Ekosem-Agrar AG: First government seed certification for winter wheat
Walldorf, 31 January 2020 – Ekosem-Agrar AG, the German holding company of Russian milk producer EkoNiva Group, has achieved its first major success in cultivating its own seeds. The company’s ‘Cepheus’ winter wheat variety has been entered in the state register of varieties approved for use in Russia and can be reproduced and sold exclusively by the Group in the future.
The new variety is characterized, above all, by high frost resistance, showing a much better resistance than other winter wheat varieties, even at temperatures as low as -26° C. This unique combination of extreme robustness and high potential yields offers significant added value. Moreover, ‘Cepheus’ is highly adaptable and offers good grain quality as well as stable yields of up to 11 tons/ha.
Stefan Dürr, majority shareholder and CEO of Ekosem-Agrar AG: “Our many years of work in the development of new varieties are now beginning to bear fruit. We are very confident that our new winter wheat variety will meet with strong demand from Russian farmers and see significant sales potential for our Seeds segment over the next five to ten years. At present, more winter wheat varieties and two soy varieties are still in the approval process. This will help to diversify our business model even further.”
In seed breeding, Ekosem-Agrar also cooperates with Saatzucht Bauer GmbH & Co. KG. This cooperation is to be further intensified in the future in order to be able to rapidly expand the range of attractive varieties.
Besides breeding its own seeds, the Group mainly acquires variety licenses for grains, grain legumes, grasses, clover and lucerne for exclusive reproduction and distribution in Russia. Some 30,000 tons from the 2018 harvest sold to external buyers make Ekosem-Agrar AG one of the largest seed producers in Russia (2019 harvest: approx. about 40,000 tons). Revenues from this business segment exceeded EUR 10 million in the 2018 financial year.