2024

BASF | Nunhems

BASF's Vegetable Seeds Business, featuring the Nunhems brand, offers more than vegetable seeds. We offer partnerships and customer-oriented solutions for the entire vegetable value chain including growers, processors, plant raisers, dealers, traders, retailers and food service industry – tailored to consumer needs and trends.

Photo taken when Seed Central took students & postdocs to visit BASF | Nunhems in May 2018

Under the Nunhems brand, Bayer offers expert advice and high-quality seed varieties of about 25 vegetable crops. With more than 2,000 employees, we are present in all major vegetable production areas around the globe. We are dedicated to producing market-oriented varieties and seed products, and more than just that. We are oriented towards customers, and towards sharing value-added genetics, services and expertise to help them succeed.

Information: fkorn@seedcentral.org.

Bayer Vegetable Seeds

As an innovative vegetable seed company who’s also a world leader in human health and nutrition and horticulture, we are driven to deliver health for all and hunger for none.

But we can’t do it alone. Working together, we can ensure that every seed grows beautifully, harvests efficiently, sells quickly, transports easily, and provides the flavor people want – and the nutrition they need. Together, let’s work to grow your business – so that we can grow a healthier world.
With more than 20 different crops and thousands of innovative vegetable seed selections, we’re proud to support a diverse range of growers around the world. Together, we’re growing your business and supporting a healthier world.

A global leader, the company researches and develops over 20 different crops with over 2,200 varieties of seeds. These innovative seeds are marketed to commercial vegetable growers, dealers, distributors, home garden seed providers and wholesalers in more than 150 countries and territories.

Information: fkorn@seedcentral.org.

In-person

Seed business is Chia Tai’s first business. With the century-long experience, Chia Tai’s seed business is profoundly strong and continues to adopt state-of-the-art innovations for product improvement, making us one of Thailand’s first companies that invent, conduct research on, and develop various hybrid seeds. Now, we have over 485 species of quality seeds that have been exported to over 40 countries around the globe. Our key flagship products include pumpkin, watermelon, melon, cucumber, bitter melon, pepper, corn, and tomato.

Chia Tai is one of Thailand’s first seed producers certified by ISTA (International Seed Testing Association), which is a widely acclaimed accreditation in the global seed business.

Information: fkorn@seedcentral.org.

The Kraft Heinz Company is the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world, with eight $1 billion+ brands. A globally trusted producer of delicious foods, The Kraft Heinz Company provides high quality, great taste and nutrition for all eating occasions whether at home, in restaurants or on the go.
KraftHeinz also develops processing tomato varieties, which are sold and used in California and around the world.

Information: fkorn@seedcentral.org.

iWorkshop

As an innovative vegetable seed company who’s also a world leader in human health and nutrition and horticulture, we are driven to deliver health for all and hunger for none.
But we can’t do it alone. Working together, we can ensure that every seed grows beautifully, harvests efficiently, sells quickly, transports easily, and provides the flavor people want – and the nutrition they need. Together, let’s work to grow your business – so that we can grow a healthier world.
With more than 20 different crops and thousands of innovative vegetable seed selections, we’re proud to support a diverse range of growers around the world. Together, we’re growing your business and supporting a healthier world.

Ewa Urbanczyk-Wochniak Head of Seed & Trait Risk Assessment & Project Strategy Bayer Crop Science	Laura McConnell Science Fellow Bayer Crop Science	Sherry Heins Global Regulatory Manager Bayer Cro Science

Information: fkorn@seedcentral.org.

• GreenVenus
  Innovation for Healthier People and Planet
  With next-generation plant propagation and speed breeding technologies, GreenVenus, LLC is improving the quality of food for consumers while reducing food waste and preserving valuable resources.
  Our Focus
  Specialty crops are at the core of who we are. These crops present immense opportunities for advancement in genetics. In addition, the power of our technology platforms allows us to bring innovation to any specialty crop category and we are excited about the developing pipelines of both lettuce and yellow peas.
   
• KWS Saat
  Seeds and services for better yield
  Our high-yield seeds and trusted knowledge have made us the farmers’ partner for generations. We contribute to nutrition solutions for a steadily growing world population by constantly improving genetic potential through excellent research and offering expert services to farmers through the entire year. Our shared success is the result of a corporate culture that offers entrepreneurial freedom and supports dedicated talent that develops solutions.
   
• The Morning Star Company
  In 1970, Chris Rufer began Morning Star as a one-truck owner-operator company in California’s Central Valley, hauling tomatoes from fields to canneries.
  Today, Morning Star operates three factories with the largest production scale in the world, with resources solely dedicated to tomatoes. We supply over 40 percent of national markets with ingredient tomato paste and diced tomatoes. We provide bulk-ingredient products to food manufacturers and pouch and can ingredient and finished products to the food service and retail trade. We are actively involved in the global tomato industry and ongoing tomato research, and we have pioneered changes in production technology that have helped increase efficiencies throughout the industry. Our sales of tomato products are over $800 million annually. And we still haul our tomatoes from the fields – just as our owner began his journey in 1970.
  Our mission is, and has always been, to produce tomato products which consistently achieve the quality and service expectations of our customers in a cost-effective, environmentally responsible manner.
   

