East-West Seed in the Philippines (EWPH) marked the company’s 43rd founding anniversary with ‘Oktoberfest’, a month-long series of activities in October 2025 that not only honoured the legacy of founder Dr Simon N Groot, but also showcased the innovations that help transform lives of smallholder farmers through better seeds. The activities also highlighted employee well-being as an enabler for innovations to take place and allow better connection to East-West Seed’s roots through closer engagements with farmers and other partners.
Wellness Wednesday
EWPH kicked off Oktoberfest with employee wellness sessions that focused on mind wellness, injury prevention/recovery, and nutrition as preparation for the month-long activities.
Kusinalympics (‘Kitchenlympics’)
Held on October 7, the actual founding anniversary of EWS, the activity involved a friendly cook-off where employees prepared different dishes highlighting East-West Seed’s innovative growth products (such as pumpkin, tomato, eggplant, yard long bean, corn). EWPH invited selected farmers to participate and vote for their favourite dish to win as “Farmer’s Choice”. Winning teams were from Research and Development, Country Leadership Team, and Commercial departments. The Seed Production department’s dish was voted as “Farmer’s Choice”.
East-West Seed Philippines employees during the Kusinalympics at San Rafael, Bulacan.
Runniversary@43
To further promote wellness, foster camaraderie, and encourage better connection among employees and with farmers, EWPH held its first running activity called ‘Runniversary@43’ at the Hortaneva Research Center in San Juan, Batangas. Employees dedicated their runs for specific farmers, and employees who earned a podium finish also earned a prize for their partner farmers. Farmers also participated in crop and farming learning sessions conducted by EWPH crop experts, plant breeders, and agronomists.
East-West Seed Philippines employees during the Runniversary@43 held at East-West Seed Hortaneva Research Center in San Juan, Batangas.
Innovation Week
In line with East-West Seed’s global celebration of October as Innovation Month, EWPH held an ‘Innovation Week’ from October 21-27 with activities that highlighted how innovation drives excellence in the ‘Seed Operations’ function and transforms lives through better seeds. Employees learned about key Seed Operations functions through learning sessions on seed production, sales and operations planning, seed technology, among others. Learning was made even more fun and engaging with interactions with a farmer seed grower, participating and learning from panel discussions organised by East-West Seed Headquarters in Thailand, as well as a plant tour and hands-on activities on seed processing and coating, packaging, quality control, warehousing, and pollination. The activities allowed employees to reconnect with the core business – producing quality seeds.
East-West Seed Philippines employees engage with one of the parter farmer growers in Bulacan.
Grand Wellness Fair
To cap off the month-long celebration, the Grand Wellness Fair held on October 24 launched programs led by the Human Resources department to provide support and assistance, as well as recognition, to employees through the following: Mind Wellness Policy, Employee Assistance Program: LiftLine, and EWPH Sari-Sari Store recognition program. The wellness-themed event ran for a day with employees and their kids participating in fun activities and games.
East-West Seed Philippines during the Grand Wellness Fair at San Rafael, Bulacan.
