‘If growers can access reliable genetics, the industry accelerates’

INTERVIEW: Maximiliano Baranoff is Director of Innovation & New Businesses at Argentina-based IHS Grupo, where he leads strategic initiatives across seed development, varietal validation, industrial hemp value chain design, and market creation. He has worked on field trials, processing models, and early-stage industry structuring across Latin America, collaborating with research institutions, private investors, and government stakeholders. Baranoff’s work focuses on building scalable hemp systems from genetics and cultivation through processing, commercialization, and export development, with an emphasis on regional competitiveness, bioeconomy models, and sustainable industrial growth. He is based in Spain.

HempToday: Everyone says “seed is foundational.” What specifically is broken today in hemp seed systems?
Maximiliano Baranoff: The industry often treats seed as a commodity input, when in reality seed is strategic infrastructure. Without reliable genetics, every other part of the value chain becomes more expensive and less predictable.

Today we still face three structural problems: inconsistent genetics, limited regional adaptation data, and certification systems that were not designed for hemp’s current industrial uses.

Many growers are buying seed, but not always buying certainty. And certainty is what processors, investors, and regulators ultimately need.

HT: How far away is Argentina from having reliable, certified seed at a commercial scale?
MB: Argentina has the agronomic potential, scientific talent, and environmental diversity to become highly competitive in hemp seed production. What is needed now is execution: clear regulatory pathways, multiplication capacity, field validation, and demand signals from downstream industries.

We have already moved beyond pilots and comparative trials into early commercial plantings. The next phase is scaling consistency—reliable seed volumes, stable performance across regions, and certification systems aligned with market needs. Progress can accelerate significantly through practical partnerships rather than relying only on long-term breeding cycles.

A good example is the work we have been developing through the Polish Hemp Program, focused on local seed multiplication and varietal adaptation under Argentine conditions. This approach allows proven European genetics to be evaluated, multiplied, and integrated into local production systems now—creating immediate pathways for cultivation and industrial use while domestic breeding programs continue to mature.

That matters because value chains are not built from the top down. To strengthen seed systems upstream, first we must demonstrate real demand downstream—in food ingredients, fiber applications, animal nutrition, and other industrial markets. Once markets respond, genetics, certification, and investment tend to scale much faster.

HT: What have your field trials shown about varietal performance in Latin American conditions?
MB: The first lesson is that imported genetics do not automatically become successful local genetics. Latitude, photoperiod, rainfall patterns, soil types, and operational practices all influence performance.

Some varieties show excellent vegetative growth but poor flowering timing. Others generate biomass but inconsistent fiber quality. In grain production, maturity timing, standability, and harvest efficiency become decisive.

Our conclusion is simple: local validation is the bridge between promising genetics and bankable production.

HT: Is the industry underestimating the time it takes to stabilize genetics for fiber and grain?
MB: Yes, significantly. Markets often move faster than biology.

Robust breeding programs require multiple cycles of selection, environmental testing, trait consistency, and seed multiplication. For fiber and grain, you are breeding not only for agronomic performance, but for industrial performance.

Uniform stem characteristics, harvestability, grain retention, fiber behavior, and processing compatibility all matter. That takes time, discipline, and capital.

HT: Can Latin America realistically compete on seed, or will it remain dependent on Europe and China?
MB: Latin America can absolutely compete, but not by trying to replicate Europe or China. It must build its own strategic role.

The region offers counter-season multiplication advantages, diverse agro-climatic zones, competitive production costs, and growing technical capacity. That creates opportunities in seed increase, regional adaptation, and future export programs.

Europe and China will remain major global leaders, but Latin America can become a valuable complementary platform within a more diversified global hemp seed system.

HT: Are current certification systems fit for purpose, or do they need to be redesigned for hemp?
MB: Most systems need modernization. Many certification frameworks were created for conventional crops with mature breeding histories and simpler market structures. Hemp is different.

Today certification must address varietal identity, THC compliance, end-use segmentation, traceability, and rapid innovation cycles.

We need systems that preserve rigor while becoming faster, science-based, and more internationally harmonized.

HT: How do you balance breeding for yield vs. processing quality in fiber applications?
MB: Yield alone can be misleading. High biomass only matters if processors can efficiently convert it into valuable output.

The future is not maximum tonnage—it is usable tonnage. That means combining field productivity with fiber length, bast percentage, uniformity, moisture behavior, and compatibility with industrial equipment.

The strongest varieties will be those designed with both farmers and processors in mind.

HT: If you had to prioritize one breakthrough in the next 3–5 years, what would move the industry fastest?
MB: A globally trusted pipeline of certified, purpose-built seed.

If growers can access reliable genetics matched to fiber, grain, or food applications—with predictable compliance and performance—the entire industry accelerates. Farmers gain confidence, processors secure feedstock, financiers reduce risk, and governments see legitimacy.

Seed is where scale begins.