A panorama of the Group's news

The “BreedWheat” project, led by INRA of Clermont-Ferrand- Theix (France), is the result of collaboration between 26 international partners, including eleven industrialists. Limagrain is participating financially in this project which covers fundamental research right up to plant breeding. Altogether the project represents an investment from the partners of more than 39 million Euros, over an exceptional duration of nine years.

The aim of the project is to improve our knowledge and capacity to exploit the genetic diversity of wheat for optimal production. In particular it will lead to the selection of new wheat varieties that are more robust, less demanding in water and fertilizers, for an agriculture that is more respectful of the environment.

Cherry, cocktail, flat ribbed, elongated, bright red or, for a change, green, yellow, pink, violet, striped or black, tomatoes are all about diversity. Every time, breeders create a tomato which meets the requirements of consumers as well as the agronomic requirements and techniques of growers and industrialists. They have the opportunity to draw from the amazing variety available within the nine wild species of tomato. Every year, more than 100 new varieties are made available on the market.

Ukraine used to be called the “breadbasket of Europe”, and over the last few years it has become a potential agricultural powerhouse at the gates of Europe. This is why Nickerson-Zwaan decided to set up a subsidiary there in 2007.

Limagrain's investment in the Société Meunière du Centre and the Moulin de Verdonnet has provided the final link that was missing from its wheat chain. These two firms been merged within a single entity : Limagrain Meunerie. Milling is now a major local activity that has an impact on both Cooperative members and Group companies involved in cereal products.

Reinforcing its foothold on the Brazilian corn market, Limagrain has just finalized, through its holding, Vilmorin & Cie, the acquisition of Brasmilho's corn and sorghum seed activities in Brazil. Based in Goianésia, Brasmilho has high-quality genetic resources, a production and seed processing plant, as well as a sales network covering the central part of the country.

Brasmilho's assets reinforce the partnership established with Sementes Guerra last February. Thanks to this new acquisition, the Group is actively expanding its corn business in Brazil, the world's third largest market, which is characterized by strong growth.

As a supplier of ingredients and improvers for baking, dafa has generated keen interest among French and European industrialists thanks to its positioning as an expert in cereals. Through its products, dafa offers its customers solutions adapted to their needs. Here are some details.

The opening up of Eastern Europe in the early 1990's, which was consolidated in 2004 by the accession of several countries to the European Union, created new markets for garden products. The first one to be targeted by our Garden Products division was Poland, home of our CNOS Garden subsidiary. 

Witloof chicory, Brussels chicory, chicon… whichever name it goes under, this species is becoming an increasingly successful one in Vilmorin's product range. Resulting from a project which started 27 years ago, the growth in sales it has enjoyed over the past five years of our subsidiary Vilmorin SA is down to various innovations.

Since it was first created in 1998 for farmers and livestock breeders, the LG website for France, www.lgseeds.fr, provides useful information on the varieties of the LG brand ation on the varieties of the LG brand and proposes files on different themes. It can also be used for an update on agricultural news and the local weather. Today's users can enjoy a wide range of useful, simple and practical services that suggest solutions for the problems faced by farmers and livestock breeders:
- LG Animal Nutrition® / Ration Profile to choose the best-suited corn variety for the required ration,
- LG Animal Nutrition® / Prairie Profile to choose forage crops and varieties,
- LG Vision Corn Forage to plan for the harvesting date,
- LG Vision Corn Grain and Sunflower to manage these two crops as efficiently as possible.
In their own customized space, users enter data concerning their livestock farm, and process the decision-making aid tools to choose their varieties, manage their crops and define the harvesting date. There will soon be other services available on the site.

