New varieties of vegetables are being cultivated in SLO County

Whether it’s crunchy cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower or juicy tomatoes, there’s a chance that the seed used to grow these vegetables was produced on the Central Coast.

When Mark Overduin joined Bejo Seeds Inc. 23 years ago, there were three employees working out of a rented office above Klondike Pizza in Arroyo Grande.

“It always got kind of hard to concentrate on work when they started up the ovens,” Overduin joked.

The company has grown a lot since those early days and has experienced organic steady growth, he said. Although Overduin never envisioned the company would be where it is today, after about 10 years into the business, he knew it was on the way up.

“It really clicked that we could answer a lot of both agricultural concerns, such as yield and disease resistance, and consumer concerns, such as nutrition and flavor, through targeted breeding for traits that bring true value to both the growers and the end consumers,” he said. “And now as I look forward, I see that the growth potential for what we do is wide open.”

For more information
Bejo
T: +31 (0)226 - 39 61 62
F: +31 (0)226 - 39 35 04
www.bejo.com