b'regions with high abiotic stress, and useance to Alternaria leaf blight, powdery drone technology to monitor germinationmildew, and cavity spot, while staying and seedling vigour. Bejo also integratesvigilant for emerging pathogens. With wild carrot species through backcrossingfewer crop protection products available to introduce new resilience traits. globally, breeders must deliver stronger These investments aim to ensurein-built resistance, he adds.carrots remain a viable crop under theAt BASF, Shahin notes a similar trend. pressures of higher temperatures, waterReduced chemical toolsespecially in scarcity, and shifting disease patterns. Europehave pushed us to develop vari-eties that perform with minimal inputs. Working Around a Two-YearThe company is keen on exploring and Breeding Cycle implementing, where feasible, breeding Carrots are biennial, typically takingtechnologies such as molecular breed-Arwa Shahin, global crop managertwo years to complete a seed cycleaing, doubled haploids, and gene-editing for carrot at BASF | Nunhems. serious constraint on genetic progress.research to accelerate resistance dis-Bakker Brothers accelerates breedingcovery. Ultimately, the solution is holis-using winter nurseries and controlledticdurable genetics combined with environments to generate more cyclesbiological control and sound agronomic per year. Controlled pollination withpractices, she says.houseflies in isolation cages allows effi- Amlie Theriez, carrot expert at cient hybrid production, says Wittink. Vilmorin-Mikado, underscores that At Bayer, Laura Maupin, carrotshrinking access to crop protection tools breeder, explains how they have short- has prompted the company to intensify ened the traditional cycle. Weve devel- efforts to strengthen its disease-resist-oped an annualised process where weance package, particularly for leaf blight grow roots in a California winter nursery,and black spot. then vernalise them artificially for twoShe adds that her company has months before transplanting them toshifted to biological seed treatments Idaho for seed production. This lets us goand increased its focus on seed vigor to Mathieu Fasola, head of rootseed-to-seed in one year and dramaticallyensure strong early establishment in pro-crops at Bejo. speeds up product development. duction systems where chemical options are expected to disappear.Keeping Seed PureBecause carrots easily cross-pollinate,Time, Cost, and Commitmentseed purity is both an art and a science.How long does it take to bring a new Maupin describes Bayers dual system:carrot to market? According to Wittink, For research seed, we use netted cagesDeveloping a new variety generally to exclude outside pollinators; for com- takes eight to ten years of breeding, mercial production, we coordinate large- selection, and multi-location testing scale isolations across Washington, Idaho, from the Netherlands to Egypt and and Oregon using a virtual pinning mapTanzania. Each cycle yields dozens of shared among companies. new F1 hybrids, but only a few reach the The use of cytoplasmic male sterilitycommercial stage.(CMS) ensures that only the chosen male parent contributes pollen. We follow upStaying Aligned with Growerswith rigorous grow-outs to verify hybridBreeding goals mean little without field and parental purity, he says. Uniformityvalidation. We engage closely with the starts with seed integrity. entire carrot supply chainfrom grow-ers to retailers, says Shahin. Regular The Disease Challenge consultations, demo trials, and on-farm For Wittink, disease resistance remainsdays ensure our pipeline delivers varieties Amlie Theriez, carrot expert atone of the greatest challenges in carrotthat fit real-world conditions.Vilmorin-Mikado. breeding. Bakker Brothers targets resist- Maupin stresses the same at Bayer: 42/ SEEDWORLD.COMFEBRUARY 2026'