On 1 June, Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation held a video meeting chaired by the First Deputy Minister Dzhambulat Khatuov on the development of seed production.

AEB was represented by Tadzio Schilling, CEO, Ruslan Kokarev, Deputy CEO – COO, Tatiana Belousovich, GR Manager, Crop Protection and Seeds, as well as Vladimir Druzhina, Chairman of the Seed Committee, KWS, Denis Zhuravskiy, Deputy Chairman, Syngenta, and other members: Natalia Smoliarenko, Bayer, Laurent Schtraouss, EURALIS, Alexander Kozachkov, Pioneer and others.

At the initiative of the Сhairman of the meeting, an interesting dialogue took place, including the issues of deepening international cooperation in the field of selection and seed production.

Tadzio Schilling, opening the discussion, made a brief report on the contribution of international companies - AEB members to Russian agriculture and the prospects for interaction between AEB and the Ministry of Agriculture. Vladimir Druzhina and heads of the companies - Committee members presented their investment projects and plans for localizing seed production in Russia. It was understood that the Russian seed market had enough space for both domestic and foreign companies, the main thing is that high-quality seed materials should be publicly available for agricultural producers. 

The competitiveness of seeds and hybrids has been and remains the main criterion for a successful business and largely determines the choice of agricultural producers. The results of the meeting inspire optimism and give reason to hope for further constructive cooperation between AEB and the Ministry of Agriculture. The First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation recognised the usefulness of this kind of substantive dialogue with leading representatives of Russian and international companies working in the field of selection and seed production, and suggested holding such meetings once a quarter.