ADVANTA SEEDS : Bringing Profitability and Improvement to Farmers’ Lives by Delivering High Quality Seeds

Seeds and other agricultural inputs are in high demand. In particular, demand for good products and seeds. Advanta Seeds is a UPL Group company that helps farmers respond to fast rising food insecurity and climate change by providing them with new technology and innovation. The firm takes pride in decades of conventional plant breeding research and the use of cutting-edge technology to produce high-quality seeds.

Advanta Seeds, together with its global brands Alta and Pacific Seeds, has a presence in more than 80 countries. The company is a global leader in tropical and subtropical corn, as well as in forage and grain sorghum, sunflower, canola, rice, and vegetables in many countries.

The Global CEO of Advanta Seeds

Bhupen Dubey is the Global CEO of Advanta Seeds, and a successful leader. His vision is guided by a deep awareness of farmer needs and a commitment to long-term agricultural sustainability. Bhupen has over 30 years of expertise in agricultural, supply chain, and food production from Hoechst, Aventis, and Bayer, and has played a key role in the management and integration of UPL companies such as Advanta/UPL, Golden Seeds, and Unicorn. He has overseen key integrations that have resulted in long-term growth for the UPL business.

Bhupen is well-known in the industry and is a member of several professional organizations. He was a part of the World Economic Forum’s Transformational Leadership and Agricultural Development multi-stakeholder initiative. He is the Chairman of the Asia and Pacific Seed Association’s SIG and a member of the NVA Business Council for India and Asia. He has been a speaker and an expert panellist for many agricultural conferences, including the CABI Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture and the APAC Agri-Food Innovation Summit 2021.

Recognition for Excellence  

Advanta Seeds was named No. 5 in the world by the Access to Seeds Index 2019 for contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals by giving access to quality seeds and increasing the productivity of smallholder farmers. Advanta Seeds was placed at No. 2 for South and Southeast Asia in the latest Access to Seeds Index 2021, and at No. 4 for West Central Africa, and Southern and East Africa.

Advanta Seeds is dedicated to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (SDGs). The firm supports sustainable agriculture and is focused on providing high-quality seeds to help boost food production in the face of climate change and rapid population growth. Advanta’s sustainability is centred on smallholder farmers.

“Almost 80% of the food in Asia, Africa, and South America is grown by smallholder farmers. We understand their challenges and struggle with resources and lack of knowledge to be productive. Providing quality seeds and new technologies to smallholder farmers is our mission. We understand that the smallholder farmers need to increase their production to secure food for their families and provide for the communities,” shared Bhupen Dubey.

Advanta Seeds’ sustainable strategy prioritises responding to the needs of smallholder farmers and producing climate-smart and nourishing crops. Advanta Seeds realized that empowering smallholder farmers is a great long-term business strategy and a way to grow and build business resilience.

A View of the Current Market Landscape

Farmers, according to Bhupen, need to embrace greater processing power and precision farming since fertiliser and energy costs are skyrocketing. Instead of a broad application, more targeted and data-driven agricultural techniques with precise fertilizer and seed usage are required. According to Bhupen, precision agriculture is becoming more popular in many regions of the world, which should help farmers to lower their operating and production costs. Bhupen shared that the seed sector faces similar difficulties: “On one side, there is demand for high quality seeds, but on the other hand, the cost of seed production is increasing. To overcome this challenge, we have to focus on efficiency and enhanced productivity.”

What Makes Advanta Seeds Unique?

Advanta Seeds is one of the few international seed businesses that offer a diverse field crop and vegetables portfolio. Advanta 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 multicrop and multiproduct offering across several geographies. It allows the company to meet farmers’ needs and deliver good genetics in many crops. Crop rotation is important practice in farming and many growers require more than one crop to be productive. According to Bhupen, a solid business strategy allows the company to develop quickly in various regions, which is a benefit of this well-diversified and geographically spread portfolio.

Focus on technology and innovation

Advanta Seeds supplies highly varied germplasm and its proprietary technology in various crops. Advanta has a few unique technologies in high oleic sunflower, sub-tropical and tropical corn, forage, and grain sorghum. Driven by innovation, developing improved crops and new technologies are high priority.

Advanta’s Biotechnology Center in Texas undertakes long-term research and development to meet the requirements and aspirations of farmers. In October 2016, Advanta launched its molecular, breeding, and data science activities in College Station. Advanta Seeds’ research and development skills for sorghum, maize, vegetables, sunflower, canola, and rice are accelerated by this facility.

In 1988, Advanta Seeds through its brand Pacific Seeds developed the world’s first canola hybrid. Since then, it has been working with Australia’s and the world’s most experienced canola breeders to consistently deliver the highest canola yields, oils, and blackleg resistance, protecting farmers profitability across diverse seasonal conditions. 

Advanta’s unique technology in high oleic hybrid sunflower are popular around Europe and amongst health-conscious consumers who prefer to consume sustainable, non-GMO products. 

One of the most unique Advanta’s sorghum technology igrowth® revolutionized the farming. It is the world’s first commercial herbicide-tolerant technology for sorghum which allows to control weeds and take care of a costly problem for farmers. Now, with igrowth® the sorghum growers can achieve their crop production goals and reduce their environmental footprint. 

Advanta Seeds has been developing new sorghum technologies to enhance the natural abilities of the crop to perform well in drought and difficult environment. This climate-smart crop can greatly contribute to the food security future. 

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. 

Advanta Seeds produces high-performing seeds with good disease and stress resistance, high yield output, and the most required traits by collaborating closely with local farmers and international research institutes such as International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), HarvestPlus and the World Vegetable Center.

Advanta applies new technologies at every stage of seed production. For example, in Thailand the company acquired a brand-new corn seed sizer and treater. This investment allows to sort corn seeds into fourteen distinct shapes and sizes, allowing farmers to pick the best seeds for their fields and farming equipment. Uneven seeds are likely to impede or pass through the farmers’ planting machinery more than the intended seeds. This is a dilemma that many small farmers face across the world. 

Changing the Picture of the Food Sector 

Sustainable agriculture is the way forward. It starts with quality seeds and good farming practises to produce high-yielding crops. Advanta Seeds and UPL Group put effort to promote sustainable agriculture. “Our goal is to positively impact our planet, people, and prosperity for all,” shared Bhupen.

Some of the points covered at the recent COP 26 Summit focused on the influence of agriculture on GHG emissions. The three factors that are becoming a guiding concept for our innovation team are food and nutrition security, as well as climate change problems. Advanta Seeds invests in climate-smart crops such as sorghum and high-oleic sunflower, as well as innovative technologies including precision agriculture, drone technology, artificial intelligence, and data-driven farming. “The key to the future is innovation and the appropriate use of science and technology to meet the growing food demand,” stated Bhupen. 

Advanta Seeds, as part of UPL, one of the world’s largest agriculture enterprises, is a critical contributor to food production. We believe in open agriculture, in which farmers may benefit from collaboration and innovation to produce more food.  Bhupen concluded: “We need to develop faster and better technologies to keep up with the changing scenarios.”