Farmers form the base of a society and a country’s development, for no country can see the dream of development on an empty stomach. However, the hands that feed others are in deep trouble today. The farmers face multiple issues that range from global warming to poor-quality seeds and shrinking farmlands. Not to forget the eminent food crisis looming in 2050 due to population.
Many say that the solution is with the adoption of agriculture technology or AgTech. However, the speed of adoption of technology varies in different parts of the world based on socioeconomics. While some countries and farmers are open to change, many are still skeptical. Meanwhile, companies continue to invest in technology and research to deliver innovative solutions. Among them, Advanta Seeds has emerged as one of the world’s leading seeds companies at the forefront of developing germplasms tailored to answer the need for climate-smart and high-nutrition crops.
For a Fertile Future
Advanta Seeds is one of the few worldwide seed businesses that offer a diverse field crop and vegetable portfolio. Advanta focuses on innovation, value addition through natural solutions, and disease, pest, and herbicide resistance along with drought and salinity tolerance while focusing on bringing localized need-specific germplasm. By creating seeds that make crops climate-smart, salinity-tolerant, and drought-resilient, they are weatherproofing farm yields and the livehood of farmers, especially in tropical and subtropical regions.
Advanta Seeds has sixteen field crops, although most seed businesses focus on two. It has marketed over fifty crops throughout the world. The strength of Advanta is in the versatility offered to growers in many geographies. It allows to meet farmers’ needs and deliver good genetics in many crops. For farmers, crop rotation is an important practice and reduces the reliance on one crop to be productive. Advanta Seeds has a solid business strategy that allows the company to develop quickly in various regions, which is a benefit of a well-diversified and geographically large portfolio.
The company’s research and development breeding stations are strategically placed in different geographies to supply a diverse range of genetics and evaluate them for various soil and climatic conditions. “We constantly work to introduce enhanced seed varieties. We developed enhanced germplasm and our own proprietary technology in various crops. We have a few unique technologies in high oleic sunflower, sub-tropical and tropical corn, canola, forage, and grain sorghum. Driven by innovation, developing improved crops and new technologies are a high priority for Advanta Seeds,” says Bhupen Dubey, Global CEO at Advanta Seeds.
Technology for Agriculture
Bhupen believes that modern technology can enhance sustainable agriculture which is the way forward. It starts with quality seeds and good farming practices to produce high-yielding crops.
The three factors that are becoming a guiding concept for the innovation and use of modern technology are food and nutrition security while overcoming the challenges of climate change. Advanta Seeds invests in climate-smart crops such as sorghum, sunflower and canola which are high in nutrition and low in use of resources. They also invest in innovative technologies including precision agriculture, drone technology, artificial intelligence, and data-driven farming.
“I strongly believe the key to the future is innovation and the appropriate use of science and technology to meet the growing food demand,” says Bhupen.
Advanta’s strength in new technologies is achieved through open collaboration with local farmers and international research institutes such as the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), HarvestPlus, or the World Vegetable Center. Its partners are essential to its success.
“Our role is to provide the best technology to farmers however the adaptation depends on the market. I classify the global agriculture market into two parts, one where agriculture is very strongly linked with the market forces and the second is where agriculture is not connected to the market. In the first case, the technology adaptation happens very fast where farmers can see very quickly the benefits of the new technology such as improved productivity and they see that the investment pays off. On the other hand, there are countries where agriculture is not linked to the market forces so strongly or directly the uncertainties are very high and the adaptation of new technologies is very slow. These are the areas where the cost-benefit risk analysis doesn’t justify adoption of the new technology. As the seed technology provider, we educate farmers about the value of new technology and its benefits to improve the adaptation rate,” shares Bhupen.
A Focused Leader
Bhupen did both his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Agriculture and joined a German company in the R&D department early in his career. After a few years, he moved to the product management department and also completed his diploma in marketing management. Working for a global company like Advanta Seeds gave him a holistic experience of the industry and its operations with great cross-functional exposure. At this company, he has been able to lead and manage multiple business areas in different geographical locations, which helped him understand even the most subtle changes at the same time the biggest challenges in the industry.
Leading a global organization like Advanta requires a specific skill set and understanding of the market to make the right business decisions at the right time. Bhupen believes that teamwork and collaboration are crucial to becoming a successful leader on the global stage. “Working together with your team, sharing ideas, and letting your team be a part of decision-making allows you to make better business decisions. The successful leader, while making decisions, always keeps the future and sustainable growth of the organization in focus,” he says.
As a leader and a professional, Bhupen encountered many challenges in his career, but to point out one particularly tough one, would be the challenge of being able to learn and evolve. “I’m a scientist with a technical mindset. I was good in science and academics. Early in my career, I started to wonder how I could make an impact and I realized that it’s important to have exposure to the commercial aspect of the business, and transitioning from a scientist to a business mindset was the biggest challenge for me. I decided to get out of my comfort zone and learn the new skill set that I was lacking. I was lucky to have a supportive boss who gave me the opportunity to improve my commercial skills hence quickly learning and becoming a commercial leader with a technical background. Overcoming the challenge of one mindset made me successful and where I am today in my career,” he states.
Seeking Continuous Growth for the Company and AgTech
Advanta keeps an open network and collaborates with various stakeholders to keep abreast with the latest developments, new technology, new trends, government policies, and regulations. They believe in open collaboration and innovation to secure a pathway for continuous growth.
“We see major challenges for agriculture in climate change. We hope to identify more opportunities to address the challenges with sustainable solutions. We believe in OpenAg® and challenging the world’s food systems – opening up new partnerships, new markets, and new technologies to transform agriculture and create sustainable growth for all,” concludes Bhupen.
Quote: “Our groundbreaking technologies ensure we deliver great results in all growing conditions.”
Quote: “We are raising the genetic potential of crops throughout their growth cycle with our patented technologies.”
Quote: “As we make agriculture climate-resilient, we directly impact the prosperity of our farmers.”
Quote: “Sustainable agriculture has a positive impact not only on our planet but also on the people, and prosperity for all.”
