Agreement Worth EUR 44 Million on Research of New Non-GMO Seed Varieties Signed

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Euralis Group have signed an agreement on a loan worth EUR 44 million. These funds will be put into research, development and innovations (RDI) of the Lidea company (owned by Euralis), related to the creation, registration, production and marketing of new varies of non-GMO seed varieties for agricultural use, the European Commission announced.

According to the press release, every year, Lidea invests more than EUR 34 million in research and development to provide a broad and stand-out range of high value-added solutions for conventional and organic farms. Lidea offers a wide variety of corn, sunflower, straw cereal, rapeseed, soybean, sorghum, dried vegetable, feed and plant cover seeds. To date, 6 million hectares of land in 48 countries has been seeded with Lidea products.

The various programs will be rolled out in Euralis’ research facilities and innovative sites in France, Germany, Romania, Spain and Poland.

– This agreement between the EIB and the Euralis agricultural cooperative group will unlock additional investments for the research and development of new non-GMO seed varieties. This will allow farmers in France and across Europe to improve the climate resilience and competitiveness of their crops and therefore also boost their revenues – European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni said.

R&D ensures an ever-increasing flow of genetic and varietal innovations to meet the needs of farmers and markets, while taking into account the environmental dimension, said Euralis Group General Director Philippe Saux, whereas EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle said that Europe’s capacity for research in agricultural biotechnology was of strategic importance.

European Investment Bank

Euralis Group

Lidea

European Commission

Paolo Gentiloni

Ambroise Fayolle

GMO

research

seed varieties