Euroseeds 2025: Navigating Policy, Trade, and Innovation in the Seed Sector
Compiled by Staff on 04/25/2025
Join us for an exclusive preview of the Euroseeds Congress 2025, the premier event for the European and global seed sector, taking place this year in Edinburgh. In this engaging interview, Garlich von Essen, Secretary General & CEO of Euroseeds, sits down with Shawn Brook, President of Seed World Gr
A Legacy Unlocked: Mendel-Inspired Breakthrough That Could Transform Global Pea Farming
Compiled by Staff on 04/25/2025
Gregor Mendel’s iconic pea plant experiments laid the groundwork for modern genetics. Now, 160 years later, an international team of researchers has combined genomics, bioinformatics, and genetics to map the diversity of a globally significant pea collection. Their work sheds new light on the trait
Agriculture and Climate Change: What Does the Future Hold?
Compiled by Staff on 04/24/2025
Although spring has just begun, the Netherlands is already grappling with drought-related challenges, affecting both nature and agriculture. Emma Knol, a Climate Resilient Agriculture researcher at Wageningen University & Research (WUR), is developing a tool that highlights the impact of climate cha
Garth Hodges — the Man Behind Some of Ag’s Most Game-Changing Deals — has a New Home
Marc Zienkiewicz - Seed World Canada Senior Editor on 04/23/2025
Calgary’s Osborne Interim Management has announced the appointment of Garth Hodges as a senior advisor, bolstering its strategic capabilities with one of agriculture’s most seasoned global leaders.The company offers business management services to help organizations through transitions. Notably, Man
TEMPO Project: Adapting Sunflowers to Cold and Low-Oxygen Environments
Compiled by Staff on 04/23/2025
Funded by Sofiprotéol, the TEMPO project (short for Sunflower’s adaptation to new environments with low TEMPerature and Oxygen level) brings together five partners, including three breeding companies — SOLTIS, RAGT, and MAS SEEDS. The project’s goal is to support the expansion of sunflower cultivati
What Makes the Vegetable Seed Sector so Unique?
Marcel Bruins - Seed World Europe Editorial Director on 04/23/2025
Why It Matters: The vegetable seed sector plays a crucial role in global food security and horticultural innovation, providing high-quality seeds that drive productivity, and nutritional diversity. Vegetable breeding focuses on a vast array of species, each requiring specialized breeding techniques
New Study Aims to Identify High-Nutrition, Yield-Stable Oat Varieties
Compiled by Staff on 04/23/2025
The James Hutton Institute has received £100,000 from the Novo Nordisk Foundation for a three-year project, led by the Innovation Centre for Organic Agriculture in Denmark, in collaboration with Nordic Genebank (NordGen) and Aarhus University.The project aims to identify oat varieties that are nutri
Ensuring Progress for European Agriculture
Hélène Guillot - Managing Director of the ACLP on 04/22/2025
How seed companies partner to provide access to innovation and plant breeding materials.WHY IT MATTERS: After two years of existence of the ACLP, more than 95% of the patented traits in agricultural crops in Europe are accessible under fair and reasonable conditions. With a free breeding right and c
Toward a New Protocol for Evaluating Septoria Resistance in Flax Varieties
Compiled by Staff on 04/22/2025
The CASDAR LinicoLin research project (2022–2024), coordinated by Terres Inovia in collaboration with GEVES, seed companies, and Arvalis, has developed an initial protocol for assessing varietal resistance to Septoria linicola in both fibre and oilseed flax. This fungal pathogen can lead to signific
What if Microplastic-free Isn’t Enough?
Partner Content on 04/21/2025
As regulations crack down on microplastics and the pressure intensifies for regenerative agriculture, seed coatings are getting a closer look — not just for what they protect, but for what they leave behind. While many companies now offer so-called microplastic-free formulations, behind the label, p
How MAS Seeds® is Leading the Way in Regenerative Agriculture Seed Offer
Partner Content on 04/21/2025
As the agri-food industry increasingly demands responsible sourcing, MAS Seeds® is fully committed to creating a seed catalogue rooted in regenerative agriculture, supported by advanced varietal research and sustainable production practices. This approach ensures long-term sustainability by promotin
Certification: Paving the Way for Climate Protection and Animal Welfare
Partner Content on 04/21/2025
Seed specialist KWS is setting new standards in agriculture with its certified feeding concept for pigs. The concept is based on a high proportion of rye and can reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 30%.Agriculture is currently facing major challenges: Climate change, the need to reduce its ecological
Rational Research in a World Gone Mad
David Zaruk – Seed World Columnist on 04/20/2025
There are a variety of definitions of science: as a methodology, a tool, a process of discovery… Since the time of Copernicus, scientists have always challenged their own theories and paradigms, while provoking religious and political dogmas.Today we are living in provocative times, but the pressure
Beware Misinformation at School: Who’s Speaking to Our Kids?
