Dear Readers,
With great enthusiasm, I want to extend my warmest greetings to you! I am the newly appointed associate editor of Seed World LATAM. Joining the Seed World Group team is an honor and a pleasure. Most importantly, it’s the perfect intersection of my passions for agriculture and cross-cultural communication. I’m delighted to contribute to advancing Seed World Group’s mission of leading the global seed sector forward through a platform that fosters the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and innovations. LATAM is a critical part of the global seed sector, and I’m incredibly excited to help tell its unique stories.
I’ve been immersed in plant breeding since I was a child. My family’s business was Mansur Agricultural Service, a plant breeding consultancy headed by my father, Dr. Levi Mansur, which specializes in contra-season plant breeding and research services in central Chile. I literally grew up in the business: my very first job at the age of 14 was hand-crossing soybeans. Those early days not only kindled my enthusiasm for agriculture but also helped cultivate an appreciation for the multifaceted complexities and boundless possibilities of creating new genetics for a changing world. Little did I know that this early experience would lay the foundation for my future in the seed industry. By 2014, I stepped into a communications role for the family company, gaining first-hand knowledge over the last decade of the regulatory complexities, partnership opportunities, and myriad details concerning plant breeding in LATAM.
As I start my new role as associate editor of Seed World LATAM, I’ve wasted no time and immediately started to reach out to some of Latin America’s seed leaders to explore the key issues and stories from our region. Some with decades of experience were keen to emphasize the evolution the whole seed industry has gone through.
One in particular, 99-year-old Dr. Alejandro Violic, was among the very first corn breeders in South America, starting 70 years ago. He noted how technological and scientific advances make the work so much easier for everyone involved and allow crops to reach today’s incredible yields.
At the same time, he is concerned that plant breeding today is far too business-centric compared to “how things were back then.” You will find his story in the following pages of this publication.
I’m so pleased that those I’ve talked to from so many different areas of the seed sector have enthusiastically welcomed Seed World Group’s expansion to our end of the globe. We’ve talked through all kinds of topics, from how genetics can create new varieties that increase yield, resist drought and pests, taste better, and be more competitive to how critical it is also to consider the impacts on the environment. Another question we’ve spent a lot of time discussing is: who will fund these advancements? Should producers carry the weight of funding them, or is more public funding the answer? If so, how can the LATAM seed industry as a whole and regional associations advocate for those dollars? I look forward to digging deeper into these issues and exploring viable solutions.
That’s the plant breeding side. The other piece I bring to the table is the ability to communicate across borders: geographic, language, and cultural borders. I’ve got a bachelor’s in Humanities and Linguistics from the University Adolfo Ibañez in Chile and a master’s in Cross-cultural communication from the University of Sydney, Australia. This academic background has honed my understanding of the intricacies of human communications across diverse cultural contexts. That understanding — enhanced by my fluency in four languages — gives me the skills I need to effectively communicate the opportunities and challenges of Latin America’s seed industry.
As I step into this role for Seed World LATAM, I see myself as a conduit for cultural exchange and dialogue among seed-related stakeholders from both the northern and southern hemispheres — a bridge between disparate cultures, languages, and perspectives. Seed World LATAM, available in Spanish and English, embodies our commitment to nurturing meaningful interactions within and across the seed industry.
I embark on this new chapter with Seed World LATAM with a sense of purpose and optimism. Together, we have the power to cultivate a brighter future for agriculture in Latin America and beyond. I extend my genuine gratitude to you, our readers, for your continued support and engagement. Please feel free to reach out to me at emansur@seedworldgroup.com with your feedback, ideas, and perspectives.
I raise a toast to new beginnings, fruitful collaborations, and the boundless possibilities that lie ahead. Here’s to a thriving seed industry and a world united by the common language of seeds.
Warm regards,
Elena Mansur
Associate Editor, Seed World LATAM
