We distribute three distinctive seed brands to market proprietary maize, wheat, sunflower and soybean genetics, as well as a full range of
exclusive forage- and pasture crop varieties.
Our controlling shareholder, the French company Limagrain through Vilmorin & Cie, is currently
the fourth, largest seed company in the world and truly understands the importance of genetics and the value of partnerships.
A French cooperative that previously operated in South Africa as Link Seed.
An agriculture investment group in South Africa that is part of PSG.
LGSA is now the exclusive channel to market the K2 brand (previously distributed by Klein Karoo Saad Bemarking) within the LGSA territory.
The leading seed company on the African continent.
LGSA manages which channels are utilised to market the Seed Co brand (previously distributed by Seed Co SA) within the LGSA territory.
We anticipate that this joint venture will constitute a significant player in South Africa, proposing a specific multi-crop approach and benefiting from critical mass in an already highly consolidated field seed market. We intend to ultimately service at least 10% of the hybrid maize market and 15% of the End Point Royalty (EPR) markets using our own genetics whilst maintaining a 20% market share in forage/pasture crops. We have around 250 staff spread across our sites to ensure we serve our customers, the vast majority of whom are farmers.
LGSA, as part of Limagrain Field Seeds, clearly understands the needs of farmers. Our controlling shareholder, Limagrain, is a French Cooperative. This position suggests that the group ultimately gets its direction from farmers and has intimate knowledge and understanding of what farmers truly need. In a sense, you could say the business is owned and directed by farmers for farmers. We, therefore, focus on the overall field and forage seed value chain to the benefit of our farmers.
Genetics is at the centre of the business and is the key to future sustainability for farmers. We are, therefore, heavily invested in local Research and Development (R&D). 15% of global turnover from seed sales within Limagrain is ploughed back into R&D. We focus on breeding to grow our own pool of genetics in maize, soybean, sunflower, and wheat as we develop our own intellectual property and protect it. For this, we have research stations in Potchefstroom and Bapsfontein.
However, to allow us to provide a complete and competitive multi-crop offering to the market, we do not only focus on our own genetics but continue to source, produce, process, and distribute a comprehensive portfolio of products that includes all agronomic and pasture seeds commonly used in the region.
Relationships with partners and suppliers are critical to the success of our business. We have long-standing relationships with suppliers of seeds, with crops which we do not breed ourselves. These relationships ensure that we can continue to provide a complete portfolio of products, and therefore CHOICE, to our clients. We cherish these relationships and intend to grow with our partners. We also have strong relationships with agricultural cooperatives and other distributors across South Africa, which is an essential aspect of our overall distribution network and ensures seed can be provided to our clients on time.
Ethics (including the quality of seed) is part of who we are. Therefore, we focus on the quality of seeds we supply and subscribe to Excellence Through Stewardship® (ETS), which suggests we clearly understand the value of genetics and what is acceptable or not. ETS is a global non-profit organisation that promotes the universal adoption of product stewardship programs and quality management systems for the full life cycle of agricultural technology products.
Limagrain is both an agricultural cooperative and international seed company, rooted in three core values: progress, perseverance, and cooperation. We create customer choice by embracing the brands’ (LG, K2 and Seed Co) individual benefits and positioning them strategically.
LGSA intends to carve out a niche as a supplier with a multi-crop offering to farmers while profoundly investing in R&D. We are therefore looking forward to improved genetics that we will have available as part of our offering to farmers, as this makes a significant difference on the farm.
