Rye rocks

Rye has always played a major role at what is now the Business Unit Cereals: After the First World War, the cereal was – like oats – grown over a larger area than wheat. Rye continues to hold its own thanks to its ability to deliver good yields, even in dry conditions and on poorer soils. Research has played its part in that: “Rye is still lucrative because of hybrids,” says Reinhard von Broock, Managing Director of KWS LOCHOW GMBH from 1992 to 2011.

In 1967, the sterility plasma required for hybrid breeding was discovered at the University of Hohenheim. KWS launched a breeding program, but did not initially pursue it with top priority.

In 1984, the University of Hohenheim provided the breeding companies with three initial hybrids. KWS obtained the variety AKTION. Its advantages were small to begin with, but our breeding work kept on ensuring advances in this hybrid rye. “A real boost” was imparted by Peer Wilde, who joined KWS in 1988, as Reinhard von Broock recalls enthusiastically. “I always call him the world’s best rye breeder.” In 1989, the MARDER variety obtained approval – the first very successful variety in countries such as Denmark and Poland, too.

Opportunity identified

Reinhard von Broock describes Peer Wilde’s idea to change existing breeding methods as a milestone. He was convinced that move would enable him to achieve even higher yields. The catch, however, was that the switchover demanded time, during which regular breeding cycles were not possible. However, KWS was two noses ahead of its few competitors and would quickly leave them straggling with the new methods. “We did that twice, and things went well twice.” The Chairperson of the Executive Board, Andreas Büchting (1992 to 2003), had also recognized the opportunities and backed the risk that was taken.

Once, however, a hybrid almost ruined the good reputation of KWS rye. “In July 1998 we had the FARINO disaster,” says Reinhard von Broock. FARINO was vastly superior to the previous varieties, was advertised on a large scale and grew on hundreds of hectares of propagation area. But then came the news: There is only ergot in the crops, the harvest will be a total failure. The reason turned out to be susceptibility to fungus. The upshot was an avalanche of lawsuits and calls for boycotts. Fortunately, KWS quickly recovered from the disaster – thanks to a goodwill offer for the affected farmers and also because the competitors had nothing with which to counterattack. “Their best variety was a licensed variety – and it came from us.”