b'A PEEK BEHINDTHE CURTAINSA CLOSER LOOK AT GERMAN SEED COMPANIES AND WHAT SETS THEM APART.BY: ALLY RODEN AND MARCEL BRUINSG ermany is the richest and most populous country in the Eurozone. With the Euroseeds congress taking place in Berlin this October, it is fitting to check in with German seed companies and unveil what sets them apart from other European seed companies.European Seed spoke with four experts to get the scoop on what makes German seed companies unique:Dr.MichaelStange,headof Product Management and Sugar Beet Agricultural Services, head of Communications & Marketing at Strube D&S GmbH Christoph Herrlinger, head of Legal Affairs and Human Resources Development at NPZ Ivar Westerman Michael Hlter Michael Hlter, Cluster Lead Seeds,D, A, CH, Nordics at BASF I var Westerman, Country Sales ManagerGermany,Austria, Switzerland at BASFs vegetable seeds businessEUROPEAN SEED (ES): WHAT IS IT LIKE DOING BUSINESS IN GERMANY?Westerman is clear: As a global company with headquarters in Ludwigshafen (on the river Rhine), it is of course great to do business in a country where BASF is so well known. The BASF brand Nunhems for vegetables seeds, although recently added to BASF Agricultural Solutions, is a well-established brand with a long his-tory in Germany. Our future area of focus is to have BASF recognized as a leading field crop seed breeder across Europe like we are in North Americafor example we areMichael Stange Christoph HerrlingerNo. 1 globally in oilseed rape. adds Hlter.WhenHansLembkethe great-grandfather of the current manag- into a market-leading oil seed rape andsites in Hohenlieth, Malchow/Poel and ing partner of NPZ, Dietmar Brauer pulse breeding company with holdingsGro Lsewitz. Including the companies began to systematically improve varietiesin Germany and many countries abroad,in which NPZ holds stakedomestic on his farm on the Island of Poel back inincluding North America and Australia. and abroadthe figure totals almost 1897, he was most likely well aware of theToday, 125 years later, this is a500 employees. Marketing its varieties benefits this work meant for him and thereality. NPZ Group, with Norddeutschethrough Rapool and Saaten Union, NPZ neighbouring farms, says Herrlinger.Pflanzenzucht Hans-Georg Lembke KGhas become a market leader in large parts However,Lembkeprobablyneverand NPZ Innovation GmbH at its core,of Europe, and selling as far as Eastern dreamed that one day it would developcounts about 300 employees at its GermanEurope, North America and the Pacific 30IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'