A seed expert who brought high-quality vegetable seeds to many countries, was awarded the

2019 World Food Prize. Simon Groot of the Netherlands is credited with introducing high-quality,
disease-resistant vegetable seeds to more than 60 countries including the Philippines, Thailand
and Indonesia.
Developing seeds has been the Groot family business for a long time. He is the sixth generation
of, what is called, a seedsman. He began his search to create better vegetable seeds to help
farmers in Southeast Asia in 1981. He was 47 then and his family’s company had just been taken
over by a larger corporation.
Sixteen years earlier, he had made his first trip to Indonesia. There, Groot learned that vegetable
seeds which were developed for the moderate climate of Europe, did poorly when planted in the
hot tropics. He thought there was a great possibility to introduce hybrid vegetables to the area.
The area lacked vegetable seed developers who were trying to create hybrids for the local
climate.
“It was neither charity nor business. It was a passion for good seeds,” said Groot. Now 85, he said
developing seeds has always concerned him, “I noticed the seed quality in that part of world was
so much below our standards and below achievable standards.” He added that he “could not
stand” that the farmers there did not have better seeds.
At the time, farmers in Southeast Asia usually saved seeds from season to season. That was
because the seeds available for sale were often old. Those seeds were usually from Europe or
North America and did not grow well in their tropical climate. This meant that the farmers ended
up with smaller crops, and lower quality that changed greatly from season to season. The plants
also could easily become infected with diseases.
Groot partnered with seed trader Benito Domingo of the Philippines. They put together a team of
seed researchers and growers from Wageningen University in the Netherlands and the University
of the Philippines. Within a few years, they developed a hybrid bitter gourd that sold successfully.
Then they adapted a tomato plant, followed by eggplants, pumpkins and leafy vegetables.
The early successes led to the start of the East-West Seed Company, which now has more than
970 improved seeds of 60 vegetable crops. Over the past 40 years, the discoveries have led to the
creation of a tropical vegetable seed industry aimed at small farmers. The tropical seeds are now
spreading into Asia, Africa and Latin America.
It is estimated that the company’s seeds are used by 20 million farmers each year in more than
60 countries, said Kenneth Quinn, the former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam. He has been the
president of the Des Moines, Iowa-based World Food Prize Foundation since 2000.
Of Groot, Quinn said, “he’s a truly remarkable individual with worthy accomplishments that
should be recognized.”
The award was announced during a ceremony at the U.S. Department of State hosted by
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “The remarkable improvements made in these tropical
vegetable seeds helped small farmers in developing nations produce more food and importantly
get more income for themselves and their families,” Pompeo said. He added that the seeds fight
hunger and help increase economic growth.