vegetable breeding

the power of
vegetable breeding
Contents
The power of our company
A strong, healthy family company
History, present and future A real multilocal company
Realistic sustainable entrepreneurship
Our strategic vegetable varieties and their success
Successful varieties and concepts Our vegetable varieties worldwide
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The JOURNEY of the seed
The start of a successful variety Creative and innovative breeding
Production of our seed Upgrading our seed
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The power of our company
Committed, enthusiastic employees 30
The power of independence
A family company’s vision of the future
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the power of our company
Board of Directors: Hein Bemelmans, Joep Lambalk, Vincent van Bentum, Luuk van der Pal en Jaap Mazereeuw.
A strong, healthy family company
Enza Zaden is a Dutch breeding company that develops innovative vegetable varieties in a sound manner. We
grow and sell the seeds of those varieties worldwide. Our breeding efforts focus on more than twenty vegetable
varieties, the most important of which are tomato, sweet pepper, lettuce, cucumber, onion and melon. Our
vegetables are bought and consumed all over the world. And they are greatly appreciated by growers, traders and
consumers alike.
We are an independent family company. As an independent company we focus on continuity in the long term
and healthy growth. Those two factors are essential for enabling us to focus on our greatest strengths: developing
and supplying high-quality vegetable varieties and seeds. Many years of experience and of investments in people,
breeding and innovation have laid the basis for a strong, healthy company.
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Three generations Mazereeuw: Piet en Jaap with on the background a painting of the
founder of Enza Zaden, Jacob Mazereeuw.
the power of our company
History, present and future
An entrepreneurial spirit and innovation have been the driving forces behind Enza Zaden’s rich history. So
much is already evident from the strong determination with which Jacob Mazereeuw established De Enkhuizer
Zaadwinkel (‘The Seed Shop of [the Dutch town of] Enkhuizen’) back in 1938, and from the great success he
achieved in selling his products. It is also evident from the smart move his son Piet made in 1959. In that year
Piet decided to expand the company’s activities to include the breeding of vegetable varieties in order to obtain
products that would better meet the requirements of growers and the market. In 2011 Jacob’s grandson Jaap
became the third member of the Mazereeuw family in line to join Enza Zaden’s management team and assume
responsibility for the company’s management.
Expansion
The breeding activities gave Enza Zaden a strong new impetus. The company steadily expanded its range
of crops and varieties. And also the number of branches outside the Netherlands: many research stations,
commercial branches and production stations have been established over the years, and we intend to continue
to expand in the future.
Growth and innovation
Today, in 2013, Enza Zaden is an international company that is active in more than twenty countries. A company
with many years of experience and expertise in the field of traditional breeding. And in the field of innovation: we
support our breeders with highly advanced technology. This way we speed up the breeding process, enabling
us to quickly respond to changing market needs and demands. Our enthusiastic employees help us achieve our
aims with great passion and commitment. Employees of more than forty nationalities work closely together all
over the world in developing healthy vegetable varieties.
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the power of our company
A real multilocal company
Enza Zaden is an international company, or rather, as we like to put it ourselves, a multilocal company. With
breeding stations, production stations and commercial branches in all parts of the world. We work with local
people who know all the ins and outs of our sector and their local market. And with breeders who know precisely
what varieties are needed to meet the market demands. Geared to local needs and cultivation conditions.
