Ingredion waxy tapioca experts from around the world gathered for the first time to exchange best practices in the drive to accelerate the growth of this key raw material to meet increasing customer demand.

According to Cathrin Kurz, Ingredion's director of global tapioca business development and strategy, waxy tapioca is a new-to-the-world hybrid that offers new functionalities and opportunities for innovation. The Company has been actively developing this hybrid since 2012 and is the only company growing this new raw material in two regions, namely Thailand and Colombia.

The group, which included agricultural and manufacturing, agri-procurement, business development, plant breeding and innovation experts, began by visiting waxy tapioca fields. Representatives from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), with whom the Company has collaborated to further develop and grow the waxy tapioca hybrid, joined employees on the visit.

After these first-hand experiences and constructive exchanges in the field, the three-day workshop involved in-depth discussions on plant breeding, seed handling, harvesting practices, forecasting accuracy and ways to advance Ingredion's goal to achieve 100% sustainably sourced waxy tapioca by 2025.

"No other company has been as successful in growing waxy tapioca as Ingredion. But it takes time to develop a new hybrid, and there are more ideas and demand out there in the different regions than there is global supply available today," said Kurz. "This is a complex and a multi-year endeavor, but we are committed to growing waxy tapioca as an organization and are actively working on improving supply," she said.