With eight research stations in Europe, Africa and North America, MAS Seeds has made the research for high-performance maize and sunflower varieties adapted to climate challenges one of the pillars of its development. Since January 7, 2022, Benoît Petiard is the new director of this strategic department. He took over from Michaël Fourneau.
With a master’s degree in Agriculture (Ecole Supérieure d’Agriculture de Purpan) and a master’s degree in plant improvement obtained at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie de Rennes (35), Benoît Petiard joined Syngenta Seeds in 1999 as a maize breeder and continued his career, where he was promoted to the position of Maize Breeding Director for the EAME zone (Europe, Africa, Middle East) until 2021.
At MAS Seeds, Benoît Petiard will be responsible for defining and deploying an international R&D strategy. He will manage all operations, from breeding to product development. “With varieties grown in more than 50 countries and on all continents, MAS Seeds has strong ambitions and values that I share. When I arrived, I discovered a young, highly motivated, agile team with extremely modern ways of working. This is very rare in this sector. Today, research is the cornerstone of our business and I intend to mobilize, in a collaborative and inclusive way, the teams to continue to create innovative products that correspond to the needs of farmers and the challenges of a more sustainable agriculture,” said the new R&D Director.
Source: MAS Seeds
