Kenneth Alness

CEO Kenneth Alness has worked with research and innovation in agriculture and forestry. His career began at SLU’s former Departments of Plant and Forest Protection and Agricultural Engineering, where he contributed to several technical innovations that enabled a reduction in the use of pesticides in crop cultivation. He is also behind the award-winning ThermoSeed method used to remove seed-borne pathogens without chemicals. The method is a form of pasteurisation that uses hot steam to remove seed-borne pathogens, leaving crops free from disease thus improving their growing power, and in 2017 it was selected as one of the three best innovations that were developed at SLU during its first 40 years as a university.

Since leaving SLU in 1996, Kenneth Alness has held leading positions at organisations such as the Lantmännen agricultural cooperative, Incotec Sweden, ThermoSeed Global, and his own company Acanova AB. In addition, been a board member in a number of development companies and research organisations, including SLU Holding AB, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (Mistra) and Svalöf Weibull. In 2008, he was elected fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and was awarded their Large Gold Medal in 2023.

All of the companies in which Kenneth Alness is active have ties to sustainability issues; cultivating hemp as a food product and construction material, techniques for growing sprouts, shoots and microplants, growth-stimulating substances in plant cultivation and water treatment.

Press photo

Portrait of Kenneth Alness
Photo: Private