Our stories

In the beginning, it was not a flock of geese, but a group of KWS employees who protected the sugar beets: In 2019, they headed to the trial field of herbicide-tolerant sugar beet in a bus to form a human chain around it. Demonstrators wanted to prevent the sowing of RoundupReady® beet for the field trial, but in the end, it was successfully carried out. Afterwards, a construction fence, a security service and a flock of geese protected the trial areas from demonstrators.

Every year, KWS Sementes in Brazil employs hundreds of seasonal workers in production and research. They come from very poor communities in Maranhão (Brazil), where some basic needs are not covered. The infrastructure is also very poor, for example there is no proper road to the nearest larger town. KWS is involved in a school whose 300 pupils include many children of KWS seasonal workers. A school vegetable garden with a fresh water well was built to make the unbalanced school lunch healthier and more varied. KWS also set up a computer room with an Internet connection so that pupils and teachers have access to information and thus the chance of a better future.

At the Annual General Meeting on December 6, 2022, Andreas J. Büchting stepped down from his duties and offices at KWS after 47 years and passed the baton on to Felix Büchting and thus to the seventh generation of the founding families. #ThinkingInGenerations means growing together. With high-yielding seed products and extensive knowledge, KWS supports its farmers in utilizing their full potential. This way, we ensure efficient agriculture with lasting success. Today and in the future.More about KWS Thinking in Generations

Leaf samples from all KWS stations worldwide must be exactly 5 mm in diameter for laboratory analysis in Einbeck. For 25 years, the leaf punches developed for this purpose have come from KWS' own workshop in Einbeck, which produces up to 250 a year or sharpens the used ones as required. The KWS workshop is also irreplaceable for smooth operations in other respects, as seed processing and production take place within a narrow time window. As it is often not possible to wait for external spare parts, the workshop manufactures them itself. State-of-the-art tools such as a 3D printer help with this.

KWS uses drones over its fields in order to produce new varieties even faster. The pictures taken by their cameras are analyzed on a computer to permit precise findings about plants’ growth. That helps the company to offer new seed to farmers sooner – a great advantage for agriculture. Compared to that, in the past, plant breeders had to walk around the trial field for days to assess the characteristics of the plants with the naked eye. The results were subjective, as each expert had a different view of the details. Of course, breeders still decide which seeds to develop today, but on the basis of much more detailed knowledge.Precision Farming: How farmers benefit from drones in plant breeding

The reunification of Germany also made it possible to reconnect with the Klein Wanzleben site: after the political changes, KWS returned to its original location. The decision was made to buy back the Klein Wanzleben breeding station, to carry out performance tests there and to set up a quality laboratory for sugar beet, and later also for corn. ZKW Züchtungsgesellschaft commenced operations on January 1, 1991: KWS invested around 10 million euros in modernizing the facility in order to once again use the good soils of the Magdeburger Börde with its low-rain continental climate for sugar beet breeding and propagation and to develop varieties specifically for the Eastern European markets.

The two severe earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 on February 6, 2023, which affected 10 provinces, claimed so many lives that Turkey declared national mourning. At KWS, these events also evoked strong sympathy and the desire to support the local people. KWS Türkiye employees launched intensive relief efforts on the very first day of the earthquake. A WhatsApp group was set up immediately to draw up lists of the most urgent supplies; the necessary goods such as water, canned food, heaters, shoes, groceries, diapers, vests and hats were delivered directly to the victims. KWS colleagues around the world took part in a worldwide fundraising campaign. In addition, KWS decided to donate €100,000 from the company's own funds.

2010 World Cup in South Africa: a good moment for a table soccer tournament, organized by KWS trainees as project work. Each department could put together a team of six people. "Beets to the final!" or "Better the board than the backlog" competed against each other. A total of 36 teams played in a preliminary round followed by a knockout round. The games, which took place during the breakfast and lunch breaks, were watched with excitement and some were even broadcast on screens. The verdict: The KWS kicker teams were more successful than the German team at the World Cup!

In 2019, KWS launched its vegetable seed business and acquired the Dutch market leader for spinach seeds Pop Vriend Seeds in Andijk. Our strategic goal is to build a significant long-term position in the vegetable seed market by establishing our own breeding programs. The acquisition of Pop Vriend Seeds is the first strong cornerstone for this business segment. Fittingly, the project to evaluate the vegetable sector was named "Olivia" – after “Olive Oyl”, the girlfriend of Popeye, the sailor who is known to gain his strength from wholesome spinach.

Matthias Rabbethge Jr. (1832-1885) was the first person in Germany to select beet roots for seed production according to their specific weight in 1862. The polarimeter was groundbreaking for the method he developed for determining sugar content, initially from the juice and later from the pulp of the beet. The principle is based on the deflection of a light beam by a clear solution containing sugar. The polarimeter allows a direct reading of the sugar content due to the deflection. This significantly improved the selection process. Over time, the method was further developed and streamlined so that it is still used today: a cornerstone of successful breeding.

