The Pannar Group has recently changed the name of Pau Seeds Inc., the United States corn breeding company which it acquired in January this year, to Pannar Genetics Inc. and has also expanded the scope of its research activities to include sunflower and sorghum.

In another development Dr Dana Eaton (photo), until recently Research Director of NC+ Hybrids in Nebraska, has joined Pannar Genetics Inc. as Research Director and General Manager, bringing a wealth of research and management experience with him.

Dr Eaton holds a PhD in Plant Breeding from the University of Minnesota and has spent most of his working life in plant breeding. He worked for Oregon State University and CIMMYT in Mexico before entering the commercial world of plant breeding. He has extensive experience in wheat, corn and sorghum breeding and is extremely well equipped to head Pannar’s research activities in the United States, as well as contribute to Pannar’s global research activities.

Pannar Genetics Inc. (as Pau Seeds) has been involved in hybrid corn breeding and evaluation in the US Corn Belt for the past 14 years, but some of the corn breeding programmes that it acquired at inception date back much further.

“The acquisition of the company in January has considerably strengthened Pannar’s  corn research and breeding efforts in the US, with very  positive spin-offs for some of our other markets, and has also provided the necessary infrastructure for the expansion of Pannar’s existing sunflower and sorghum breeding and evaluation programs in the US,” says the Pannar Group’s Research Director, Ron Drögemöller (photo). “With Dana Eaton now leading our well-motivated and experienced team of breeders and support staff in the US, we expect Pannar Genetics Inc. to show consistent growth and to make an increasingly important contribution to our Group.”

Pannar Genetics Inc. operates from modern facilities in Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana and Nebraska. Its corn genetics, with the addition of existing Pannar genetics, now encompasses the maturities required in most of the US Corn Belt and Mexico, and parts of Europe, Africa and South America.

The South African owned Pannar Group was founded in South Africa in 1958 and has grown to become the largest seed group in Africa, covering a wide range of field crop and vegetable seeds. The Group owns seed companies in the USA, EU, Argentina and several African countries, and operates in many other countries through an extensive network of distributors and licensees. Its existing retail seed operation in the USA is Pannar Seed Inc., which commercialises its products in several US states under the Kaystar Seed brand.