In January 2010, the Limagrain Co-operative acquired Moulin de Verdonnet, located in the village of Bouzel near Clermont-Ferrand in the county of Puy-de- Dôme (France).
This ultra-modern mill extended the crushing capacity of the Société Meunière du Centre (SMC) based nearby in Gerzat. Entirely automatic, Moulin de Verdonnet is one of the most modern mills in Europe. An investment plan has been scheduled to extend its capacity for grain storage and optimize its performance. It currently crushes 55,000 tons of wheat per year and should soon reach 80,000 tons. Moulin de Verdonnet plays a major role in insuring supplies to the Group ‘s wheat chain: Jacquet, Limagrain Céréales Ingrédients and La Gerbe d' Or. It also supplies flour to traditional bakers, to supermarkets with their own baking facilities or who sell private label bags of 1 kilo, and to food industrialists. In conjunction with SMC, our other mill, Moulin de Verdonnet offers outlets to the Limagne wheat produced by members of the Limagrain Co-operative.
Ultimately, the two mills will be able to process 120,000 tons of heat (compared to 100,000 tons today), or 85% of the wheat collected by the Co-operative. The two mills are at the heart of our agro-industrial approach, in direct contact with market requirements, and they fit in perfectly with our chain organization that integrates research, seed production, agronomy and distribution. Their experience of market needs means they can supply all the chain with varieties that are adapted to each application. Together, the two mills propose a wide range of certified, conventional flours, specialty flours, and flours for making bread, rusks, crackers, crispbakes, baby food and confectionery products.

Wrapped bread is extremely popular as far as today's food habits are concerned in France. Plain, wholemeal and crustless loaves, hamburger buns, kebabs, precooked bread and other specialty breads have gained more than E100 million in sales in the past 5 years. Jacquet is suggesting that the supermarkets reorganize their wrapped bread shelves to exploit their true potential and propose a presentation that corresponds to how consumers really make their purchases. The days when wrapped bread was hidden away round the back are over. Jacquet has redesigned shelf presentation so that customers can identify and discover what the different brands have to offer. The shelf is organized around four themes that correspond to key consumer needs: “canapés and sandwiches”, “special treats”, “the basics”, “ready to bake”. Each type of bread is given prominence in this way. For the sales outlets that have adopted it, the reactions of consumers are positive: they find the shelves clear, well-organized, attractive and easier than before. And the proof is in the pudding: sales at these outlets are up by 6%.

The EMD (European Marketing and Development) team at Limagrain Europe has developed a new technical data management tool for its own varieties and competing varieties in corn, sunflower and rape, given the name Common Agronomic Results Database System (CARDS). CARDS is a multi-purpose tool combining all data, from customers to research, on varieties that are already being sold, or soon will be.

Launched in January 2009, it has been deployed all over Europe in 2010. Intended for product managers and European Marketing Development teams at Limagrain Europe, CARDS is being used by more than a hundred people. It makes access to information on trials easier (place, characteristics, soil, period, sowing, yield, pathological pressure, etc.), and also animal nutrition data, and the technical pitch to adopt in each country.

Today, this software provides teams working at Limagrain Europe with a clearer vision of the qualities of the different varieties. It makes it possible and easier to share on a European level. With its intuitive browsing, data access is fast. Multi-criteria formats can be used for searches (soil, irrigation, nitrogen input, sowing density, etc.). CARDS is permanently evolving and already contains information on more than 16,000 trials.

In November 2009, Limagrain Agro-Productions initiated a “Health, Safety and Environment” (HSE) management system. The safety of its employees is a top priority for the Division. The objectives set couldn't be clearer: no serious accidents and implementation of continuous improvement. All the sites are concerned, from the Ennezat seed factory to the different production sites such as Société Meunière du Centre, La Gerbe d' Or bakery and La Cave Saint-Verny winery. The objective is to develop a culture of safety in Limagrain Agro-Productions and to help employees change their behavior by explaining that safety involves everyone. In order to develop this awareness throughout the Division, the Executive Committee has made a written commitment to implement a policy to guarantee the physical integrity of all employees, protect their health, and control any impact of activities on the environment. Moreover, all the personnel will receive training on security.

In order to apply the “Health, Safety and Environment” management system, a working group has been established, with eleven members representing the different sectors. Monthly meetings are held to document the system and propose the resources and means to apply it, with a number of action plans: harmonization of quality, safety and environment procedures and the definition of universally recognized HSE standards. All those concerned, both internal and external persons – staff, visitors, co-op members, contractors – will be involved in the system.