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Enza Zaden Research Stations
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Enza Zaden Commercial Subsidiaries
1 The Netherlands - Enkhuizen
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2 France - Allonnes, Saumur
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3 France - Chateaurenard, Provence
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4 Spain - Santa Maria del Aguila, Almería
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5 Spain - Albujon, Murcia
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6 Italy - Tarquinia, Lazio
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7 Italy - Acate, Sicily
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8 Turkey - Antalya
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9 Germany - Dannstadt
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USA - San Juan Bautista, California
USA - Brandenton, Florida
Mexico - Culiacán, Sinaloa
Australia - Narromine, NSW
New Zealand - Pukekohe, North Island
China - Beijing
China - Guangdong
India - Pune
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The Netherlands - Enkhuizen (Enza Zaden Benelux)
The Netherlands - Enkhuizen (Enza Zaden Export)
The Netherlands - Voorst (Vitalis)
United Kingdom - Evesham
France - Allonnes, Saumur
Spain - Santa Maria del Aguila, Almería
Morocco - Agadir
Italy - Tarquinia, Lazio
Germany - Dannstadt
Poland - Warsaw
Bulgaria - Plovdiv
USA - Salinas, California
China - Beijing
China - Hong Kong
Mexico - Los Mochis
Brazil - Holambra
India - Pune
Russia - Moscow
Seed Production Stations
36 Tanzania - Arusha
37 South Africa - Oudtshoorn
38 Argentina - Mendoza
R&D and Commercial
Joint Ventures
39 Indonesia - Purwakarta
(East West Seed Indonesia)
40 The Netherlands - Wageningen (KeyGene)
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South Africa - Stellenbosch (Westcape)
the power of our company
Realistic sustainable entrepreneurship
Realistic sustainable entrepreneurship is our goal. We believe that a company cannot really succeed unless it
is in full harmony with its environment. As an international vegetable-breeding company we have nature in our
genes. And that’s why we want to do everything we can to make a positive contribution towards our changing
living environment, healthy food and healthy food production for the rapidly expanding global population.
Organic seeds: Vitalis
The popularity of organic vegetables has grown tremendously worldwide over the past decade. That has led to an
increasing demand for strong, organically grown varieties of top quality. Our subsidiary Vitalis Organic Seeds is a
100% organic vegetable-breeding company focusing on professional organic growers.
Vitalis supplies a wide range of organic vegetable seeds of distinctive quality all over the world. The organically
certified seeds are all grown and processed under strict organic conditions. They consequently meet the specific
demands and requirements of both organic consumers and organic growers. And all the relevant legislation in
Europe and America.
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the power of our company
Our strategic vegetable varieties and their success
Enza Zaden’s global breeding efforts focus on more than twenty vegetable varieties. Tomato, sweet pepper,
cucumber, lettuce, onion and melon are our strategic ones. We enter into a dialogue with and closely listen to
the market. We follow global trends to obtain information that we translate into innovative vegetable varieties and
high-quality seeds. It is this expertise and our many years’ experience that enable us to offer the market precisely
the varieties it wants at precisely the right time. So that the entire chain can maximally benefit from our efforts.
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the power of our company
Successful varieties and concepts
Creativity and passion have led to many successes. From Bremia resistence in lettuce to the introduction of the
beef tomato in the Netherlands. And of course the top variety Extase, the first major leader in the Dutch tomato
market. Or Campari, the tomato variety which allowed us to bring the taste tomato back on the market.
We always respond to current key trends such as convenience, taste and snacking. This approach has resulted in
our lettuce varieties under the brand Eazyleaf®, the award-winning taste tomato variety marketed under the brand
name TomAzur®, and Tribelli®, our brand for sweet-tasting mini pepper varieties.
Campari
The first truss tomato variety with a delicious sweet taste. This tomato variety is available under the brand name
Tasty Tom in the Netherlands and as Campari in the USA.
Sunstream
The first snack tomato, both for loose harvesting as well as truss harvesting.
Pink tomato
Specific markets have specific requirements. The Asian market, for example, has a specific demand for pink
tomatoes. Innovative technology has enabled us to develop such a pink tomato variety.
TomAzur®
TomAzur® is a concept that was developed in response to the demand from the chain for taste tomatoes.
Awarded in a Spanish national league, the tomato under our brand TomAzur® was voted ‘Best tomato of the year‘.
Tomato varieties under the brand TomAzur® excel in flavour, colour (deep red) and presentation. Throughout the
year. TomAzur® provides a high quality, reliable product for the entire chain.
Toploader & Topkick
The first high-quality cucumber varieties suitable for high-wire cultivation.
