The vegetable seed sector plays a crucial role in global food security and horticultural innovation, providing high-quality seeds that drive productivity, and nutritional diversity. Vegetable breeding focuses on a vast array of species, each requiring specialized breeding techniques to enhance traits such as flavour, shelf life, and disease resistance.
This dynamic sector is shaped by evolving consumer preferences, sustainability challenges, and strict regulatory frameworks. Understanding its complexities is essential to appreciating its impact on farmers, food systems, and the future of sustainable agriculture in Europe. For a better view of Europe's vegetable seed sector, Seed World Europe sat down with Martin van der Voort, Sales & Marketing Director at Bejo in The Netherlands to get his take on the specific intricacies of the vegetable seed sector in Europe and beyond.
Seed World Europe (SWE): Martin, what brought you to the world of seeds?
Martin van der Voort (MvdV): I grew up as the son of a glasshouse grower in the Netherlands and at the age of 23, fresh out of college, I had to make up my mind on what to do. My intention was to step into the family business, but first I wanted to gain some different experiences. A friend of mine advised me to approach seed companies since they offered jobs in which you could travel the whole world free of charge! Well, that sounded great at that age, and I got hired for my first assignment with Sluis & Groot in Enkhuizen. Soon, I got fully absorbed by the seed industry, couldn't let go for the following 43 years and never longed for the family business again! And the travelling? That never stopped and never bored me.
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