CropDesign is an agricultural biotech company delivering agronomic traits for the global commercial seed markets. The company's trait discovery and development program focuses on enhancing grain yield in corn and rice. Corn is the world's leading crop in terms of seed market value and yield enhancement is the most important value driver for both growers and seed companies. The rice seed market is today less developed but is expected to represent a substantial growth opportunity for the years to come.

The company's trait discovery program is powered by the TraitMill™ platform, a unique platform for applied genomics. Trough TraitMill™, the company has discovered a range of proprietary leads for yield-enhancement, drought tolerance and improved nutrient use efficiency, and is further testing and developing those leads in rice and corn with the aim to launch commercial products in these crops. The company also applies its technology in other business areas, including molecular farming.

CropDesign was founded in 1998 as a spin-off from VIB, the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, and was financially backed until 2006 by a consortium of venture capital funds led by GIMV.
In 2006, CropDesign was acquired by BASF Plant Science and is since then integrated in the international research network of BASF Plant Science. CropDesign currently employs about 70 people at its facilities in Gent, Belgium.