In plant breeding, the challenge has never been a lack of data. Breeders have more data than ever: field trials across continents, seasons, soil types and stress scenarios; genotypic information at massive scale; performance data piling up year after year. The real challenge is turning that complexity into clear, confident decisions fast enough to matter.
That is exactly what a partnership between KWS and NoMaze, now going on multiple years, aims to address. After more than two years of close collaboration, KWS, a leading plant breeding company and NoMaze, an agritech company specializing in AI-driven decision support for plant breeding, are deepening their relationship, building on a foundation that has already moved beyond pilots and proofs of concept. This is a signal that decision-support tools have matured and that the companies using them every day are now doubling down. The partnership reflects a shift toward embedded, operational intelligence.
Breeding complexity outgrows traditional tools
Modern plant breeding is complex because genetic material must perform across highly variable and increasingly unpredictable conditions. Understanding those interactions at scale requires statistical sophistication, advanced modeling and the ability to explore scenarios quickly.
Usually, that kind of analysis involves specialized data science teams, custom scripts and long turnaround times. For breeders, that often means either waiting for answers or relying on simplified summaries that mask important signals.
NoMaze was built to address that gap. By using intuitive workflows, NoMaze enables breeders to explore complex data without needing to code. The goal is not to turn breeders into data scientists, but to leverage systems that simplify data analysis so breeders can focus on what they do best: asking the right biological questions and making informed selection decisions.
Since 2022, KWS and NoMaze have worked together to develop analytical programs that adapt to KWS’s breeding workflows. Today, NoMaze’s tools are used daily by breeders at KWS to make decisions.
From partnership to innovative practice
Many collaborations in agtech stall at the pilot stage. Technologies are tested, results are promising, but scaling proves difficult, often because the technology does not adapt well to the realities of large, complex breeding organizations.
NoMaze’s modular architecture allows breeding teams to build and adjust analytical pipelines as their programs evolve. Rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all solution, the platform supports customized approaches across crops, regions and objectives.
That adaptability has been crucial for KWS, whose breeding programs are extensive and multiregional. The ability to tailor analytics without rebuilding systems from scratch is what makes the depth of KWS–NoMaze partnership notable.
“Our partnership with NoMaze demonstrates how combining breeding expertise and technology improves our data use and decision-making, ultimately leading to better seeds for farmers,” says Stefan Schwarz, lead of scouting and licensing at KWS.
It is speed, clarity and confidence in decisions that ultimately affect farmer outcomes.
Trust as a competitive advantage
Over two years, the teams have built shared understanding of data structures and breeding realities, that allowed for the development of trust that enabled deeper integration and a willingness to expand the partnership further.
“KWS has been an outstanding partner,” says Jean-Pascal Lutze, CEO of NoMaze. “Our shared goals and collaborative spirit continue to drive meaningful outcomes for both companies.”
For NoMaze, working closely with a breeding company of KWS’ scale has shaped product development itself. Tools developed in isolation rarely survive contact with real-world breeding programs. Co-development ensures that technology evolves alongside scientific needs, not ahead of them.
This partnership provides a good example of how digital transformation can happen through sustained collaboration between domain experts and technologists.
It also shows that agricultural software doesn’t need to be the most complex, but rather the most usable. When breeders can explore data intuitively, test hypotheses quickly and trust the outputs, innovation accelerates organically from seeds to systems.
What this means for the future of breeding
KWS’ mission has always centered on developing better seeds for farmers: seeds that deliver yield, resilience and reliability under changing conditions. Achieving that mission today requires more than genetics alone. It requires systems that help breeders see patterns earlier, decide faster and learn continuously.
The extended partnership between KWS and NoMaze reflects a broader trend in plant breeding and agricultural research: the shift from data accumulation toward integrated, data-driven ecosystems where technology amplifies expertise rather than replacing it to accelerate decision making.
As climate stress intensifies and breeding cycles are under pressure to deliver resilient, high-performing varieties faster, hence the ability to understand performance across diverse environments becomes a competitive necessity. Breeders need tools that surface insights, not spreadsheets that demand interpretation. By lowering the barrier to advanced analytics and integrating those capabilities directly into daily workflows, NoMaze’s technology points toward a future where data-driven decision-making is the default, not the exception.
About KWS
KWS is one of the world’s leading plant breeding companies. Around 5,000 employees* in over 70 countries generated net sales of around $1.97 billion in fiscal year 2024-25. A company with a tradition of family ownership, KWS has operated independently for almost 170 years. It focuses on plant breeding and the production and sale of seed for sugarbeet, corn, cereals, vegetables, oilseed rape and sunflowers. KWS uses leading-edge plant breeding methods to continuously improve yield for farmers and plants’ resistance to diseases, pests and abiotic stress. To that end, the company invested approximately $410 million in fiscal year 2024-25 in research and development.
*excluding seasonal workers
About NoMaze
NoMaze is a Munich-based agritech company that uses advanced artificial intelligence to help plant breeders predict genetic traits and accelerate crop development. Through its cloud-based platform, NoMaze turns complex genomic and environmental data into actionable insights, enabling breeding teams to reduce R&D timelines, improve decision-making and develop more resilient, high-performing crops.
