Meet KeyGene at the ISF World Seed Congress in Rotterdam

From the 27th to the 29th of May, KeyGene will be present as an exhibitor (booth 3.5) and at our Trading table. During the Post Congress Tour on Thurday May 30th, we are happy to receive some 50 congress participants at KeyGene in Wageningen.

Five KeyGeners will participate in ISF: our CEO, Roeland van Ham; Shital Dixit, Director of Business Development Asia; Stephanie Saade, Crop Innovation Specialist; Inge Corino, Community Manager; and Erik Toussaint, Communication Officer. We’re excited to be meeting old and new partners at our booth, on the conference floor, and during the Post Congress Tour.

2024 is a historic year for ISF, as it marks its 100th anniversary. A hundred years ago, visionary seed traders from around the world convened to standardize commercial seed exchanges and promote international cooperation to support the increased global seed movement. This marked the genesis of an organization that would become the voice of the global private seed sector.

The World Seed Congress in this historic year is organized in the Netherlands, a leader in plant breeding, propagation, and seed imports and exports. The event will again gather seed and breeding professionals from all over the world for business, trading, exhibition, panel discussions, and plenty of networking opportunities.

This year also marks KeyGene’s 35^th anniversary. In 1989, five seed companies decided to join forces by founding a research company for pre-competitive research. The goal was to work together to increase the efficiency of their molecular genetic research programs and to improve their crop breeding efforts.

Over the past 35 years, our scientists developed and applied many impactful technology innovations to reveal and understand genetic variation, induce desired variation, and enhance breeding efficiency for crop improvement.

KeyGene is currently owned by four strategic shareholders active in the field of vegetable breeding: Enza Zaden, Rijk Zwaan, Limagrain Vegetable Seeds, and Takii. In non-vegetable crops, KeyGene also partners with many other organisations.

Nowadays, KeyGene is based in Wageningen, the Netherlands; Rockville, MD, USA; and Hyderabad, India. Our staff of close to 150 professionals originates from over 15 countries.