25 November 2004: With Australian based seed technology innovator and major seed company Pacific Seeds being a part of the global Advanta sale process in March 2004 there has been speculation within the industry over what this will mean for the company.

Pacific Seeds Managing Director, Chris Bazley was invited to the first sitting of the new Advanta board at their Dutch headquarters in Kapella to find out what the future holds and to present how the Pacific Seeds, now a key part of Advanta's global business, operates.

"I went there predominately to meet the Fox Paine management and attend the first management board meeting of the new Advanta," Mr Bazley said.

"By attending the first meeting it gave me the chance to get a first hand insight into their operation, and discuss the direction of Advanta globally."

He said that as Fox Paine is an investment company it will focus strongly on the financial returns and setup of Advanta companies.
"But I don't know of any successful company which doesn't," he said.
"Globally there will be some changes in other parts of Advanta, with acquisitions occurring in parts of the world showing signs of, and potential for growth."

"In line with this, in parts of the world where the nature of the agricultural sector is changing and cropping is in decline there will be liquidations. An example of this is where government subsidies have been keeping the cropping sector viable in some countries, many of these subsidies are being removed and hence the best thing to do is to get out of the business in this area."

With the redistribution of Advanta's North American businesses, and it now belonging to Monsanto in Canada and Monsanto in the USA, Pacific Seeds is now a core part of Advanta and as a strong performer is in no danger of liquidation.

"During a 40 minute presentation to the board, I demonstrated that at Pacific Seeds we have a strong, profitable business which gives good returns."

"I also stressed that our fortunes are directly tied to the weather and to farmer's fortunes."

"Every chance we get to reinforce the unique and sometimes difficult environment we operate in, in Australia, is good for Pacific Seeds."

On face value, some may have concerns regarding access to germplasm previously associated with the companies in Canada and the USA; however Mr Bazley said plans have been made under the sales process to retain access, and more opportunities are now open to access other sources. This mostly affects corn, as Pacific Seeds canola business has been self functioning in breeding and collecting germplasm for sometime.

"This actually opens up more opportunities for us, particularly for canola as Australian germplasm works well in Canadian environments, but the reverse is not true, Canadian germplasm doesn't work well in our environment," he said.

"That's why our canola breeding operation has been self functioning for sometime now and why we have invested in the infrastructure and expertise to make this the case."

This also strengthens many of Pacific Seeds' opportunities in these two key export markets and Mr Bazley said plans are already in place to make the most of this.