New series
Filling the strategy with life
Our Strategic Planning 2031 specifies four goals that we want to achieve in the future. Starting in this issue of insideKWS, we provide concrete examples to show that they are not just theory.
Strategic planning is the key instrument to enable KWS to make further advances. It defines our corporate goals and is not a rigid construct, but is reviewed every two to three years with regard to its orientation and adapted if necessary. It is also important to apply the measures from our Strategic Planning to day-to-day business – with an eye to the roots of our daily work: “Seeding the Future since 1856.”
The Strategic Planning 2031 is based on four forward-looking topics:
- Sustainable Agricultural Practices: We want to minimize the use of chemicals in agriculture, produce fewer emissions, yet continue to safeguard yields. We want to address requirements, while operating profitably.
- Nutritional Food Ingredients: We are already an active part of the value chain for high-quality plant-based foods and aim to further strengthen our position moving forward.
- Connected Seeds: We want to make the most of genetic potential by offering tailored, digital services and tools to farmers.
- New Sales Models: We want to offer convenient online means of contact between KWS and farmers by providing options to enable direct purchase of seed and services.
But what does that mean specifically? Starting in this issue, we will present the answer to that with reference to projects from our Business Units, Research & Development, and Group and Global Functions. In this way, we aim to make our strategy as vivid and transparent as possible. After all, all our colleagues are involved in different ways in helping us achieve our goals in their day-to-day work with their commitment and innovativeness. They all work day in, day out to make sure we are also successful down the road.
Sugarbeet
Data is the first milestone
As a result of climate change sugarbeet growers are experiencing significant yield losses in some regions due to drought. Regions like Southeastern Europe, Italy, France, Turkey, the U.S. in cultivation regions without irrigation and, increasingly, Northern Europe are particularly affected. The sharp decline in sugarbeet yields in Germany in 2022 was largely attributable to drought.
We are responding to that with drought-tolerant varieties that need less water – even in places that have fared well to date because of their good soils or irrigation technologies. The maximum permissible irrigation volumes already limit yields in dry years like 2022, as is evidenced by the harvest from fields in the catchment area of the Uelzen sugar factory, for example.
KWS has been working on drought tolerance in sugarbeet since 2010 as part of a special breeding program. We first set up a testing system and selected locations where we can expect drought stress over a period of years and collect data for our selection activities. Analyses that deliver greater and greater precision are possible using weather data, which we can leverage better thanks to digital tools. This good documentation on the past years is a milestone.
Among other things, we have found out at our selection sites that drought stress impacts sugarbeet differently depending on the plant stage and trial environment. In addition to drought stress, we have to take into account specific diseases and pests in the area: Infestation with the beet moth often occurs in combination with drought stress, and we also look at economically important diseases such as Cercospora and rhizomania. A drought-tolerant variety must also deliver good yields in years where there is no drought stress.
We have identified a variation for drought tolerance in our gene pool. This trait exhibits a complex mode of inheritance and considerable interactions with the environment. Backed by our findings, we are confident that we will be able to supply our farmers with drought-tolerant varieties in the coming years.
2022 has once again shown us how urgently such varieties are needed. The relevance of breeding for drought stress is reflected by its inclusion in the strategic initiative “Stress Solutions,” which is an integral part of the Strategic Planning 2031 in sugarbeet business. |
Green beans
Heat-tolerant and good-looking 365 days a year
Ground temperatures in the southeast of the United States keep on breaking records. However, if the heat is too great, green beans do not develop pods. That may make the difference between success and failure. Since 2019, we have offered dealers and farmers four heat-tolerant varieties. Together with our partners in the United States, our senior breeder has worked extensively over the last 15 years to incorporate heat genes into our breeding program. The result is the Magma Collection, in which each variety offers something unique to farmers for every season and marketable yields with beans that have the right specifications for every market segment.
All four varieties produce a dark green pod color – which is what consumers and supermarkets prefer. As beans rank fourth among all vegetable varieties consumed in the U.S., our goal is not only to breed tolerance and resistance to heat, diseases and pests or a preferred color, but also to improve traits that are important to consumers, like enabling beans to be stored longer or a sweeter taste. A long shelf life is crucial: If we can extend the shelf life, that would mean further value added for all customers.
We have taken a big step forward with the Magma Collection: We are the world’s No. 3 for beans and, in some regions of the U.S., already rank second despite being in the market for a relatively short time. One dealer even sells our premium variety exclusively. Unlike spinach, for example, a bean variety stays on the market for a very long time – 15 to 20 years. We have a very good starting point.
And the past hot season showed that not only the U.S., our core market, needs heat-resistant varieties – we also see potential for fresh market beans in Italy and North Africa and for processing market beans in Belgium and France. |
Sorghum
The efficiency champ
In terms of the area it is grown on, sorghum is the world’s fifth-largest cereal and is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa in particular. Yet its potential is far from being realized in many regions of the world. We want to change that and drive cultivation of sorghum in international markets.
Sorghum exhibits its merits against the backdrop of climate change. In Brazil, for example, the time window for sowing corn is shrinking due to increasing heat. Sorghum has stepped into this gap because it has similar characteristics to corn as regards biomass use. However, it copes better with heat when being grown, needs only half as much water and has to contend less with pest infestation. Within the last two years, the area over which it is cultivated in Brazil has doubled.
Farmers who have not yet grown sorghum find this alternative crop difficult to begin with, mainly because they lack experience. Yet it is very simple: Sorghum can be sown flexibly, it expands the crop rotation, and harvesting does not even require special technology.
We want to plug such gaps in knowledge with the video series “Sorghum around the world.” We visited colleagues in several countries to discuss their experiences and share their knowledge with farmers via social media. We want to make sure that KWS is associated with sorghum. We are focusing on Brazil, Italy, the established market of France, and Hungary, where the boom is just getting underway. Major sorghum markets include the U.S., where the crop has even found its way into pet food. Grain sorghum also boasts incredibly versatile uses in nutrition. We therefore believe that sorghum can play an important role in agriculture if the climate continues to change. |
© KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA 2025
