Welcoming Uri Barnea to the GBAL team as our MD of Seed Technology & Biotechnology
When you think of firsthand experience, there is no one in the seed business for indoor crops more qualified than Uri Barnea. For nearly twenty years he was a vegetable grower and date tree grower in the far southern part of Israel specializing in desert off-season products such as tomatoes, peppers, onions, watermelons, melons, and more.
In 1989, Uri started to work as a sales agent of vegetable seeds while studying with the faculty of agriculture at Hebrew University. Upon completion of his studies he joined Pioneer Hybrid International and worked on the team that established the company’s vegetable department and marketing network. For twenty-five years he worked in several vegetable seed companies including Sunseeds, Nunhems, and Bayer. He mainly worked in product & market development departments and on product marketing and positioning activities. Along with this expertise in product marketing he also grew a strong expertise in the seed business for indoor crops, in which he still specializes in today. While with these companies, he created links and bridges between breeders and growers through a combination of testing and selecting proper products all over the world. During this period of time, Uri created a network of connections all over the world from Brazil to Canada and from Spain to China.
Though currently enjoying semi-retired life with his family, he can’t seem to stay still and is helping a few seed businesses to grow.
“Joining GBAL will be a great opportunity for me to utilize my extensive experience in the vegetable seed industry,” Uri said. “It also affords me to be able to work with more experienced people from the agricultural business and contribute in creating solutions for the customers of GBAL. It will be my pleasure to share my skills and knowledge for the benefit of customers who are seeking marketing and product know-how solutions in the vegetable seed industry.”
“What a moment,” quipped Roger Tripathi, CEO & Founder of GBAL, who is also a past colleague of Uri. “With so much love for his craft and years of experience you couldn’t ask for a better expert to work with GBAL and lead the Seed Business Vertical, than Uri is.”