Our history

The story began for the Vilmorin family at number 4, Quai de la Mégisserie, Paris, where there was a small seed and plant store called “Au Coq de la Bonne Foy”, belonging to Claude Geoffroy, master seedswoman and wife of Pierre d’Andrieux, botanist to King Louis XV. In 1774, the couple’s daughter, Adélaïde, married Philippe Victoire de Vilmorin, a passionate botanist and plant grower.

Pierre d’Andrieux was to compile the very first catalog of vegetable seeds, which he called the Catalogue de Toutes Sortes de Graines (Catalog of all Types of Seed). One of the oldest surviving copies dates back to 1766, over 250 years ago!

Philippe André de Vilmorin, who was also a keen botanist, introduced many tree species to France and founded the Domaine des Barres, now the French State Forestry School.

In Tokyo, Japan, Asagoro Koshibe founded the Maruasa Koshibe Asagoro Shoten Seed Company. A few years later, the company began exporting its products, which included vegetable, rice and flower seeds. Today, Vilmorin and Asagoro Koshibe are two of the world’s oldest seed companies.

Did you know? In the mid-19th century, Vilmorin commissioned a series of watercolors that faithfully depicted flowers and vegetables. These works of art helped customers to accurately visualize the results they could expect from their little packets of  seeds.

Louis de Vilmorin, the 3rd to bear the Vilmorin name, undertook the very first research of this kind, in this case focusing on improving beet, particularly in terms of sugar content. In 1856, Louis de Vilmorin presented the results of his studies to the Académie des Sciences: “Note sur la création d'une nouvelle race de betterave (Note on the creation of a new breed of beet)”, which has since become famous in the history of seed breeding. In it, he set out for the first time the principle of plant breeding, which was then to be taken up and developed by his successors.

The Vilmorin family gained worldwide renown. Their often award-winning expertise was recognized in numerous public presentations, both in France and abroad. In 1889 and 1900, the company took part in two World’s Fairs, events of unimaginable splendor in terms of the plants on show and the sumptuous decor. 

In 1903, Vilmorin and Koshibe, the two founding families, were to meet in Tokyo for the first time, the two great houses brought together by seeds. And that was the start of a long, shared story.

After the Japanese state nationalized the seed market during World War II, Heihachiro Koshibe created Mikado Seed Growers INC.

Market launch of Fournaise, the world’s first hybrid tomato.

Always with the aim of better serving its customers, the company began to expand worldwide, so as to be even closer to its markets:
- 1966 : Spain
- 1983 : USA 
- 1987 : Italy
- 1993 : China
- 1998 : Mexico
- 2006 : Brazil
- 2007 : Turkey
- 2008 : Morocco
- 2012 : Russia
- 2016 : Korea

René Hodée bought Vilmorin and moved the company from the Paris suburbs to La Ménitré, near Angers, the plant capital of France.

Vilmorin joined the Limagrain agricultural cooperative in 1975, marking the start of their vegetable adventure. Driven by its farmers’ vision, Limagrain became the world leader in vegetable seeds.

Launch of the Oxinel green bean which quickly became a market leader.

First carrot resistant to Alternaria (leaf blight). A global benchmark still sold today.

The world’s first high-performance hybrid chicory, delivering high productivity alongside high-quality commercial presentation. A benchmark for the species, still available today.

The Vilmorin and Mikado Seed Growers teams began to develop joint projects in all areas, and in particular strengthening their collaborative research into hybrid carrot varieties. Carrot seed production in Japan had begun!

Japanese companies Mikado Seed Growers and Kyowa Seed merged to create Mikado Kyowa Seed, based in Toke, Japan. Mikado Kyowa Seed joined the Limagrain cooperative shortly thereafter.

In 2016, Vilmorin and Mikado Kyowa Seed joined forces to become Vilmorin-Mikado, a unique Franco-Japanese seed company, specializing in the production of tree seeds and the creation, production and sale of high value-added vegetable seeds for professionals.

In 2023, we celebrated the 280th anniversary of the Vilmorin brand. 280 years of traveling the world the world to discover the incredible diversity of plants. Today, from France to Japan, China and the United States, Vilmorin seeds are sold in over 100 countries across all 5 continents.

To be continued...