New ways
in agriculture
Innovations for yield stability and food safety.
MOVING FORWARD TOGETHER
Jacob Paul Rohn
CEO
Jan Ritter
CTO
Dr. Rieke Minner-Meinen
Research & Development
Anna Gröhn
Research & Development & Field Trial Manager
Jan Großterlinden
Research & Development
Daniel Reichelt
Production & Engineering
Vadim Kraus
Office Management & Purchase
Sabrina Heckt
Office Management
Manuela Beeck
Product Management & Marketing
Jakob Streuber
Research & Development & Field Trial Manager
Moritz Meyer
Research & Development
Luisa Hemsing
Research & Development & Field Trial Manager
Theresa Schnitker
Project Management
Philine Ogal
Working Student
Dorothee Kreimer
Working Student
Alina Detmer
Trainee
Ines Heckt
Facility Management
Rani
Controlling
Calle
Feel Good Manager
The view to the front
For a secure future
OUR VISION AND MISSION
Think long term – invest in soil
According to the previous logic, everything is done for the crop and the annual yield optimization, but nothing is done for the soil.
This path leads not only to ecological impoverishment, but also to the economic devaluationof the soil on which the water stands when it rains and which is blown away by the wind when it is dry. Once the soil has completely turned to dust, no fertilizer can help. Today we recognize that the methods that initially served food security ultimately lead to a dead end and actually endanger food security in the future. Awareness of this situation is growing worldwide, and projects to develop and implement alternatives are springing up like the proverbial mushrooms.
In harmony with nature
Human economies, which generally aim for growth, have so far had only limited success. Collateral damage threatens health, peace, social conditions, ecological foundations and much more. At the same time, there is a functioning and proven economic system that generates infinite growth, constantly creates new things from within itself and knows neither waste nor contaminated sites.
This system is called nature and it is immeasurably powerful.
We believe that we can only do sensible business with nature – we have no chance against it in the long term. In the current discussion about the possibilities of sustainable economic systems, we speak of circular economy, grandchild economy and “triple top line sustainability”.
It is time to act. Because we have a lot to lose.
Or: a lot to win!
Under the hot sun of South Africa…
Foundation Story
TWO FOUNDERS, ONE STORY
Under the hot sun of South Africa…
two young Germans, who came independently of each other as consultants for various agricultural projects, meet in 2015 in this country where farmers are struggling with severe drought and other growing problems in adapting to climate change. In their professional exchange, the two quickly discover that they tick in very similar ways. They see the big problem of today’s agriculture in the progressive desertification of the soil, worldwide – and something must be done about it.
Jan Ritter, agricultural and plant scientist from Balingen in Baden-Württemberg has been working for some time on the idea of a plant-based soil conditioner.
Jacob Paul Rohn, a forestry and environmental scientist from Osnabrück in Lower Saxony, gets into it and together they continue to spin the idea until it takes on more and more concrete forms:
What about sustainable seed treatment that gives the individual seed as much as possible of what it needs for a healthy start in the field, makes plants more resistant from the outset, inhibits the infestation of fungi and pathogens and at the same time improves the soil?
On the spot
First tests are carried out on the spot and achieve positive results. The two found a company in South Africa, but soon realize that a successful development is extremely difficult under the circumstances there.
New start in Germany
But they do not want to give up their goal – i.e. to return to Germany. Here Jan engages in research and development, while Jacob single-mindedly builds a network with researchers at the universities of Osnabrück and Oldenburg as well as various specialist institutes and commercial enterprises, and seeks ways to obtain financing.
Support for a good foundation
It goes further forward. When the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy grants the start-up SeedForward an Exist-Gründerstipendium in early 2017, further funding is made available under the European Climate-KIC Accelerator Program, and at the end of the year the StartGreen Award to SeedForward, sponsored by the Federal Ministry of the Environment as part of the National Climate Initiative, is presented, Ritter and Rohn see themselves on the home stretch. The newly established Aloys & Brigitte Coppenrath Foundation chooses SeedForward as its first grant recipient.
New partners – Interest from the industry
And it continues to move forward, even if new hurdles have to be overcome again and again. A promising strategic investor suddenly drops out, but eventually new partners are found. And then comes the day when not only people from their own network or funding institutions get in touch when the phone has rung, but also representatives of large companies who have become curious.
Concrete results and market launch
Meanwhile, the seed treatment formulation has been continuously improved with the help of many experiments, and broad-based field trials in the summer of 2018 are achieving such good results that Germany’s leading seed trader L. Stroetmann is entering the market and including the first seed forward product MAISGUARD in its catalog for spring 2019. In the meantime, SeedForward works with renowned partners from the agricultural sector and has already sold 90,000 ha of MAISGUARD to conventional and organic farms throughout Europe. The product GRAINGUARD was added at the end of 2019 and the market entry of a seed treatment for vegetables is planned for the end of 2020. The product portfolio as well as requests for research collaborations are constantly growing.
And it goes on!