In demand worldwide
Corn is king
Before corn gained momentum in KWS’ portfolio in the 1970s, it first had to earn its place alongside sugarbeet. Today, KWS corn is fully competitive in the moderate climatic zone and also in South America.
In the 1950s, growing cultivation areas in Germany and Europe aroused KWS’ interest in corn. Wilhelm Oltmann, former head of KWS’ Institute for Plant Breeding, was the driving force behind taking a closer look at the plant. His dialogue with Professor F. Wolfgang Schnell led to the growing realization that corn could one day become an important crop for KWS. In 1955, KWS decided to establish corn seed business based on its own hybrid varieties in order to have an additional economic mainstay alongside sugarbeet.
KWS had to start from scratch and use suitable breeding material from publicly available sources in the U.S., Canada and France. Before being appointed to the University of Hohenheim, F. Wolfgang Schnell developed the first hybrid variety from inbred lines developed in Germany at the Max Planck Institute for Breeding Research in Scharnhorst. The variety Velox was transferred from there to KWS.
In the 1970s, work at the Einbeck, Gondelsheim, Monselice and Chartres breeding stations was coordinated in a targeted manner, to enable the systematic creation of heterotic pools, coupled with a steady broadening of the material base. The investments, patience and trust of the Executive Board in the breeders increasingly paid off. KWS became the leading supplier of silage corn varieties in Europe.
Finally, in 1988, KWS acquired a majority stake in Great Lakes Hybrids and thus established itself in North America. At the end of the 1990s, the idea of a joint venture with the French competitor Limagrain emerged, with the aim of jointly cultivating the markets in North America. The establishment of AgReliant was a very dynamic period in which a German and a French company worked together with the Americans to get a joint undertaking off the ground. The results of the last two years now show that we have fully competitive hybrids of our own. With these new products, we should succeed in decisively expanding our market share with independent varieties.
Establishment and expansion of dent x dent grain corn breeding
The construction of a corn station in Southern France in 1996 marked the start of dent x dent breeding in the main European maturity segments. Over the following 20 years, 10 more breeding programs and seven new breeding stations were added in France, Southeast Europe and Eastern Europe. The Executive Board encouraged expansion and diversification over all these years. In addition to the focused expansion and improvement of the material base, investments in breeding technology, which began at an early stage, were a decisive step. Among other things, that enabled the company to quickly start using doubled haploids and become a leader in this field, as well as to successfully establish marker-assisted selection (genomic selection). There was visible annual progress, but the competition was still better. Yet in this segment, too, staying power paid off: We now boast a number of leading hybrids in grain corn in Europe. These top-class products allowed us to catch up with the market leaders Bayer and Corteva in terms of performance. This genetic material, which has been developed for Europe, is also performing impressively as part of product development for North America.
Establishment of (sub)tropical corn breeding
In addition to its business in corn seed for the moderate climatic zone, KWS entered the Brazilian market in July 2012, acquiring the two small breeding companies SEMÍLIA and DELTA, which it merged into the newly founded KWS Melhoramento e Sementes LTDA. At the same time, KWS acquired 50 percent of RIBER, a company which had many years of experience in producing and distributing corn seed. With the acquisition of the remaining shares in RIBER and integration of KWS Melhoramento e Sementes LTDA, KWS pooled its business in Brazil at the company KWS SEMENTES LTDA and has been continuously expanding its activities ever since. In just 10 years of development, the company has succeeded in creating fully competitive hybrids with all the traits required for tropical corn cultivation. KWS is now one of the leading suppliers of highly adapted varieties in the world’s most dynamic corn market. |
© KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA 2025
