OCTOBER 2026  |  SEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPE  I  SEED WORLD EUROPE   I   21
I
nnovation in plant breeding is no longer simply about identi­
fying the best plants in a trial plot. Today, genetics, molecular 
tools, drones, environmental data and powerful prediction 
models are increasingly connected. At MAS Seeds, our goal is 
to turn these technologies into something very tangible: varie­
ties that help farmers remain productive as growing conditions 
become less predictable.
BREEDING FOR THE FIELD OF TOMORROW
For Colin Guillaume, Head of Corn Product Development, that 
starts with anticipating how farming itself is changing. Climate 
change is already influencing which crops farmers grow, which 
varieties they choose and how they manage them. Our breeding 
programmes therefore need to look ahead rather than simply 
respond to what has happened in the past.
Simulation models help us understand how future conditions 
could affect maize production and adapt our breeding strategies 
accordingly. We expect farmers to focus increasingly on the 
optimal economic return rather than maximum yield alone, while 
regenerative practices will become more important in building 
farm resilience through healthier soils and reduced risk.
That changing reality is also reshaping where and how 
we test new material. Our trial networks increasingly represent 
the conditions and farming systems in which future varieties will 
need to perform.
Technology allows us to go much deeper. High throughput 
phenotyping, including drones and imaging technologies, has 
greatly increased both the quantity and quality of data collected 
in our breeding programmes. This is particularly valuable during 
early selection, when breeders must evaluate very large num­
bers of genetic materials.
More information brings greater precision. It improves 
prediction models, helps us understand plant responses at the 
physiological level and allows promising characteristics to be 
identified earlier. For Colin, the equation is straightforward: “We 
are more precise, we identify interesting features earlier, and we 
can test more genetic variability.”
Perhaps the clearest example comes from climate data. 
Using our historical datasets, MAS Seeds has classified the differ­
ent climatic scenarios that grain and silage maize may encounter 
across Europe. But rather than relying only on historical frequen­
cies, we estimate how frequently these scenarios are likely to 
occur as the climate changes.
Breeders can then identify hybrids that perform particularly 
well within specific scenarios while remaining stable across sev­
eral of them. The objective is not simply a hybrid that excels 
under ideal conditions, but one farmers can rely on when those 
conditions change.
CONNECTING GENOMICS WITH THE FIELD
In sunflower, the challenge is equally complex. For Mihaela 
Patrascoiu, Lead of Sunflower Product Development, stable yield 
From Data to the Field: How Innovation 
Becomes Performance
PARTNER CONTENT
INSIDE MAS SEEDS' R&D ENGINE, WHERE CLIMATE MODELLING, GENOMICS AND ADVANCED 
PHENOTYPING ARE HELPING BREEDERS ANTICIPATE WHAT FARMERS WILL NEED NEXT.
BY: BENOÎT PÉTIARD, HEAD OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AT MAS SEEDS
and oil performance remain fundamental to farm profitability, 
but hybrids must increasingly deliver that performance across 
environments affected by drought, heat and changing disease 
pressure.
Resistance to downy mildew, broomrape and rust, together 
with herbicide tolerance systems, has become a standard 
requirement. Climate change adds another dimension because 
diseases can become more frequent or severe or appear in new 
production areas. Anticipating those shifts is therefore becoming 
part of breeding strategy.
Here too, the real advance lies not in one technology but 
in connecting several. Genomic selection helps predict the 
potential of new material. Precise field phenotyping shows how 
plants actually perform, while environmental characterisation 
helps breeders understand why they perform differently from 
one location to another.
“The breakthrough is not one isolated technology, but 
the connection between genomics, precise field phenotyping 
and environmental characterisation within a single breeding 
approach,” Mihaela explains.
Combining those insights allows us to screen larger popu­
lations, identify promising combinations sooner and concentrate 
field resources on the candidates with the greatest potential. 
Breeding becomes faster and more precise, but the field retains 
the final word.
That distinction matters. For farmers, innovation is not about 
algorithms, datasets or laboratory techniques. It is about hybrids 
that establish well, cope with stress, resist important diseases 
and still produce a good harvest when the season is far from 
perfect.
For MAS Seeds, that is where innovation ultimately proves 
its worth: turning increasingly sophisticated R&D into dependa­
ble performance in farmers' fields.
The technology may be complex. The objective is simple: 
better informed breeding decisions and more reliable varieties 
for farmers.

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