Since 1945, NOROO group had been making sustainable growth in fine chemicals area, and become a comprehensive chemical company based on its business philosophy of "For My homeland “ and “Blazing a new trail into the future ", the founding spirit of the group.

‘The KIBAN’ co. ltd is a newly established company, spurring on the leap forward to grow into a global leading company in seed industry. Founded in July 2015 under NOROO Group to engage the seed business and enrich the lives of its descendants by making a new path to the global seed market. The KIBAN is targeting to grow with farmers and make contribution to the development of global seed industry. .

The name 'THE' from the company KIBAN symbolizes 'unique and great' and 'KIBAN' means 'foundation' in Korean language.

Anseong R&D Park, the test plot will continue to expand toward the left ginseng field

Therefore, this is the center of researching and developing seeds to make sustainable growth to become a global vegetable specialty enterprise.

Anseong complex, which continues to expand the breeding research facility to around size of 171,900㎡(52,000 pyeong) site, the research engineers are concentrating on the research in the laboratory and the breeding experiment camp.

As in the chemical industry, the seed industry has a high entry barriers in the global market as well. In order to go overcome this barrier, ‘The KIBAN’ must constantly strive for global competitiveness through aggressive R & D investment.
 

‘The KIBAN’ House Breeders Testament

Sowing the seeds

Planting seeds in house facility

In this issue, we have interviewed Mr. Won Dong-chan Won, the leader of KRD headquarters, who is in charge of the core project of the research complex.
The interview is mainly about ‘The KIBAN’ R&D status and plans. 

​

Anseong-si Samjak-myeon has facility of KOC, KRD and potential research site​

​
Entry to the ‘The KIBAN’ Breeding Center

Mr. Won Dong-chan, the head of KRD headquarters, explains the Anseong research complex and R & D investment Plans

Mr. Won Dong-chan said, "The KIBAN Anseong Research Complex is composed of KOC, Seed Treatment Facility, Quality Inspection, Seed Storage area, KRD with Biotechnology Research,  Breeding Research Center and ‘ONE-STOP seed development system’ that links all tasks such as breeding, biotechnology, pathology, quality inspection, and quality control. "

“We have been able to substitute imported seeds from overseas and supply our new domestic seeds to farmers. We will help reducing the foreign currency outflow in Korea by producing high-quality substitutional seeds and continue to invest in the future. "
​

AI(Artificial intelligence) environment-friendly control system to observe the growth of various seeds.

Clean automatic mechanization system of the production facility

‘The KIBAN’ high quality ‘honey melon seeds’(product name : ‘Barenggul Melon’) are being released 

"The Anseong Biotechnology Center is ready to provide quantitative and qualitative technological growth through innovative research.
We make innovation for future seed industry and enhance competitiveness in order to capture all the basic technologies in the vegetable seed market."

Mr. Won also said, "The cutting-edge biotechnology research facility means establishing the basis for the development of new genetic resources, molecular breeding and marker analysis in order to enhance the importance of future food and the competitiveness of vegetable seeds.

"We will continue to invest on R & D that matches the global market from the beginning, and we will have a quality management system, advanced research system and competitive edge as a global company in agriculture in all aspects. 

In addition, he added, "We will concentrate our efforts on strengthening our competitiveness. We will also invest in food seed development with vegetable seeds to make agriculture a future growth engine."
More than anything else, the background that ‘The KIBAN’ was able to overcome trial and error and grow at high speed in the first three years is ‘Human Resources’.

‘The KIBAN’ also secured core research engineers in all over Korea, which made it possible to launch competitive varieties in overseas markets in a short period of time.

In addition to that, The KIBAN s​uccessfully secured core talent which is Mr. Choi kyu sul has been appointed as CEO of the company and based on his experience in agriculture for a long time, he played a key role in the preliminary analysis of domestic and overseas agronomic markets for the past 10 years. He successfully set the establishment of competitive core crops and target markets. 

Mr. Paik Hayng-gu, the chief research engineer of R&D center of breeding, is introducing more advantages of the new varieties of The KIBAN pepper 

Global seed market outlook, becoming more “The Winner-Take-All” system

Pepper seeds from The KIBAN are much more resistant to anthrax, TSWV plague, and other viruses. Almost all varieties & new product roadmap of seeds will be available starting from next year.

Recently, “The Winner-Take-All“tendency has been strengthened through mergers & acqusition among multinational corporations. “the FEAR” that only the first breed company can survive in the future is on the rise.

In addition, The KIBAN is focusing on meeting the needs of consumers through developing customized varieties that our customers desire, while expanding the introduction of innovative biotechnology to cope with the challenge of survival in the global market.

Seed development is a type of business that requires massive budget and efforts for a long period of time. In the long term, rather than the short term, we believe that government subsidy is required in order to boost up the industry. For instance, Korean government's second GSP project support could be an excellent example that at the end, Korean company enhanced tremendous competitiveness.

Mr. Won added "The government investment budget must be determined by ing competitive companies rather than just “Giving – away” multi-funded investments to any company.  Also the basic research should be carried out by universities and national research institutes, transferring technology to the private seed industry. As for domestic enterprises, it is very limited to make huge investment on new technology. Therefore, as a part of enhancing national domestic enterprises competitiveness, Government must lead companies and make the large investment."

Lee Tae-ho reporter, arrisr2@gmail.com