Seed World Europe wishes you happy holidays. And while you’re having a great time with your families and friends over the holidays, there may be moments you’d like to take a break and escape with a bit of good reading. Check out our daily postings of content from the past year.
Editor’s Note: THE BIG REVEAL. In 2023, Seed World Group unveiled the important and exciting changes at the company, all intended to help best serve the local, regional and global seed industry’s needs. The evolution is making the Seed World brand omnipresent in each of the continents in which we do business. Part of the evolution is that European Seed became Seed World Europe. Read the article to find out how we keep our boots on the ground.
We’re excited to finally be able to unveil important and exciting changes at Seed World Group, all intended to help us best serve the local, regional and global seed industry’s needs.
Many of our readers know us best via one of our publications. In the U.S., we’ve been Seed World since 1915. In Canada, we’ve published Germination magazine for more than 25 years. In Europe, we’re proud to have just recently celebrated European Seed’s tenth anniversary. In Latin America, we unveiled a brand-new publication called Seed World LATAM earlier this year.
Each of these publications has its own history, serves its unique region and industry, and meets the needs of its specific audience and partners. However, just as each region is part of a wider global seed industry, each of our publications is part of a wider, global Seed World.
Because our Seed World brand is expanding globally, our changes start with a shift in naming. European Seed will become Seed World Europe; Germination will become Seed World Canada; Seed World will become Seed World U.S., and Seed World LATAM – our newest addition to the Seed World family – will remain Seed World LATAM.
The evolution is about much more than name changes, however. We’re evolving to make the Seed World brand omnipresent in each of the continents in which we do business. Here’s why that matters to the larger seed industry:
Our number one priority across all our publications has always been telling the story of the people who make the seed industry what it is. By telling these stories successfully, we facilitate the connections that drive relationships and business. In this way, we have a direct and meaningful impact on the success of individual seed businesses and, collectively, on the larger seed industry.
We’re proud to have a trusted and very global reputation within the seed industry, and a name that is synonymous with seed information, seed leadership and seed people. Pulling all our publications and our overall reach under the Seed World banner expands dramatically the Seed World name and our ability to deliver what today’s seed industry – whether at a regional, national or global level – needs.
This change confirms that Seed World is indeed the seed industry’s brand of choice: the source of information that people are going to look to no matter where they are on this glorious planet. Whether you’re French or Canadian or Swiss or American or Brazilian, you can look to Seed World knowing it is the single source of the trusted, timely, relevant information necessary to make critical business decisions.
Our evolution is also in step with the seed industry’s increasingly global nature. Anyone who’s been in the seed business for any time at all will very clearly understand that seed is a global business. It really doesn’t matter what crop type or what part of the seed value chain we’re talking about: that crossing of borders, that understanding of how business is done in different areas is critical to everyone’s success. What happens in any one region shapes, influences and informs every other region. By uniting our publications under the greater Seed World brand, we can more easily reach across the divides between regions to pull out the business-critical learnings our readers depend on.
Yet, make no mistake: we still need to be very clear on what national and regional rules apply to any particular region. That comes from understanding, first and foremost, at a local level. Our vision has always been and continues to be regionalized information: Europeans talking and writing about Europe, Canadians talking and writing about Canada, Latin Americans talking and writing about LATAM. We are absolutely committed to — in fact, our entire operating model is designed around — a boots on the ground approach. We know that it takes informed and articulate local and regional voices to tell relevant and timely local and regional stories.
What moving to a global platform allows us to add to that is greater ability to cross reference to the world, bringing in global perspective where it adds value to enhance understanding. Having a crossover of learnings from around the globe allows companies, regions and the larger industry to grow faster and grow better.
I’ve led Seed World for nearly 20 years and am feeling a whole range of emotions as we embark on these big changes. Excitement, certainly. Pride in seeing our brand grow even more fully into serving as the globally recognized source for seed information and the hub of an ever larger and more inter-connected seed industry network.
I’ll admit that there’s also a bittersweet pang for some of the brands we’re moving away from. Germinationhas been a stalwart ship and a deep source of pride for us. European Seed, too, has consistently delivered. There’s some sadness to be stepping away from names that have meant so much to us and to the industry.
The good news, though, is that while the individual brands are disappearing, everything that makes them special and trusted will be front and centre under the new branding. Germination’s hard-hitting, critical, ‘for Canadians, by Canadians’ regional feel will remain. The same goes for the European Seed brand. Our partners at Euroseeds have been staunch supporters of our publication and our organization and are just as excited as we are to see us build Seed World Europe better than ever.
What can you expect to see for changes over the coming months? The cover of this magazine showcases our brand-new look. As of December, we’ll be rolling out an all-new global website. The website will feature all the local, national, European-specific content you’re used to, all conveniently findable under a Europe-specific tab. In addition, the website will feature each of our other regions’ content under their own regional tabs, making Seed World the one stop source for all seed information. Even better, the new website will provide more in-depth multi-regional content too. We can’t wait to show you!
I’ve already told you about feeling excitement, pride and some bittersweetness. My very biggest feeling as we’ve worked through this strategic process and now, as we embark on these changes, is gratitude. I feel incredibly lucky to be part of a powerful team that continues to drive us forward through content, innovation and creativity, all with an eye on best meeting the complex, diverse and changing needs of the seed industry. This team, from our editorial experts to our business development managers, is second-to-none across the industry and beyond. It is their expertise, knowledge and commitment that sets us apart. I also feel incredibly lucky to have the partners and colleagues that I do across this great industry. At Seed World Group, we are honoured to play a supporting role in as incredibly passionate, forward-thinking, and important an industry as the seed industry.
Thank you for trusting us with your stories, for depending on us for your information, and for partnering with us across this industry. We feel the weight of that responsibility, and we are committed to delivering what you need today, tomorrow and as we grow together into the seed industry’s future.
Shawn Brook is president of Seed World Group.
