The Netherlands:
See and taste 100 tomato varieties in Bayer's Tomato Demo Greenhouse
“We are proud to have opened our Tomato Demo Greenhouse in this fantastic location," says Joachim Schneider, the CEO of Bayer CropScience Vegetable Seeds. "It's only been six years since we decided to breed tomatoes for the high-tech market, and we already have a significant share of the market. This is partly due to a number of highly successful varieties which we have recently put on the market, such as the delicious cherry tomato 'Competition*' and the vine tomato 'Foundation*’. Earlier we introduced the 'Intense' tomato. This tomato has a very innovative characteristic - after slicing, the flesh retains its juice, giving much more quality to products like salads and sandwiches.”
Joachim Schneider, CEO, held a short speech about the ambitious goals of Bayer CropScience Vegetable Seeds.
The foundation of the company's success lies in its extremely innovative breeding programs. The most important breeding and research station is located in the village of Nunhem, in the Dutch province of Limburg. "Our company has more than 95 years of experience in breeding fruit and vegetable varieties," says Schneider. "We have built the modern company on the foundation of this incredibly rich history. The fact that we have been able to introduce successful varieties within six years is a direct result of our approach, which we call 'integrated breeding,' in which all R&D disciplines support the breeder. Each year we invest more than 70 million Euro in R&D, and more than half of that takes place in the Netherlands. That makes us one of the leading companies in the Dutch knowledge economy."
In the demohouse, Coert Engels, breeder high-tech tomatoes, explains about tomato breeding during the tour.
"These days, customers demand a much broader range of products," says Michel Ten Hacken, the Global Head of Marketing & Sales at Bayer CropScience Vegetable Seeds. "And of course, our breeding programs are designed to take advantage of that. As such, this location in the Westland region is hugely important, because this region is the heart of the Dutch horticultural sector. Our customers can come here to see the varieties with their own eyes. But first and foremost, the Demo Greenhouse is a place where visitors can taste the tomatoes and convince themselves, why our products will be demanded by the consumer."
“Taste and fruit quality are the defining factors” says Ten Hacken. “But for our customers, aspects of technical cultivation are also very important. The varieties have to have good yields and they have to be able to grow well under different conditions. In the Tomato Demo Greenhouse, our customers can see all these aspects for themselves.”
For more information
Bayer
Mike Abram
Tel. 01223 226621
[email protected]
