Fresno-based S&W Seed Company today announced the company has signed a new license agreement for production and marketing of two sunflower varieties for Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan with a seed company with significant distribution throughout the region.

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The licensee has commenced commercial scale seed production activity in the Ukraine, and S&W’s sunflower hybrids will be introduced into the market place for the 2017 production season.

Russia and the Ukraine are the two largest sunflower markets, representing nearly 60 percent of the global sunflower production.  This agreement highlights the first commercial activity that S&W’s recent acquisition of SV Genetics (SVG) has had in these lucrative markets.

SVG has licensing agreements with different partners to provide its grain sorghum, forage sorghum and sunflower genetics throughout the world, including Australia, parts of South America, Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, Pakistan and South Africa.

“We are extremely pleased with the addition of this new licensee to the portfolio of seed companies that are working to expand the production and distribution of our newly acquired sunflower seed varieties across the world,” said Mark Grewal, president and chief executive officer of S&W Seed.

“The Ukraine and Russia are the two largest sunflower markets in the world, and this licensee chose to move forward with our varieties due to the diversity and strength of these two varieties, and also the SV Genetics breeding program as a whole.,” Grewal added. “We look forward to working with this new seed company on a go forward basis to expand our sunflower operations, and potentially our alfalfa operations as well.”