b'INSIDERSTURF AND FORAGEGreen Transition Impacts the Seed Business KLAUS K. NIELSENChief Scientific Officer DLFThe climate debate is relevant in the seedWe fancy green areas with roomfits of promoting forage grass and forage world, where efforts to find more resil- for biodiversity benefitting flower, birdslegumes for feed.ient, productive, and sustainable solutionsand bees,a wish, which has led to anWorldwide, sports activities have with lower footprints are on the top of theincreased demand for flower seed mix- priority to keep going - both on profes-agenda. This means that the demand fortures in several markets. sional- and amateur level. We supply resource-efficient solutions is increasing.A growing number of consumersgrass seeds to football fields and golf Fortunately, we have a strong basefocus much more on climate and envi- courses around the world, and in these in our R&D, which supplies varieties andronment challenges than before, and oursegments, we also see an increased focus seed technology that fits well into theawareness and desire to change behav- on sustainable solutions. Golf courses green agenda with local production ofior has increased. We seem to favor highdemand solutions that require less use protein, increased forage efficiency andquality-, sustainable, and locally pro- of pesticides, increase biodiversity, and perennial forage clover- and grasslandsduced food, and plant-based proteins arereduce the need for management.with a positive impact on environmenttaking up more space on our dinner plate.Between 70 and 90% of the consum-and climate.The demand for locally produced cli- ers worldwide believe it is important for A year ago, the corona pandemicmate-friendly food means that the dairycompanies to implement measures to took over the global agenda, and politi- and meat industry look at how they canimprove the environment. The propor-cal initiatives on climate and environ- optimize their forage production and attion is highest in South America, Africa ment were partly put on hold. With manythe same time maintain a high perfor- and Asia - probably because they live activities closed, we opened our eyes tomance on their livestock. Products withwith many environmental challenges nature and began to take higher interestincreased fiber digestibility and highlyclose to their homes. in our garden - a trend we have seen inproductive local protein sources areWe believe that the pressure to most of our markets. This boosted ourpart of the solution. With our campaigndeliver sustainable solutions is a global garden seed business in 2020 and the"Seeding the Green Future", DLF focusesphenomenon that will grow in the trend seems to continue in 2021.on the climate and environmental bene- coming years.CONTENT MARKETINGDifferentiating Yourself in a Saturated Virtual WorldLAURA BURTNYK Project Coordinator Seed World GroupSocial distancing is here to stay for theso an international audience can tuneyour audience and gets them excited. time being. Businesses have adapted toin to learn in their own language. ThatsWhen given the choice between Virtual survive and even thrive, people have mas- truly amazing, when you think about it.Networking Event and Cocktails & tered the art of working from home, andTranslating at a live event can be veryConversations, I bet the majority will your inbox is full of invites to yet anotherdifficult. Much easier virtually. You pro- choose the latter.virtual event. Youve been to a several ofvide on-demand video playback of yourPlay up the interactive. Get your them, hoping to feel just like youre thereguest speakers so if I miss part of theirpeople engaged. The best take-away from in person at the event. talk, I can tune in later to catch the wholea successful virtual event is audience In reality, they simply dont feel thatthing? This is a value add for your busyinteraction and engagement with the plat-way, and we shouldnt expect them to ifattendees. form. Incentivize attendance and create we dont want to get discouraged. So, theLook professional but be informal.an interactive leaderboard that reward question is: How do you create a virtualDesign is crucial. These virtual eventsyour most engaged attendees. Generate event that people actually want to attend? have been around for a while now, soalerts or notifications that remind people Embrace digital. You are hosting anlook is everything. Attendees will have ato visit other features of the platform that online virtual event, plain and simple.better experience in clean platforms thatdont see as much traffic. Utilize games If you want me to come check out yourare easy to navigate. With that in mind,to get the audience involved and partic-event, I need to be sold on it. Instead ofthe event should also be unique and fun.ipating.masking the fact that the event is digital,Get creative with the features and comePeople already have a choice of many embrace it and brag about it. The live ses- up with new naming schemes. Create avirtual events to take part in, so it is up sions offer real time language translationcasual atmosphere that is inviting forto you to motivate them to attend yours.28IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'