Growing Sustainably: An Inside Look at Benary’s BeGreen Technology

Benary developed BeGreen, the first chemical- and microplastics-free priming and seeding technology, to help build a healthy environment and a more sustainable future for the planet.

But the creation of BeGreen wasn’t driven by Benary’s business goals. “We call ourselves a green industry, but if you look into it, there are patches of the industry that aren’t green at all,” says Matthias Redlefsen, CEO of Benary. “As a German business, we have a special inclination for environmental concerns because we have so many people living on such a tiny territory.”

A Brief History of BeGreen

BeGreen began with a gap Michael Schorsch noticed in the horticulture industry. In the food sector, organic labels are a major draw for consumers. In ornamentals, they aren’t. When Schorsch joined Benary as Plant Tech Manager in 2019, he wanted to change that, and he saw a chance to lead on sustainability. “I thought it would be good to be one of the first movers in our niche of the industry,” he says.

The first BeGreen project was swapping existing pelleting formulas for microplastics-free alternatives. The next step was developing priming and dormancy breaking processes that work without chemicals or microplastics. Schorsch compares the effort to a pipeline, and the team behind it is small. “It’s basically four of us researchers,” he says.

When Benary looked hard at what “green” really means in seed breeding, it found two broad paths: change the plant’s genetics, or change the seed itself. BeGreen takes the second.

Seed Breeding vs. Seed Technology

Seed breeding rearranges DNA to produce a plant with desirable traits. Seed technology alters the seed itself so the young plant has certain attributes. The two work best together, and seed technology often picks up where breeding stalls.

“Sometimes you hit a wall in seed breeding and you can’t continue the process,” Redlefsen says. “Seed technology helps you clean things out.”

With seed technology, Benary can sort seeds by weight, shape, and color, then apply treatments like priming and pelleting to separate the vigorous seeds from weak ones.

“Seeds have a mechanism that prevents them from germinating in unfavorable conditions that’s called dormancy,” Schorsch says. “They often have a biochemical barrier that prevents them from germinating in the middle of winter, even if you have a very warm day in January.”

Breaking through that barrier takes treatment, and treatment takes materials. That’s where BeGreen’s mission gets tested: doing it without chemicals or microplastics.

Choosing Sustainable Materials

Coatings and pelletings do more than encase the seed. They can also carry bioadditives and chemicals that act against pathogens. Controlling pathogens is crucial, but it’s hard to do without chemicals.

That’s why BeGreen avoids materials that linger in the environment. “We use biodegradable and naturally derived materials or technologies that use physical treatments,” Schorsch says. “They’re not fully invasive, but they have the potential to be as powerful as chemical treatments.”

The goal is a treatment that works as hard as a chemical one without lingering in the environment.

Zero Performance Trade-Offs

Growers may wonder if there are any performance trade-offs in switching to sustainable materials. Benary says there aren’t. Most of its customers are professional greenhouse growers who are only interested in germination rates above 90%, and every new material is tested against that bar for a year or longer.

“That’s our benchmark,” Schorsch says. “If it does not get through that benchmark, it will not be released. There are no compromises because the competition in our industry is so strong.”

The results show up in the greenhouse. Seedlings in an untreated seed lot can take five to seven days to break through the soil. With a primed lot, it can take as few as three.

Where Seed Technology Is Headed

Breeding companies once had to work with what they had. Now, seed technology is a daily part of the process, especially for perennials. “There are a vast variety of species, so breeding would be nothing without the seed technology part because breeding only gets you so far,” Redlefsen says. Physical treatments point to what comes next.

Seed technology adds value in two key areas:

• Germination: Seeds sprout faster and more uniformly, yielding more plants per square foot. “BeGreen makes plants easier for growers to grow,” Redlefsen says.
• Sustainability: Higher germination means higher efficiency—less waste in the greenhouse, less lost energy, and less lost work.

That’s the solution to the problem Redlefsen raised at the start. Benary’s response isn’t a marketing claim. It’s a change to the seed itself, one that delivers faster germination without chemicals or microplastics, and without dipping below the 90% rate that growers expect. As Redlefsen puts it, “Efficiency is the best way to be sustainable.”

For Benary, that’s not a tagline. It’s the whole point of BeGreen.