Pioneering today

Rijk Zwaan is now active in many parts of the world. Yet we continue to pioneer in all those countries, now with new techniques and new ideas.

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A new breeding location in
the tropics

Brazil
Forty hectares of land in Brazil have been transformed in recent years into a modern, future-proof open-field breeding location. At this location, we can start developing new varieties for tropical areas this year. If you want to develop innovative varieties that do well in a tropical area, you must select varieties in that area that have a tolerance for fungi, bacteria, viruses and tropical rain showers.
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E-learning through social media

China
China has many small-scale vegetable growers. In order to properly support every grower, we found that there was a need for an e-learning platform. To increase the chance of success, we chose a different communication channel than usual at Rijk Zwaan. The normal e-learning website wouldn’t have reached enough growers. This is because the smaller growers in China often just have a smartphone and not a computer. We chose the social media channel WeChat. WeChat combines the functions of WhatsApp, TikTok and Facebook. As many as 1.2 billion Chinese people use it. Rijk Zwaan China posts two videos every week. There is also a live stream with Product Specialist Shujie Qi, better known as ‘Teacher Qi’ about sweet pepper and pepper cultivation. His live broadcast is called RijkyPepper, or Xiaorui Jujiao in Chinese. Hundreds of Chinese pepper and sweet pepper growers follow the broadcasts with great interest. Thanks to the success, there are now also broadcasts about cucumbers, tomatoes, spinach and celery. This is resulting in many satisfied customers, and everyone is a big fan of ‘Teacher Qi’!
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Hydroponic
seed production

Australia
Australia is a pioneering country in the field of hydroponic seed production. Innovation in lettuce production started five years ago. Australia’s soil is susceptible to root diseases. Much of the lettuce for the Australian fresh food market is therefore grown hydroponically. Would that also work for the production of lettuce seeds? We came up with the idea thanks to a successful hydroponic spinach seed production programme. More than eighty percent of spinach seed in Australia is produced using water. The yield of hydroponic lettuce seeds also proved to be excellent. It is a more sustainable and efficient form of production with no waste of water or nutrients. Australia has two large greenhouses at Musk, one built in 2018 and the other in 2020