What Lemaire Deffontaines does

Lemaire Deffontaines is a French family-owned seed breeder (S.A.S. à capitaux familiaux) founded in 1868 in Auchy-lez-Orchies, now in its seventh generation of family leadership under Thomas and Louis BLERVAQUE. The company breeds, produces, and commercializes certified seeds for straw cereals — wheat (winter and spring), barley (winter and spring), triticale, spelt, oats, and rye — as well as protein crops including protein peas, faba beans, and spring oilseed flax, with a dedicated line of varieties for anaerobic-digestion cover crops (CIVE). It operates two parallel product ranges, Conventional and Gamme Bio, the latter specifically selected for organic farming conditions, and its portfolio has produced registered varieties with yields of 108–115% of control benchmarks and three biscuit wheats recommended by the French millers' association (ANMF).

The core technical activity is multi-species plant breeding executed from two complementary agro-climatic research stations in Auchy-lez-Orchies (Nord) and Reclaimville (Beauce, acquired in 2025 as part of the LIDEA soft wheat program takeover). The long-cycle breeding programme — 10+ years from crossing to commercial launch — evaluates approximately 90,000 lines per year across roughly 25,000 trial plots, supported by a team of about 20 engineers and technicians and an R&D budget representing ~20% of turnover. The company also applies in vitro culture techniques to its spring barley programme (started 1993) and selects not only for yield but for hardiness, disease tolerance, climate-change adaptation, and nitrogen-use efficiency.

The business model is direct-to-farmer sale of certified seed, with revenue generated transactionally on negotiated per-order terms through a commercial team that includes regional development managers for Nord/Ouest France and a dedicated commercial developer for Central/Eastern Europe. Customers are European farmers and farming cooperatives across France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and Eastern Europe, reached via the company website and downloadable catalogs (PDF), trade-show presence (Les Culturales), and direct commercial outreach. Reported FY2024 revenue is approximately €10 million, and the company is privately held with no external institutional investors.

Name

Lemaire Deffontaines

Legal name

LEMAIRE DEFFONTAINES

Website

https://lemaire-deffontaines.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1868

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Lemaire Deffontaines is a 150-year-old French family-owned seed breeder that develops, produces, and sells certified conventional and organic varieties of straw cereals (wheat, barley, triticale, spelt, oats, rye) and protein crops (peas, faba beans, linseed) directly to European farmers and farming cooperatives.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Seeds

SIC

Wholesale-Farm Product Raw Materials (5150)

akta.pro primary industry

Plant Breeding & Variety Development (Conventional) (AFAGAIAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Seed Production & Multiplication (Contract Growing, Foundation/Certified Seed) (AFABAFAK), Seed Distribution & Wholesale (Channel Sales) (AFAGAIAM)

Keywords

• Cereal seed breeding
• Protein crop varieties
• Agricultural seed sales
• Plant variety creation
• Organic seed production

Headquarters

HQ city

Auchy-lès-orchies

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Certified seed sales: Production and commercialisation of certified seeds for straw cereals (wheat, barley, triticale, spelt, oats, rye) and protein peas (protein peas, faba beans, spring linseed). Revenue generated from the sale of seed lots to farmers and farming cooperatives in France and Europe.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Lemaire Deffontaines is a French family-owned plant breeder that creates, produces, and commercialises certified seeds of straw cereals (wheat, barley, triticale, spelt, oats, rye) and protein crops (peas, faba beans, spring linseed), including CIVE cover crops for anaerobic digestion, in both conventional and organic ranges. The company runs a long-cycle breeding programme from crossing to market launch (10+ years), evaluating roughly 90,000 breeding lines annually across approximately 25,000 trial plots at two research stations in the Nord and Beauce regions of France. Seeds are sold directly to farmers and farming cooperatives across France and Europe.