In the history of Groupe Limagrain, with so many acquisitions along the way, the creation of AgReliant in 2000 represents a major milestone giving fantastic impetus to our North American field seeds strategy. Limagrain had initiated its implantation in 1979 by founding its first research station in Kirkland. For 20 years the Group patiently built up its field seeds organization by taking over small family companies: Shissler, Biotechnica, Akin and Callahan in the United States, and King Agro in Canada.

10 years down the road AgReliant has succeeded in doubling its market share. The results have progressed significantly. A magnificent success story for this team totally mobilized in the success of our project.

After three years' work, Vilmorin SA inaugurated its new factory at La Ménitré on October 14th of this year. Without ever stopping its activity, the company has totally renovated its seed production factory. The work was initially planned to run over a five year period, but thanks to the efforts of the employees and the contractors, the site has advanced faster than expected, limiting impact on the company's industrial activities.

As Rodolphe Millet, the company's CEO underlined, “with it's plant modernized, Vilmorin is now ready to meet two major challenges, that of global deployment with growth being achieved on markets that are getting more and more remote, and that of technological evolution”.

2 questions for Damien Bourgarel, CEO of the Limagrain Ag-Production division

The brand will be available for all sectors. Already available are :

PRESS RELEASE / FRIDAY, OCTOBER 08, 2010

Acquired in January 2010 to reinforce Limagrain's milling capacities, Le Moulin de Verdonnet occupies its rightful place at the heart of the Group's wheat chain.

Le Moulin de Verdonnet, which extends the milling capacities of the SMC (Société Meunière du Centre) based in Gerzat, plays a major role in supplying Groupe Limagrain's wheat chain: Jacquet, Limagrain Céréales Ingrédients and Gerbe d'Or. It is also pursuing business through its traditional outlets: bakeries, large distribution chains (products for bake houses and 1 kg bags sold under private labels) and food industries. It is important to note that Le Moulin de Verdonnet, located in Bouzel in the heart of the Limagne region, is one of the most modern mills in Europe, due to its high level of automation.

The AGMs of Limagrain, Maïcentre and Domagri at the end of 2009 approved and thus officialized the merger of these three cooperatives from Auvergne.
The new set-up brings together 5 complementary activities: seed production, distribution and channels, the grain business, transformation and operations, giving birth to a group of one thousand employees in Auvergne. Limagrain has thus strengthened its agricultural base with nearly 3,500 farmer and livestock breeder members.

The Toke seeds center is the first and main stage in the drive for Mikado Kyowa Seeds to be a robust and modern seed company. It has cutting edge equipment to be able to meet the requirements of its Japanese markets and customers who seek the best quality in seed.

The companies Nickerson Zwaan, Clause and Vilmorin joined forces for the yearly Open Days held in Sint Maarten (province in the north of the Netherlands). This showroom is the place to be if you want to discover the current line-up and new vegetable varieties.

Clause now has industrial plant that is capable of ensuring optimal quality for vegetable seeds intended for professional growers.

The factory based at the Clermont-Limagne Biopôle has inaugurated its extension, doubling the sandwich loaf and hamburger bun lines. This investment of €35 million has enabled the company to increase its production capacity, moving up to 66, 800 tons per year over the 4 lines.

Vilmorin held an important field day in the Jordan Valley, the Middle East's answer to Almeria in Spain, and one of the most concentrated and dynamic agricultural regions in the world. It has more than 2,000 hectares of greenhouses devoted both to local production and export.

Hazera Genetics has opened an innovative Seed Quality laboratory on its Brurim site. A million dollars were invested in this laboratory, considered to be the most advanced of its kind in Israel, in order to meet the needs of customers over the coming ten years.

After it was purchased by Limagrain in 2005, Advanta® UK kept its trademark because of the reputation of the brand name. In order to be coherent with the other subsidiaries in Europe, it has just changed its name to Limagrain United Kingdom. Furthermore, products are now being sold under the brand name LG.

Limagrain Europe has opened its new subsidiary, Limagrain Ukraine. This company sells products under the LG and Nickerson brand names. Limagrain Ukraine has a workforce of ten.

The Cooperative is pursuing its investment plan at the Ennezat factory by commissioning equipment for calibration and colorimetric sorting.