Ariane Tremblay Molecular Biology Lead GreenVenus	TBA GreenVenus	TBA GreenVenus	TBA GreenVenus
Viktor Korzun KWS Saat Global Lead Scientific Affairs	Aurelie Bak KWS Saat Senior Research Lead Trait Development Insect Resistance	TBA KWS Saat	TBA KWS Saat
Joe Bauer Learning & Development The Morning Star Company	Sriram Vidyarthi R&D Director The Morning Star Company	Jake Sherman Economist The Morning Star Company	Erik Sunderbruch Marketing & Business Development The Morning Star Company

Open to all

Seed Central hosts
the California Seed Association's
Fall Student Tour
for lunch, industry testimonials,
and a n

With students from UC Davis, Cal-Poly, California State University Chico / Fresno / Monterey Bay, Woodland Community College, and Woodland high schools.

Featuring:

	and many more...

with panelists:

Sriram Vidyarthi Food Process Engineer The Morning Star Company	Robert Blundell Plant Pathologist Pro Farm Group	TBA HM.Clause	TBA Sakata Seed America	and many more...

Seeds and services for better yield
Our high-yield seeds and trusted knowledge have made us the farmers’ partner for generations. We contribute to nutrition solutions for a steadily growing world population by constantly improving genetic potential through excellent research and offering expert services to farmers through the entire year. Our shared success is the result of a corporate culture that offers entrepreneurial freedom and supports dedicated talent that develops solutions.

Viktor Korzun KWS Saat Global Lead Scientific Affairs	Aurelie Bak KWS Saat Senior Research Lead Trait Development Insect Resistance	TBA KWS Saat	TBA KWS Saat

Information: fkorn@seedcentral.org.

Innovation for Healthier People and Planet
With next-generation plant propagation and speed breeding technologies, GreenVenus, LLC is improving the quality of food for consumers while reducing food waste and preserving valuable resources.
Our Focus
Specialty crops are at the core of who we are. These crops present immense opportunities for advancement in genetics. In addition, the power of our technology platforms allows us to bring innovation to any specialty crop category and we are excited about the developing pipelines of both lettuce and yellow peas.

Ariane Tremblay Molecular Biology Lead GreenVenus	TBA GreenVenus	TBA GreenVenus	TBA GreenVenus

Information: fkorn@seedcentral.org.

- Introduction by Lyndsey Ruiz, Senior Career Advisor, Internship & Career Center, UC Davis
- Testimonials by several people with experience working in both academia and industry
- General discussion / Q&A session

Lyndsey Ruiz Senior Career Advisor, Internship & Career Center UC Davis	Jos van Boxtel Senior Scientist Origin Prime LLC (read the John Innes Center article)	TBA	TBA	TBA

Information: fkorn@seedcentral.org

• HM.Clause
  Our agricultural achievements can be traced back to the 1700’s. HM.CLAUSE has perfected our breeding and production processes over generations of passion, innovation and dedication to our craft. As a forerunner in our industry, we dedicate our intense efforts for Research and Development.
  - Over 200 years of innovative breeding experience
  - Collaborating with local farmers for sustainable solutions
  - 27% of our workforce involved
  - 3 global research centers, based in France and California
  - 22 crop programs
  - Research efforts fully integrated into our breeding programs.
   
• 2nd company (TBA)
• 3rd company (TBA)
   

Information: fkorn@seedcentral.org

featuring the ASTA Student Forum, in partnership with Seed Central

Student track program TBA.

Information: fkorn@seedcentral.org.
 

2025

featuring the ASTA Student Forum, in partnership with Seed Central

Student track program TBA.

Information: fkorn@seedcentral.org.
 

In-person

Nuseed is a global agriculture innovator enabling the transformation of select crops into renewable and traceable sources of lower-carbon energy, and plant-based nutrition. Nuseed’s proprietary solutions contribute to solving global challenges like food security, human nutrition, and climate change. By unlocking the intrinsic value and commercial potential of Omega-3 canola, carinata, sorghum, sunflower, and energy cane to deliver VALUE BEYOND YIELD®, Nuseed empowers growers and end-use customers to rapidly scale today to meet current and emerging demand for generations to come.

Established in 2006, Nuseed has 10 locations in Australia, Europe, North America, and South America, including three proprietary innovation centers, more than 400 employees, and sales in more than 30 countries. Nuseed is the seed technologies platform of Nufarm Limited (ASX:NUF).

Picture taken during our previous field trip to Nuseed in April 2023

In January 2020, Nuseed completed construction in West Sacramento, Calkifornia, of its 48,000 square foot state-of-the-art Innovation Center facility to support analytical and molecular breeding R&D activities, as well as global management. Many of Nuseed’s global commercial operations, marketing, supply chain and finance teams are based at the facility.

Nuseed R&D takes place across the globe, however, operations based out of the new West Sacramento Nuseed Innovation Center play a significant role supporting Nuseed’s key global markets, including:

• Sorghum seed sold by Nuseed in Europe, Africa, and Asia
• A large proportion of Nuseed’s sunflower seed sold in Europe
• All sunflower seed sold in both the US and Canada
• Expansion of Nuseed Omega-3 Canola grain production with operations managed by Nuseed’s North American supply chain leadership

Nuseed’s Global R&D Lead, Leon Streit says, “The addition of this industry leading R&D, supply chain and global management location in the US, in combination with our Horsham Innovation Center in Australia and our rich bank of global germplasm, gives Nuseed a competitive global advantage across both hemispheres.”

Information: fkorn@seedcentral.org.