Granum Services LLC Information

Granum Services, LLC, was founded by me, Mike Pereira, on June 18, 2009. Taking calculated risks has been a successful part of my career. In early May, 2009, circumstances developed within HM.Clause, my employer at the time, which inspired me to form Granum Services. I have worked within seed production and quality assurance in the vegetable seed industry most of my professional career, spanning 30 years. It is a very intriguing business due to the complexities of delivering profitable growth by selling added value genetics delivered in a natural capsule called a seed. The genetics themselves are variable enough, more often than not designed for specific and increasingly demanding requirements. But beyond that, the seeds in which the genetics are packaged have to be skillfully grown so they are available with the right quality, quantity, and price at the right time. There are specific technical, business/logistics, process control and even cultural elements to this - and these can vary not only across the wide array of vegetable species, but also across varieties within a species. Producing seeds is a business within a business, linking the major genetic providers to seed production companies and seed growers throughout the world. But what has really intrigued me lately is the pace with which new added value genetics are being developed, with many of their refined horticultural characteristics having a direct impact on producing the seed for these genetics. Lower gel tomatoes, multiple mutant sweet corns, new and multiple disease resistances in a number of species, are just a few examples. At the same time, we are seeing significant changes in the seed production areas which are negatively impacting reliable seed production. These include labor migration, competitive crops, volatile commodity prices and exchange rates, rising input costs, capricious phytosanitary regulations, and climate change. Additionally, there has been a recent trend in expansion and consolidation of production companies. Those production companies now operating in multiple countries justify this expansion to be able to offer their clients more flexibility, but in so doing can often lose the close personal oversight they provided previously. Others with such a dominant presence in a particular area offer their clients a well established grower base, but might not then have the capacity for all the potential clients who wish to use the production area. Finally, we have the issue of GMO's and adventitious presence which needs to be prudently integrated into safe seed production schemes. Such a confluence of events and trends has never occurred in the seed production business before. If this was the technology business, people would be jumping up and down for the opportunities they would have to solve problems with new ideas. However, the seed production business is really a traditional one where change can be slow to come. Certainly there are good intentions and some initial signs of change, but there is a lot of work to be done to reliably produce and deliver better seeds in the current environment. To be a part of the solution in seed production of all crops is why I formed Granum Services, LLC.