SW: What are ANPROS’ key priorities?
Schindler: ANPROS invests its energy in supporting three main priorities: developing and accessing better seed varieties, maintaining Chile’s leadership and image as a leading contra-season producer in the southern hemisphere, and advancing in matters of sustainability.
The role the Chilean seed industry plays in supporting programs in the southern hemisphere is fundamental. Therefore, ANPROS seeks to continue consolidating Chile’s position as the main player in the region and maintain the image Chile has built as a trustworthy and high-quality partner.
We are steadily committed to improving our standards, which requires highly trained professionals and effective regulatory bodies. This translates into on-time deliveries to our international destinations, cementing our reputation as a reliable country.
New plant varieties are the platform for agricultural production and the basis of our planet’s food security. It is essential to raise awareness among all those involved in the agricultural sector of the importance of respecting plant intellectual property and its relation to maintaining fluid and permanent access to the best plant varieties developed worldwide. At the same time, it is important to stimulate research and the development of new varieties in our country.
One of the essential focuses of the Chilean seed industry is to produce more with fewer resources and in a sustainable manner. The incorporation of technology plays a key role in this. Our member companies are clear about this and many of them are constantly incorporating new technologies, mainly in irrigation and other areas, which allows them to produce more efficiently.
SW: What do you see as ANPROS’ (or more broadly, the Chilean seed sector)’s biggest challenge?
Schindler: Our top challenge is the same as our top priorities: to maintain our leadership in the southern hemisphere as the main supplier of services to the global seed industry.
A fundamental challenge in this lies in guaranteeing a smooth flow of international seed movements while safeguarding the value of Chile’s phytosanitary status. It is, therefore, imperative to continue to have regulations that are fully supported by science and facilitate the international mobility of seeds within appropriate timeframes. Chile’s seed industry has always excelled in these aspects.
CHILE’s seed exports by the numbers:
- TOTAL SEED: The value of total seed exports in 2023 from Chile was US$ 448.6 billion, 28% more than exports in 2022. In terms of quantity, Chile exported 48,714 total tons of seed, 20% more than the previous year’s exports.
- MAIZE: Chile exported 21,342 tons of maize in 2023, 3% more than the previous year. Maize exports were worth U$ 92.8 billion, 13% more than in 2022.
- VEGETABLE SEEDS: Chile exported US$ 208.7 billion worth of vegetable seeds in 2023, up 27% over 2022. In volume, vegetable seed exports totaled 4,965 tons in 2023, up 45% over 2022. Since 2015, vegetable seeds have accounted for the largest proportion of physical seeds exported, replacing maize which had occupied that position for more than a decade.
- In terms of markets, Chilean seed is exported directly to more than 50 destinations. In many cases, it is re-exported. Chilean seeds can be found in almost all countries.
- Currently 40% of Chilean seed exports go to North America, 34% to the EU, 16% to Asia and 8% to South America, while the remainder is divided between Africa and Oceania.