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the power of our company
Successful varieties and concepts
Eazyleaf®
Our Eazyleaf® brand covers lettuce varieties that are very easy to cut and prepare. The heads of the lettuce
need to be cut only once and will then fall apart into individual small leaves of a uniform size. Easy for growers
to harvest, easy for the processing industry to process and pack, and easy for consumers to use. Lettuce
varieties under the brand Eazyleaf® are specially selected for their excellent shelf life. One feature that is
emphasized by the small cutting surface.
Hydroponic
One of the latest developments: cultivation on water. Our company is closely involved in the development of
varieties that are suitable for this innovative, environmentally friendly form of cultivation.
KleintjeSla®
Under the brand name of KleintjeSla® we have romaine lettuce varieties available that are well-filled, sweet
tasting, year-round available and that have a long shelf life. These ‘full flavoured lettuce’ varieties positively
catches the eye in the supermarket vegetable shelves. A sticker with a recipe on the bag of these lettuce
varieties is to promote the sales and inform the consumer.
Sweetgreen®
This concept comprises a series of sweet pepper varieties that remain green even when they are ripe. The
distinctive characteristics of our Sweetgreen® peppers are their sweet flavour and high vitamin C content. One
green pepper contains 25% of our daily vitamin demand.
Tribelli®
Tribelli® is the brand that we use for our sweet sweet mini-pepper varieties. The success of this concept is
that it fits well with the trend of healthy ‘snacking’: the mini-pepper varieties of our brand Tribelli® have the
right snack-size and delicious flavour. This mini-pepper varieties guarantee the authentic sweet pepper taste in
different colours: red, yellow and orange.
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the power of our company
Our vegetable varieties worldwide
As a multilocal company we study the requirements of local markets and differences in climatic conditions.
Different people’s different consumption patterns have led to a tremendous diversity in our range, which now
includes bittergourds in many different forms and flavours, the fiery bird’s eye chillies and a wide variety of
pumpkins of many different colours. And then there are of course also our pink tomatoes, our white, brown,
purple and lilac sweet peppers and our picklings. A different species and a different variety for each market.
East West Seed Indonesia
East West Seed Indonesia, Ewindo, is a joint venture of Enza Zaden and East West International. The company
was established in 1990 as the first real vegetable-breeding company in Indonesia to focus specifically on the
Indonesian market. Since then Ewindo has grown into the most important vegetable-seed company in Indonesia.
In and for Indonesia
Ewindo was established in Indonesia specifically for the purpose of offering Indonesian vegetable growers
support in the form of resources and expertise. At the time, many Indonesian vegetable growers were harvesting
very small crops due to various pathogens. Enza Zaden and East West Seed International helped the growers
overcome those problems with their varieties with specific resistance to those diseases.
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the journey of the seed
The start of a successful variety
Offering added value and developing new ideas for products and vegetable varieties to meet future demands those are our constant aims. We listen to growers, retailers, traders, consumers and distributors and exchange
thoughts with them. That way we remain up-to-date on all the latest trends and developments in the market.
All over the world. And our breeders in turn use that information to develop new varieties.
Working together in the chain
Each link in the chain has its own priorities. Growers want reliable varieties with the distinctive quality needed
to enable them to make a profit. Traders and retailers want varieties with a good shelf life. A good shelf life is
also essential for the processing industry, along with the possibility of easily processing the vegetables. And
the main concerns of consumers are flavour and health. By working together with all the links in the chain we
develop varieties with added value for all the chain parties.
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the journey of the seed
Creative and innovative breeding
Our Research & Development (R&D) department is the heart of our company. It is the source of our innovative
varieties and the hub of our breeding efforts. The combination of creativity, expertise and many years’
experience in breeding programmes is our greatest strength. We invest more than 30% of our turnover
in innovation. In research, and also in the development of our employees’ knowledge. To enable us to
continuously develop top-quality vegetable varieties that are reliable and offer security. Anywhere in the world.
E-licensing: online licensing platform
The introduction of biotechnology in the mid-1980s greatly enhanced the world of plant breeding. New laboratory
methods, such as marking technology, enable us to speed up and focus even more closely on our breeding
efforts. Those new methods are based on inventions that did not occur overnight. They were the outcomes of
great investments in terms of time, money and human resources over many years.
