Arable
Elsoms head of agriculture Adrian Hayler and head of wheat breeding Stephen Smith
Major milestone as Elsoms celebrates 175th anniversary
• Candidate varieties in the pipeline • Seed company looks for expansion • Innovation is at centre of business
T
he latest developments in agricultural seed breed- ing will be showcased by
Elsoms at this month’s Cereals event – due to take place on 12- 13 June at Boothby Graffoe, Lin- colnshire.
The Spalding-based seed breeder will celebrate its 175th anniversary at the two-day event. A special exhibition will docu- ment the company’s history since 1844 while showcasing the inno- vation driving the future of the business.
“Our customer-focus is key to our success,” says Elsoms chair- man Roger Keeling. “We have a team of highly-skilled special- ists behind all our breeding pro- grammes – and we are completely focused on the customer.” Elsoms employs 100 people –
12 ANGLIA FARMER •JUNE 2019
all of whom are shareholders in the company.
“It means everyone is commit- ted to the success of the company – and it means we are accounta- ble to our staff who are all stake- holders as well as employees.” The company has remained an independent family-owned busi- ness throughout its history. It was founded in 1844 by Isaac Elsom, a staunch Methodist who estab- lished a rope and twine making business in Spalding. By 1885, it was also selling seed.
Early expansion The fi rst trials site was estab- lished in 1914 alongside the nurs- ery and market garden business – situated on the site of the mod- ern-day plant breeding station. The seed business continued to
grow, expanding from vegetables and fl owers into cereals and for- age crops.
Elsoms evolved from a tradi- tional seed merchant into a major plant breeding business during the latter half of the 20th centu- ry. A new era commenced in 2009 when Roger took over as chair- man from his father Anthony. While remaining UK focused, Elsoms also has wider connec- tions that benefi t British farm- ers. The company works closely with other independent compa- nies – including Dutch vegetable seed breeder Bejo Zaden and Ger- man cereal breeding group Saat- en Union.
“Their values and our values are very closely aligned,” says Roger. “Partnerships and long- term relationships – with growers and other companies – are very much at the heart of what we do and part of our core thinking.”
Research investment Working in partnership in this way gives farmers access to a wider range of seed varieties, he
adds. It has enabled Elsoms to treble its investment in wheat re- search and development – help- ing to bring to the market new varieties that directly benefi t UK growers.
This includes Elsoms Wheat – a joint venture between Elsoms, Nordsaat and Saaten Union Re- cherche, now called ASUR Plant Breeding, which has produced a wheat breeding programme fo- cused primarily on developing Group 3 and 4 varieties specif- ically for the UK.
“The three of us have been be- hind the success of the varieties that we now have on the Recom- mended List,” says Roger. They include Elicit, Elation, Benning- ton and Dunston, which have all come out of Elsoms Wheat.
Similarly, Elsoms Ackermann Barley is a joint venture which combines the breeding technolo- gies of Elsoms Seeds and Acker- mann Saatzucht. Formed in 2018, it is creating and developing com- petitive barley varieties focused on the UK market.
Candidate varieties “It is about building up the Ack- ermann barley breeding pro- gramme with a large-scale UK focus,” explains Roger. “We ex- pect our barley varieties will fol- low our wheat on to the UK Rec- ommended List over the coming years.”
Two candidate malting barley varieties – Firefoxx and Barbarel- continued on p15
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