpassed €200 million for the first time. Our capital spending is aimed at expanding seed production capacities and making more room for our researchers and breeders.
Creating more freedom for core tasks was and is the declared objective of the reorganization as part of ONEGLOBE. How satisfied are you with the transition?
Admittedly, we got off to a pretty bumpy start. However, the transition has been completed at many companies, and the remainder will switch over to the ONEGLOBE structure swiftly. We now have more than 200 colleagues working in Berlin at the Global Transaction Center, Global Finance & Procurement and Global Human Resources. The provisional offices are bursting at the seams. That’s why I’m pleased we’ll start to move into our permanent location at the KWS branch office in Bülowstraße in a few weeks.
How will you spend the last few days of the old year?
First of all, December is overshadowed as always by the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. Once that’s over, I very much look forward to spending the holidays with my family. I’d also like to take this opportunity to wish all our employees a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and every health, happiness and success in 2020. On behalf of the Executive Board, I thank you for your great commitment, the many good ideas and your dependability. I feel sure that we’ll continue to go from strength to strength together in the coming year, too. |
© KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA 2025