In May 2016, just before the field days in Wetze, Nordzucker and the associations launched a so-called "advantage package". This allowed farmers to order seed at a reduced price without being able to choose the variety; they were buying a "cat in the sack", the German equivalent of a pig in a poke. Because no KWS varieties were included, the KWS sales force then developed the slogan "Your land, your choice, your variety" and used it immediately at the field days in Wetze. The reactions from the sugar industry and associations were mixed - but the idea and the slogan were very well received by farmers, which is why the campaign was also adopted in other markets. The "proximity" to our customers, especially that of our sales representatives to the farmer, is essential for KWS. As a result, it can sometimes happen that urgently needed seed is delivered directly to the farmer's field at the last minute before sowing.

PS.SPEICHER and KWS support the state competition "Jugend forscht", the Young Researchers Competition, as sponsoring companies and organizers, and thus bring young researchers to Einbeck every year. The aim of the competition is to spark interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and to promote the knowledge of young talents and their spirit of research. During the competition, KWS also invites the young researchers to the KWS site, offers guided tours, presents hands-on stations in the work environment and provides information about training opportunities - research and a thirst for knowledge surround us everywhere and will therefore continue to be promoted by us in the future!

The plant shown here was officially opened in Ukraine in 2016. On the occasion of the inauguration ceremony in November 2016, the then project manager for plant construction took his father to Ukraine, who was celebrating his 65th birthday at the time. Excited, he and his then 3-year-old grandson built this model of the plant out of matchboxes. As a family business, we are proud when our values are directly supported and lived by our employees.

The rye king Ferdinand von Lochow made the pith helmet his trademark to protect himself from the sun after being wounded in the war. Ferdinand III von Lochow (1849-1924) began breeding winter rye as a farmer in Petkus in 1881. He achieved great success in 1892 with the "single plant selection with trait testing", which he first used, and laid the foundation for today's yield progress and the company KWS LOCHOW GMBH. Since 2015, KWS has honored him with a scholarship named after him: In addition to one year of financial support, the scholarship includes a two-and-a-half-month internship at a KWS location. There are also many opportunities to carry out an independent research project for the final thesis.

After the end of the Second World War, the Klein Wanzleben company was situated in the Soviet occupation zone and expropriated. However, at the end of June 1945, British soldiers brought the Rabbethge and Giesecke/Büchting families from Klein Wanzleben to Einbeck with 60 tons of elite seed before the Russian army marched in. "Establishing our company was a high priority," says Carl-Ernst Büchting, looking back on the multiple subsidies from the British. With the leading sugar beet variety "Kleinwanzlebener E", KWS quickly got back on the road to success.

It's all about taste - the same goes for plant-based alternatives to animal protein. While many people are already familiar with oat milk, pea milk has yet to really catch on. The start-up company VF Nutrition GmbH wants to change this with the Vly brand, but has so far encountered a problem: protein isolates, the basis of pea products, can vary greatly between different pea varieties, which can drastically change the taste. Thanks to a multi-year development partnership with KWS, the developers at Vly now for the first time have the opportunity to work with peas that have been specifically bred for their flavor traits. "Nutritional Food Ingredients" is therefore one of four future topics within our Strategic Plan 2031, which also includes making peas more usable as a basis for plant-based foods.

"Celebrating the orange spirit": for three days in September 2006, KWS celebrated an unforgettable anniversary party with 1,300 KWS employees from 27 nations under the motto: KWS YOUnited. The about 300 international guests were welcomed on the reception night against the historic backdrop of Einbeck's market square. The following day, a unique bicycle tour took place in Einbeck. The orange-colored peloton, several kilometers long, went from the KWS site through the town to the Wetze breeding station located twelve kilometers away.

As a family-owned company, KWS stands for tradition, a down-to-earth approach and for successful plant breeding, but also for growth and open-mindedness. It is therefore particularly important to us to encourage diversity, individuality, and creativity. Coming from this point of view, art and culture as a special offer for employees and society become a key element of our commitment. With the sculpture "StuhlQuetschMann" (ChairCrushMan), the artist Rolf Behme (born 1955, studied art in Kassel, artist and art teacher since 1978) also allows the viewer scope for their own interpretations. In Behmes' work, the chairs become synonyms of human behavior, representing relationships and ways of relating. Building on this, the Man-series, sculptures that look like human beings who are falling, flying, or set in motion by the wind, further explores the topic. One of these figures struggles with a chair, crushing it. Does this refer to a struggle between two identities or is it a personality wrestling with itself?More about Art at KWS

The sunflower is one of KWS' strategically relevant crops. Due to its deep roots, it is more drought-tolerant than many other crops and thus optimally prepared for climate change. Sunflower breeding at KWS began in 2011 in Hungary, where the largest breeding station is located. Important traits such as resistance to fungi and herbicide tolerance are integrated into the best lines through the Trait Integration Program. Since its foundation 10 years ago, the volume of populations processed has quadrupled. Since 2021, the breeding station at Gran Canaria has also been involved. In order to carry out targeted crosses in the greenhouse, the mother plants must be freed from their anthers to avoid self-pollination. At this point, the knights' armor comes in: the flower buds in the center of the sunflower basket are cut out with a sword (scalpel) and even though the sunflowers do not fight back, the risk of cutting oneself would be too great without a chain glove-clad hand and would not comply with KWS' work safety standards.