b'PARTNER CONTENTFarmers Drive Everything We DoBy: David Pearson, Head of Branding at Limagrain Field SeedsW henever Im asked what is at the heart of Limagraincompanies are specialists in one or two crops, we offer 10 crop spe-Field Seeds, I am incredibly proud to be able to give onecies in Europe and always try to offer four or five in any given ge-clear answer: we are farmer-owned and farmer-led.ography. Thats because farmers depend on multiple crops in their Limagrain was formed as a farmers cooperative in 1965 androtations, and we want to help farmers optimize those rotations. today we are owned by nearly 1,500 farmers in central France. Be- At Limagrain, we have a strong commitment to using scientific ing owned and run by farmers is key to who we are. technology to improve and adapt plant varieties for maximum re-Over more than 50 years, the Limagrain group has grown to be- gional yields. To meet this commitment, we have 84 research sites come the fourth largest seed company in the world with a presenceglobally and invest roughly 1516% of our income directly back on six continents and sales to farmers in close to 80 countries. into technology-driven research. R&D investment is our biggest We havent grown to the size we are today because we have ansingle budget item. ambition to be the largest seed company in the world. Our ambi- Our research takes into account our goal of reaching farmers tion for Limagrain Field Seeds is to be the leading pure field seedglobally, large or small. We estimate that in Africa we reach about specialist through multi-crop genetics and to be close allies of25 million farmers, some of whom are very small, but who have farmers of all sizes wherever they are located globally. However,the same needs as the huge ones. For us, no farm is too large or our size does allow us to be competitive and to have the resourcestoo small. Whether youve got half an acre in West Africa or half we need to invest in research that delivers high performancea million acres in South America, you are dealing with the same seeds and services to farmers around the worlddelivering localfundamentals, just on a different scale. You need adequate rain at solutions thanks to Global resources = LG the right time, and you need warm sun and healthy soil. As impor-Our LG brand is a leading global seed brand, but it is also ourtantly, you need top performing high quality and reliable seeds: identity. It has become a symbol for multi-crop products distrib- thats what we deliver. uted across a wide geographic space. The brand includes seedsFarmers make long-term decisions because they are always that are genuinely global: what we call our strategic crops. Corn,thinking of how the choices they make today will impact the wheat, sunflower and winter rape fall into this category. Depend- next generation and the one after that. The farmers who ing on where farmers are in the world, we also have regionallyown and run Limagrain are no different. Every deci-adapted barley, soybean, millet, rice and pulse seeds.sion we make is done with long-term vision and the Our strategy is to be genuinely multi-crop. While some seedstability of local and global farmers in mind.SEPTEMBER 2024SEEDWORLD.COM /13'