Today we visited KWS MAIS Group in Einbeck , Germany. We walked into the large conference room and were all given multiple packets full of helpful information and also a cool KWS hat seen in the above picture. Our visit began with a short video explaining exactly what it is that KWS does. The video showed us examples of different crops throughout the world and the different traits they all have. KWS is trying to increase yields in order to help with the need for food for the growing population.

Rüdiger Strohm then talked about the main strengths of the company. It mainly focuses on Research and Development, Seed Production, Sales, and Farm Consulting. In development, KWS feels the greatest market potential rests in improved yield producing hybrids, and crops used specifically to make biogas. Because of these efforts, KWS is a leader in sugar beet and corn seed sales in Europe. After this first impressive presentation, many of us were on the edge of our seat when Alessa Napel from the HR department told us all about possible internship and career opportunities.

Our tour through the KWS facility was a crash course in plant breeding. We learned about the massive scale of breeding plants and how often a plant does not end up with the traits the researchers desired. Even when seeds are produced with the desired traits, only 35-40% of them will ever get to the farmer. This just shows how strict KWS’s standards are and how strong their commitment to quality is. Not only did KWS treat us to a great dinner last night, we also got to sample the awesome food in their cafeteria, which was delicious.

After lunch our second stop for the day was a tour of the city of Einbeck. As we walked through the cobblestone streets you could feel the over 1000 years of history since its creation. Our tour guide took us to main square full of buildings with hand carved architecture. Einbeck had a fire in the 1500’s and was rebuilt meaning many places had many remnants of this reconstruction. One of the most common decorations on the houses were crests representing the families living there back then. The city is most known for its breweries and pubs some of which even had exclusive membership we were told. Nowadays a person in Germany drinks around 110 liters of beer a year whereas back then they drank more near 350!

Some of the buildings were oddly leaning and because the soil while very fertile is not good for building foundations. While we visited they were remodeling the church in the center of the city seen in the above picture. Our guide told us that repairing a large house in the town could cost close to 2.2 million Euros! Even though this was probably the smallest city we visted, we had a great time touring around and seeing the sights.

Our last stop was a field tour of KWS’s test fields. The bus drove us around the first field where we saw small plastic hoop greenhouses filled with test plants of sugar beets on the field in order to control cross-pollination. Then we got off the bus and went to into the large field of sugar beets. Each couple of rows were different to demonstrate different variety trials as well as to demonstrate the impact of different cultivation techniques on varieties. KWS brings over 5000 farmers out to this field annually to view these techniques and as a marketing tool for their crops. This way, farmers can learn the best way to utilize the seed products bought from KWS. After this tour, we again boarded the bus bound for our next hotel. KWS was a great host for the day and  we all appreciated getting a first hand look at a large seed company as well as a tour of the old city center of Einbeck.