Research: key figures More than 1 200 researchers Budget: M€ 124 and M€ 180 with its partners 14% of professional sales More than 80 research stations Nearly 20% of research budget dedicated to plant biotechnology

For Limagrain, which has built up its stature through plant improvement, controlling genetic resources (gene banks to preserve, enrich and valorize biodiversity using the experience of its researchers) is indeed an essential asset. This is why research holds a central place. It is carried out within each of the Business Groups, in order to embrace the specific nature of each plant crop. At the same time, it is also coordinated by a Scientific Committee to increase efficiency, particularly in the use of tools.


Plant improvement is a long-term process. Creating a new variety is the fulfillment of a ten-year long process. This particularity means that researchers have to look ahead all the time and anticipate downstream demands.

With the strong close ties it has woven with farmers, agronomists, industrialists and marketing specialists, Limagrain's researchers have all the means to adapt and react.

Research orientations are dictated by market demands. The first of these is the improvement of the agronomic performances of plants, (yield, resistance to insects and disease, drought tolerance, the assimilation of nitrogen, etc.). Then there are the qualitative performances (digestibility of forage plants, suitability for bread, composition
of the grain, etc.) and industrial aptitudes (adaptation to processes, etc.).

Finally, one has to satisfy consumer expectations (food safety, nutritional and organoleptic qualities, authenticity), without forgetting production costs, a vital aspect of competitiveness, and therefore the continued success of companies working in the supply chain.

Plant biotechnology and information technologies also play their role in plant improvement. They widen the field of possibilities, in terms of potential (yield, qualities), precision (which has considerably improved), and time-scales (considerably reduced).
Limagrain is resolutely committed to mastering these innovative techniques, which require sizeable human and financial resources, and which also involve the creation of technological platforms that are capable of mobilizing a variety of pluri-disciplinary skills.

In order to stay on course with these new challenges, Limagrain has built up research partnerships, extending from a simple research agreement
on a targeted program (contracts in progress, in particular with the CNRS in France, the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands, the Max Planck Institute in Germany, the CSIRO in Australia, the John Innes Centre in the United Kingdom, the University of California, Davis - USA) to structural partnerships, based on framework agreement, such as with the INRA in France, or IVF-CAAS in China.

When the objectives set require a formal structure to such partnerships, then dedicated legal structures are created. This is the case in the domain
of plant biotechnology, with Biogemma and Génoplante (France) and Keygene (Netherlands).