Apr 11, 2017

UPDATED — Benary+ Debuts at California Spring Trials

As 2017 California Spring Trials kicked off,  Ernst Benary of America announced plans to team up with the German breeding company Volmary to create a new company in North America called Benary+ to sell seed and vegetative products directly to growers.

The new venture will offer seed from Benary’s seed breeding and Benary+ will be the exclusive distributor of Volmary unrooted cuttings in North America shipping directly from their mother stock facility in Kenya. Seed will still be delivered from Benary’s facilities in Dekalb, Illinois.  

During Spring Trials, GPN had the opportunity to speak with Matthias Redlefsen and Matt Mart to learn more about Benary+.

Redlefsen is Benary’s managing director and Mart is Benary’s North American marketing and sales manager. Frank Hüdepohl and Mart will head up Benary+ out of Watsonville. Leandro Mano is the operations manager.

Redlefsen is very excited about the potential for the new business model. “Benary+ is an initiative to sell our own genetics directly to growers. It is a new alternative to the established distribution system. Every broker adds value in his very own way, so the grower can choose between these options. As a medium-sized breeder, we feel that we also have an individual value proposition that we want to offer to the grower. Possibilities, offerings and services that only work, if breeder and grower are directly connected. That is not in contradiction to what brokers offer, but an addition. It gives our industry new choices and that can only be a good development.”

“From the very start of when we planned and prepared Benary+, we knew this initiative would be a disruptive innovation,” Redlefsen stated. “No breeder had challenged the established system openly in decades. Announcing this shortly before the Spring Trials gave us the opportunity to talk in person with many of the key players in both fields:  brokers and growers. This was good.”

Mart said the initial response from brokers was encouraging. “Since this initiative is new, needless to say many of our current brokers were concerned and felt threatened.  But during most in-person conversations during CAST we could communicate that the new circumstances offer also new opportunities,” Mart said. “All brokers have indicated they are open to a continuous dialog and some even came forward right away with new business ideas.  That was great!”

Redlefsen said the response from growers was also positive. He said they “were excited about the news and recognize the value in a direct relationship with the breeder and Benary+.”

According to Mart, the new company will be able to offer more than 450 new vegetative varieties from the Volmary catalog to growers in North America. He said that due to the consolidation in recent years, growers have seen a significant reduction in professional choices, both in seed and vegetative offerings. “So, our new offering has been very good news for the growers. Offering over 450 new varieties in one year obviously is a tsunami of novelties and not everything will fit to everyone. But almost all growers that have visited us have decided to test our new product line. The fact that we are heavily breeding in these vegetative classes intensified the excitement. So, more product innovation can be expected in years to come.  Thus, more beauty — more choices — more smiles!”

When asked what he thought the new company’s biggest opportunity was, Mart said, “It lies in the unique values that Benary+ offers to growers: Seed and unrooted cuttings of top genetics, fresh from the breeder. No intermediaries. Direct lines of communication and fast execution. The biggest challenge will be to deal with potential emotions of traditional players, who struggle to embrace this new model as an opportunity.”

“Innovation can come in many forms,” Redlefsen stated. “In the past, our industry has very much focused on product innovation and neglected innovation of processes, networks and collaboration. Benary+ is so disruptive, because it is an innovation of the latter kind. Benary+ does not take away anything from anyone. All it does is offer more choices to growers. And that is good.”

You can learn more about the new company at www.benaryplus.com.