fyi - about our partner Grietje

*A Dutch seed company faces up to KWS patents* By Denis Meshaka

Published on the 04/04/2024

https://infogm.org/en/a-dutch-seed-company-faces-up-to-kws-patents/

*Inf’OGM interviewed a Dutch seed company that has developed a cold-resistant “organic” maize and that feels threatened by KWS patents. She tells us the story of her company Nordic Maize breeding, of her certified organic maize, of its likely future contamination by GMOs/NGTs…*

Inf’OGM reported on how two seed companies now find themselves under threat of prosecution. Inf’OGM interviewed one of these two breeders, Grietje Raaphorst-Travaille, co-founder with her husband of Nordic Maize breeding (NMb). Originally a biochemist, then a chemistry teacher, she first worked in a laboratory and then in plant breeding from 1990 onwards. With her husband, they worked for VanderHave, a Dutch seed company, which they left in 1997 shortly after it was taken over by the British company Zeneca. They officially founded NMb in 2002.

*Inf’OGM – How does Nordic Maize breeding work?*

Grietje Raaphorst-Travaille – We work with certified organic farming. We don’t have a farm as such, and we don’t even own our own fields. We work with farmers. They sow the maize and we manage the seed production. But our varieties are protected by plant breeders’ rights. As well as maize, we are also developing winter peas, which go very well with early-harvested maize. If you harvest your maize on time, you’ll have plenty of time to plant your winter peas. These crops also protect the soil in winter and allow farmers to produce more protein themselves and feed their animals in a more diversified way. This is not so common in the Netherlands. Farmers generally stick to a single annual crop and aim for the highest possible yields.

*What motivated the creation of Nordic Maize breeding?*

Having moved to the north of the Netherlands, we found.. => to read the full article, see https://infogm.org/en/a-dutch-seed-company-faces-up-to-kws-patents/