Seeding the future

How does a breeding station actually function? Our colleagues from Einbeck give an insight into their work, which requires flexibility, careful planning and a lot of team spirit.

6:20 a.m. in Einbeck – dawn is still breaking and the trial and station managers are already sitting down with the forepersons to plan the day’s activities. “Every day here can be different, so our staffers and temporary workers are very flexible,” explains Carolin Hesse. After seven years in sales, she has been in charge of the employees at the station in Einbeck since 2024. 120 of them plus up to 80 seasonal workers are deployed at our largest station worldwide – and that is necessary, given that it has an area of around 700 hectares for conducting various production projects and trials. By way of comparison: The average farm in Lower Saxony is 75 hectares in size.

Where there used to be individual, crop-specific stations (for corn, oilseed rape and sugarbeet), these have been continuously merged into a multicrop station since 2020. “This approach gives us even more options,” says Carolin. “We’re heavily dependent on the growing season, weather and other factors in our work, which is mainly outdoors. If it suddenly rains overnight, we have to change plans and reprioritize our tasks.” After all, our trial areas for Einbeck alone extend from the Baltic Sea island of Fehmarn to south of Munich. The tasks can therefore change quickly on any given day, so that demands maximum flexibility from the entire team.

Responsible work

“We’re basically a service company,” says Henrik Jürgens, Head of Region BRS (Breeding & Research Services) Germany, who is responsible for several stations in Germany. “We receive assignments from people in breeding, among others, who approach us with very specific requests.”

One of the first tasks in the vegetation process is to plant sugarbeet stecklings, which come to Einbeck from the propagation regions of Italy and France. One person who knows the planting procedures inside out is Heinrich Fischer. He has been with KWS for 40 years, has been a foreman at the station in Einbeck for 25 years and is out and about in all kinds of weather. He and his team plant around 40,000 plants on site. “Every step in the chain is important, and that starts at the very beginning: A plant has to be placed deep enough in the ground, while stability and soil contact are important – otherwise you end up with differences in quality.”

As new temporary workers are constantly being added throughout the year, Heinrich takes time for all new colleagues, explaining the work and how important it is for KWS. “Sometimes the general conditions are difficult. Then it’s a challenge to create motivation – but as soon as everyone understands how important their work is, they’re enthusiastic about it. Then, during a break together, we look back and are proud of everything we’ve achieved again.”

Precision is key: “Each plot should be sown exactly according to the drilling plan. If there are discrepancies here, this has consequences for the further steps in the trial. Potential candidates could then drop out of performance testing and not be considered for the registration of a new variety,” explains Norman Rose, Trial Manager Sugarbeet.

The trials in Einbeck reflect the market’s future demands. For example, the team is conducting special trials on virus transmission by aphids in sugarbeet. “As part of that, we release aphids in the relevant trials using a paintbrush. We’re also the first to see how the plants react to transmission of the virus,” explains Norman.

Christian Flügge, Trial Manager Oilseed Rape, adds: “In a performance test, our breeders give us an assignment. We sow the seed, look after the trials during the stages of vegetation, harvest the plants and then provide the data. In the case of oilseed rape, the relevant data includes grain weight per plot, oil content and other parameters that breeders use to make their selection decisions and thus determine whether a variety might be a suitable candidate or not.” If colleagues at the breeding station do not work accurately, the wrong variety may end up being selected. This in turn shows just how important working on site is.

Keeping track of these extensive assignments is not always easy. All employees have to be able to react quickly and flexibly to changing conditions: “All of us are organizational talents,” says Carolin with a smile. The focus is always on the plant: From soil sampling to harvesting, the team at the breeding station tends to millions of individual plants.

It is a responsible job, as personnel capacities, budgets and wishes from breeding or Agro Service have to be coordinated and reconciled. All steps at the breeding station are vital. They are the basis of plant breeding and the foundation for outstanding seed from KWS. |