East-West Seed

When Simon Groot travelled to Southeast Asia in the 1980s, he noticed something others had overlooked: smallholder farmers struggling to make ends meet with poor-quality seed. He decided to change that. East-West Seed was founded on the belief that high-quality vegetable seeds should not only be available to large-scale agriculture, but especially to the millions of smallholder farmers who help feed the world. Headquartered in Enkhuizen, the Netherlands, with offices in fourteen countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the company develops tropical vegetable varieties that are resilient to heat, disease, and the effects of climate change. Seeds that make a difference—not only on people’s plates, but also to the livelihoods of farming families.