Seed Production

Each seed bag we produce travels a long process from planning through multiplication up until the farm’s doorstep. We partner with more than 500 local seed growers and logistic companies, employ full time and seasonal team members and follow a unique quality procedure to supply high quality seeds to farmers around the world.

PLANNING

Each seed bag starts with a careful crop planning process up to 3 years before delivery. In this process parental seeds of each variety must be produced ahead and the right field with the right growing conditions must be planned.

FIELD PRODUCTION

Sowing of each hybrid occur about 1 year before the seed is ready for sale. For hybrid seed production male and female are sown following a strict procedure for each variety concerning growing conditions, spacing, isolation, castration, pollination up until the harvest.

HARVEST & SEED PREPARATION

Individually harvested seeds for each variety arrive at the factories and go through a multiple-step preparation including: sorting, drying, shelling, calibration and treatment.

QUALITY CONTROL

Throughout the process from the harvest up until the packaging, between each production step, seed samples are taken and tested for quality indicators over and over again to ensure the best quality possible.

PACKAGING & CERTIFICATION

Towards the end of the process each seed variety is conditioned by its bag size and treatment type. Each factory is equipped with printing, labelling and certification unit that works with under local official and regulatory controls. This process guarantees that only high quality certified seeds reach the customers field.

DELIVERY

Our logistics team works with highly experienced international trucking companies to deliver the seeds to local seed distributors in each country. The local distributors coordinate the farm orders and the final deliveries.

Seed quality is our priority

Each seed processing facility has high-tech industrial capacities and is ESTA quality assurance system certified in France, Spain and Ukraine. Each facility follows a strictly managed quality procedure. Production protocols are adapted to each variety with quality controls at each step of the process. « A la care » calibration methods are applied to guarantee the best seed homogeneity in each bag. Our factories in France, Spain and Italy are ORGANIC certified in order to deliver the same high quality in organic seeds.

Seed production areas

A big part of the seed production occur out on the field in one of the 7 production countries. In each country, our field operational teams produce high-quality seeds following a common strict protocols within our grower’s field network and our factories. Our seed production department has its own R&D to develop innovations in seed applied solutions, production technologies, quality management and ensure always a more sustainable seed production.

4 factories

Haut-Mauco, France
Zaragoza, Spain
Mogilev, Ukraine
San Pietro di Morubio, Italy

7 production countries

In addition to France, Spain, Ukraine and Italy, we have expanded our production zone to Russia, Turkey, Italy and Mexico to diversify our seed origins and be closer to the markets. MAS Seed also offers parental line seed, experimental seed and out of season production networks in Africa and Americas.

Seed production factories

HAUT-MAUCO, France

> 12 000 ha Production Capacity

Built in 1970, a network of 250 farmers and a team of 30 permanent specialists are producing and processing:

corn
sunflower
winter oilseed rape
other crops

ZARAGOZA, Spain

> 5 000 ha Production Capacity

Built in 1992, a network of 130 farmers and a team of 10 permanent specialists are producing and processing:

corn
sunflower
winter oilseed rape
cereals
sorghum

MOGILEV, Ukraine

> 6 000 ha Production Capacity

Built in 2010, a network of 30 farmers and a team of 25 permanent specialists are producing and processing:

corn
sunflower
winter oilseed rape
cereals

SAN PIETRO DI MORUBIO, Italy

Specialised in crops for diversification

Purchased in 2016, Semfor and MAS Seeds Italy masters a processing facility to create more than 300 different types of mixtures and pure crops including:

cover crops
forage mixtures
special mixtures
soybean
alfalfa
sorghum
grasses
cereals

We produce seeds while respecting our natural resources

We apply field production practices that support biodiversity, improve soil quality and carbon balance, reduce the impact of climate change. We have increased our efforts by implementing actions that alignes with our purpose to act for a changing agriculture.

Our actions to support biodiversity and soil fertility

Identification and use of cover crops to limit the impact of nematodes, improving soil productivity as well as to reduce soil erosion that occurs in our sandy soil production areas.
Training production teams and farmers by beekeepers about best practices
Creation of working groups with farmers to develop new production techniques.

Our actions to reduce inputs and our footprint

Reduced chemical crop protection where possible, such as use of trichogramma against corn borer or mechanical weeding.
Producing seeds as close as possible to the market to limit transportation related carbon emission.
Developing harvest techniques at lower humidity to reduce drying times to reduce gas and energy consumption.
Use of precision and decision taking tools for reducing water and fertilizer use.
Overall a continuous-improvement-mindset to reduce our carbon footprint while maintaining our productivity.

factories

3 for hybrids and 1 specialised in mixtures and other forage crops. Each with a quality control unit and high-tech process

500

farmers

specialized in seed multiplication and field production

25 000

hectares

production capacity in 7 countries

230

team members

working in field production, processing, supply and research for seed production