Product overview

Lemaire Deffontaines is a family-owned seed breeding company (S.A.S.) founded in 1868, specializing in the creation and selection of straw cereal and protein pea varieties. The company operates two product ranges: a Conventional range and an Organic Seeds (Gamme Bio) range, both comprising the same species categories. The Conventional range includes winter and spring wheat, winter and spring barley, triticale, spelt, oats, rye, protein peas, faba beans, oilseed flax, and CIVE (cover crops for anaerobic digestion). The Organic range mirrors these categories with varieties specifically selected for organic farming conditions. The product portfolio spans 10+ cereal species with numerous named varieties within each category, bred for yield, disease resistance, lodging tolerance, and end-use quality (bread-making, biscuit, malting, feed). The company also acquired LIDEA's soft wheat breeding program in 2025, expanding their research capabilities with stations in Auchy-lez-Orchies (Nord) and Reclaimville (Beauce). All products are distributed through downloadable catalogs and technical fact sheets rather than a digital platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Winter Wheat seed varieties (Conventional) Conventional winter wheat seed varieties (bread-making, biscuit, force) bred by Lemaire Deffontaines for professional arable farmers and farming cooperatives across French and European growing zones.
• Spring Wheat seed varieties (Conventional) Conventional spring wheat seed varieties bred for mid-early maturity, yield and baking quality, sold to farmers and cooperatives.
• Winter Barley seed varieties (Conventional) Conventional winter barley seed varieties (2-row and 6-row, feed and malting) for European arable farmers.
• Spring Barley seed varieties (Conventional) Conventional spring barley seed varieties for feed (ETOILE, EXTASE) and malting (FLORENCE) end-uses, sold across European growing zones.
• Triticale seed varieties (Conventional) Conventional triticale seed varieties bred for early maturity, high yield and disease resistance, used for feed, CIVE biogas, and grain markets.
• Spelt seed varieties (Conventional) Conventional spelt (Grand and Petit Épeautre/Engrain) seed varieties for human consumption and bread-making, including biodynamic-bred lines.
• Spring Oat seed varieties (Conventional) Conventional spring oat seed varieties (black, white, yellow) for milling/flake and feed markets, with varying maturity and disease resistance.
• Winter Rye seed varieties (Conventional) Conventional winter rye seed varieties (line and hybrid) including rustique hybrid GULDEN F1 for high biomass, tillering and protein content.
• Protein Pea seed varieties (Conventional) Conventional protein pea (pois protéagineux) seed varieties for animal feed and human consumption, selected for yield, protein content and lodging resistance.
• Spring Faba Bean seed variety — CAPRICE (Conventional) Conventional spring faba bean (féverole de printemps) seed variety for protein crop rotations and animal feed.
• Spring Oilseed Flax seed varieties (Conventional) Conventional spring oilseed flax (lin oléagineux de printemps) seed varieties bred for precocity, lodging and fusarium tolerance, and elevated alpha-linolenic acid content.
• CIVE cover crops for anaerobic digestion (Conventional) CIVE (Cultures Intermédiaires à Vocation Énergétique) seed varieties — rye and triticale selections marketed for high biomass production in anaerobic digestion / biogas applications, usable alone or in mixtures.
• Organic Winter Wheat seed varieties (Gamme Bio) Organic winter wheat seed varieties specifically bred for organic farming conditions, including LD CHAINE registered at 115% of controls for organic farming.
• Organic Triticale seed varieties (Gamme Bio) Organic triticale seed varieties for organic farming systems, including BIKINI, JOKARI and KITESURF.
• Organic Winter Barley seed varieties (Gamme Bio) Organic winter barley seed varieties for organic farming, including BASTILLE, CREATIVE and SEDUCTION.
• Organic Spring Barley seed varieties (Gamme Bio) Organic spring barley seed varieties for organic farming, including ETOILE, EXTASE and MILFORD.
• Organic Spelt seed varieties (Gamme Bio) Organic spelt seed varieties for organic farming, including biodynamic-bred ALKOR, CONVOITISE and SERENITE.
• Organic Spring Oat seed variety — DUFFY (Gamme Bio) Organic spring oat seed variety DUFFY, a white oat with high yield, disease behaviour and specific weight, targeted at the flake / milling outlet.
• Organic Protein Pea seed varieties (Gamme Bio) Organic protein pea seed varieties — some of the most productive and protein-rich spring peas in Europe — bred for nitrogen fixation and weed control in organic rotations.

Quantifiable outcome

• GALAXOR registered at 111% of control yields
• +4 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• LIDEAcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Lemaire Deffontaines acquired LIDEA's soft wheat breeding programme at the end of 2024/early 2025. The acquisition includes the genetic pool, lines nearing the end of breeding, and 2024 lines in registration process. Six engineers and technicians transferred under new employment contracts. The warehouse in Reclaimville (28, France) was purchased, housing offices, laboratories, seed sorting and preparation facilities, a processing room, and a maintenance workshop for experimental equipment. This acquisition significantly expands Lemaire Deffontaines' soft wheat research capacity.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Agri-Obtentions: INRAE-affiliated French breeder developing cereal and protein crop varieties, competing in the same species segments with a similar farmer/cooperative distribution model.
• RAGT Semences: Major French regional seed breeder with overlapping cereal and protein crop varieties and a similar multi-species breeding approach targeting European farmers and cooperatives.
• Florimond Desprez: French family-owned sugar beet and cereal breeder with comparable straw-cereal portfolio and similar family-ownership model; one of the most direct French comparables to Lemaire Deffontaines.
• SECOBRA Recherches: French cereal breeder focused on wheat and barley variety creation and commercialization, closely comparable in species mix and go-to-market through French farmer/cooperative channels.

Broad incumbents

• Saaten-Union: German-headquartered cooperative seed group distributing cereal varieties across Europe; a broader incumbent competing with Lemaire Deffontaines across multiple European countries.
• KWS: Global seed company with a strong European cereal breeding programme; competes across overlapping wheat, barley, and rye segments and dwarfs Lemaire Deffontaines in scale.
• Corteva (Pioneer): Global seed and crop protection major with Pioneer-brand cereal varieties across Europe; competes at the farmer end of the same value chain from a vastly larger resource base.
• DSV (Deutsche Saatveredelung): German seed breeder and distributor with strong European cereal and grass varieties, overlapping in species mix and European farmer customer base.
• Syngenta (Crop Protection & Seeds): Global agribusiness with a European cereal seed portfolio; an incumbent competitor whose scale, digital agronomy tools, and integrated chemistry/seed offering set a high competitive bar.

Regional players

• DLF Seeds: Danish-headquartered global leader in forage and turf seeds with growing European cereal activity; comparable in being a regionally anchored European seed breeder but with a different primary species mix.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/LEMAIREDEFFONTAINES
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lemaire-deffontaines

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lemaire Deffontaines