KWS concludes construction of new Seed Inventory – further major investment at Einbeck site in the pipeline

Seed specialist KWS has constructed a new facility for processing and storing high-quality breeding material at its headquarters in Einbeck, where it is now fully operational. Referred to as the Seed Inventory, the facility with a floor area of 13,000 square meters offers space for around 1.3 million seed lots of sugarbeet, fodder beet, oilseed rape, catch crops and peas. The investment volume amounts to 51 million euros. In addition, the company is planning another major investment at the site: the grounds on Grimsehlstrasse will be home to a new 4,600-square-meter Phytopathology Center for research into plant diseases.

Seed Inventory: seed warehouse and production complex

″Genetic diversity is the basis for breeding high-performing varieties. The new Seed Inventory helps us strengthen a central part of our product development, because it enables us to process markedly more breeding material and keep it available for our breeders,″ says Felix Büchting, Spokesperson of the Executive Board. KWS began constructing the building in the northeastern part of the company premises on Otto-Hahn-Strasse in 2022. Over the past few months, the newly formed team – consisting of 50 permanent employees and up to 80 seasonal workers – has gradually put the facility into operation. ″A project of this caliber presents a variety of challenges. I would like to thank all employees and partners whose commitment helped make its implementation a success,″ says project manager Chris Preuss.

The new building features a high-bay warehouse with 70,000 storage spaces and a large pallet warehouse. To control warehouse pests, the facility maintains a constant temperature of 6 to 8 degrees Celsius and a humidity level of 30 percent. In addition to being a storage facility, the Seed Inventory also serves as a production complex: The plant material, which is delivered from all over Europe, first undergoes various processing steps before finding its way into the warehouses. Among other things, it is dried, freed of foreign material, cleaned and sorted by size. In the new Seed Inventory, all these steps take place centrally on one level, enabling more efficient processes. If a breeder requests seed for a trial, it is prepared in a further step before delivery: for example, it may be given a protective coating, colored or treated with plant protection.

Sustainability was a top priority for KWS during the building’s construction. In a joint project with the city of Einbeck and with extensive support from the municipal wastewater utility, the waste heat from a sewage treatment plant is used to supply the facility with heat. The energy generated via a heat exchanger corresponds to the energy requirements of around 100 detached houses. In addition, the warm exhaust air produced when drying plant material is dehumidified and fed back into the drying process. Photovoltaic modules on the roof of the building ensure a sustainable power supply.

New Phytopathology Center planned

The new Seed Inventory is a long-term investment in the Einbeck site, which KWS intends to expand even further by constructing a center for phytopathology. Phytopathology research is becoming increasingly important in plant breeding as chemical plant protection is reduced while pest and disease pressure increases. ″Only if we know the infection pathways and diseases affecting our crops can we succeed in breeding resistant varieties,″ explains Felix Büchting. ″At our Phytopathology Center, across a work area of around 4,600 square meters, we will carry out research across a broad range of crops for our markets worldwide.″