Welcome
Dear Reader
The first half of 2026 was characterised by wars, tariffs and geopolitical tensions, high fertiliser and machinery costs, and low cereal prices. All this affects our markets and, consequently, our day-to-day business. When uncertainty becomes a permanent condition, negative expectations about the future quickly take hold – and these have a greater impact than we often care to admit: they shape decisions, hold back investment and alter our perspective on what is possible.
Therefore, the question is always the same: do we let ourselves be dragged down by this – or do we manage to consciously see the positive aspects and actively shape them? After all, confidence is not naivety. It is an attitude that opens up scope for action.
And there are good reasons to look ahead. Technological development is not an end in itself – it becomes valuable where it provides concrete help to farms: when timeframes become tighter, when extreme weather events increase, when fields and farms grow, when there is a shortage of labour, and when decisions have to be made more quickly and precisely. This is exactly where new opportunities arise.
There also are political and regulatory developments: the new EU regulation on NGT plants opens up new prospects in plant breeding – with the potential to make varieties more robust, efficient and adaptable. This will not stop the climate change, but it can help us cope better with its consequences: more stable yields, greater resilience to stressful conditions, and new options for crop rotations and cultivation systems.
With this issue, we would like to invite you to delve into precisely this world.
I hope you find this issue a stimulating read, and, above all, I wish you a bountiful, accident-free harvest!
Cordially
Cornelia Horsch