Marcel Bruins - Seed World Europe Editorial Director on 04/17/2025
Recently, I was shocked to learn that the school of my children had invited Vandana Shiva as a guest speaker. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Shiva, she is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, and anti-globalization author. She is known for her work on issue
Switzerland to Draft New Law on GMOs
Compiled by Staff on 04/16/2025
The Swiss government has initiated consultations on a draft law regarding genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and new breeding technologies aimed at reducing pesticide use in agriculture and enhancing plant resistance to drought.The new regulation focuses on plants developed using new breeding tec
10 Most Influential EU Politicians for the Plant Breeding and Seed Sector
Marcel Bruins - Seed World Europe Editorial Director on 04/16/2025
Dear readers of Seed World Europe,At Seed World Europe, our mission is to shine a spotlight on the people, ideas, and policies that help shape the plant breeding and seed sector across Europe. In a fast-evolving political and regulatory landscape, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the influence
Strengthening Africa’s Seed Certification: A Collaboration for Food Security
Marcel Bruins - Seed World Europe Editorial Director on 04/15/2025
The G7 and OECD embark on a project to boost seed quality. Why It MattersAfrica faces some of the most pressing food security challenges in the world. While the continent holds vast agricultural potential, millions still suffer from hunger due to underdeveloped agricultural systems, reliance on impo
The Quiet Revolution That’s Changing How We Talk About Marketing
Shawn Brook - Seed World Group President on 04/14/2025
I’ve been in a ton of rooms lately — boardrooms, Zoom rooms, you name it — where the conversation slides to the topic of content marketing, and every time it does, I see a pattern.Historically, people have LOVED the clarity that comes with the term “content marketing.” It sounds organized, measurabl
Cameras Reveal Secret Allies in the Fight Against Oilseed Rape Pests
Compiled by Staff on 04/14/2025
In-field cameras have revealed surprising predators of two major oilseed rape pests, potentially improving pest control strategies. The two-year camera study, conducted across two UK sites, showed that the larval stages of predatory Carabid beetles play a key role in controlling the pollen beetle (B
Pheromone Discovery in Bean Beetles May Enable Precision Crop Protection
Compiled by Staff on 04/14/2025
Subtle differences in the molecular structure of a beetle sex pheromone may offer a new tool for protecting stored legume crops from the destructive dried bean beetle (Acanthoscelides obtectus), according to a new study.This beetle poses a significant threat to Phaseolus beans — a group that include
Private-Public Cooperation Drives Nordic Crop Development
Compiled by Staff on 04/14/2025
The Nordic agricultural sector faces challenges like short growing seasons, unpredictable weather, and emerging pests and diseases. Developing new plant varieties to tackle these issues requires time and resources, which is why public and private sectors in the Nordic Region collaborate through the
Ukraine: Emerging Opportunities in Industrial Hemp Cultivation and Medical Cannabis Legalization
Compiled by Staff on 04/11/2025
Industrial hemp cultivation is gradually being revived in Ukraine, with its products now used in a variety of sectors, including food, cosmetics, fuel, gunpowder, and medical cannabis. Last year, a long-awaited law came into effect, legalizing the use of plant cannabinoids from hemp for medical purp
Preserving Seed Diversity in Europe
Treena Hein – Seed World Contributor on 04/11/2025
How genetics are best preserved in an era of concentration.Preservation of genetic diversity has long been on the agenda of the European seed sector, as it has been for the sector on a global scale, and both larger and smaller players continue to make it a priority.As seed sector consolidation conti
Researchers Unlock Epigenetic Potential in Crop Breeding
Compiled by Staff on 04/11/2025
Scientists have made a key breakthrough in understanding how epigenetic variation can be used to improve crop breeding.Like genetic variation, epigenetic variation can be inherited and influence traits across generations — but without altering the underlying DNA sequence. Instead, it involves modifi