Future genetic variety
Enza Zaden is of the opinion that breeders should be able to use plant material developed with a patented
invention in their breeding programmes. Access to the results of plant-breeding efforts is essential for future
genetic variety. Only when breeders want to use such patented technology to produce a variety for commercial
purposes will they need permission, such as a licence, from the invention’s owner.
Making licences accessible
Enza Zaden is one of the first vegetable-breeding companies to have launched an online licensing platform to
make its licences easily accessible: enzazaden.com/elicensing. This online platform gives breeders the opportunity
to obtain, via the Internet, permission to use our inventions and Enza Zaden material developed with those
inventions. In exchange for that permission we receive royalties, which we invest in our R&D activities in order to
arrive at new innovations.
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the journey of the seed
Creative and innovative breeding
We have closely linked R&D units all over the world. So we have no problems whatsoever in quickly
exchanging specific knowhow in order to arrive at new or improved varieties. But there is another great
advantage to having such local branches. They mean we are right in the middle of local markets, and are
therefore familiar with all the specific climatic and cultivation requirements of a certain country or region.
And with the local markets’ local needs and wishes.
We still use traditional breeding methods, but we combine our expertise and creativity with modern, highly
advanced technology to make our breeding processes a lot faster and more efficient.
KeyGene
We are constantly in search of methods for speeding up our breeding processes and making them more
efficient. Enza Zaden is one of the founding fathers of KeyGene, one of the largest biotechnological companies
in the world in the field of plant genetics. KeyGene was established in 1989 by a group of Dutch breeding
companies.
The company, which is based in the Dutch town of Wageningen, carries out pre-competitive research to help
the affiliated breeding companies to make their breeding programmes more effective and more efficient.
Besides searching for new markers for marking more genes, KeyGene also develops software for making it
easier to administratively manage analytical methods and breeding programmes.
Westcape Biotech Pty.
The establishment, in 2012, of Westcape Biotech Pty. in Stellenbosch in South Africa implied a great step
forward in making our breeding process more efficient. Westcape is a joint venture with the innovative
Expressive Research, a biotechnological company that is active in the fields of cell and tissue culture and
molecular diagnostics.
This cooperation has greatly increased our capacity for cell and tissue cultivation activities in particular. Thanks
to Westcape we are able to offer our breeders worldwide even better support with products obtained in cell
and tissue cultivation processes.
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the journey of the seed
Production of our seed
Once we have developed and thoroughly tested a new variety we start producing high-quality seed of that
variety on a large scale. This is the responsibility of our Seed Production department.
The seed is produced all over the world and is then sent to our head office in Enkhuizen, the Netherlands for
further processing. Using the latest technology we dry the seed, grade it and remove any contaminations and
deviating seeds from the batches.
The seed is then ready for the last thorough check in our quality laboratory, with which we make sure that the
seed we sell has excellent viability and the greatest varietal purity. Our disease-testing laboratory ensures that
our seed is healthy. With all these operations and inspections we guarantee our customers the best seeds.
Extensive quality tests and intensive research help us to raise the quality of our seed to a higher level.
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the journey of the seed
Upgrading our seed
Certain after-treatments can boost the quality and reliability of some types of seed. We for example pellet very
small seeds to give them more body. This involves coating each seed with a thin layer of clay, which makes
the seed easier to sow. The clay moreover contains nutrients for the first phase of the seedlings’ development,
and products to protect them against pathogens in that vulnerable early phase.
Good Seed and Plant Practices
Healthy seed and healthy plants give growers greater security. It was for that very reason that an international
system was introduced specifically for reducing the risk of infection of tomato seeds and tomato plants: Good
Seed and Plant Practices (GSPP). We are proud that all our seed-production stations are accredited under this
quality mark.
Our global production stations
Tanzania
We have an ideally located production station in Tanzania. The constant climate in that area enables us to produce
seed of fruity crops all year round to meet the constant demand and to quickly introduce new varieties. This is of
crucial importance in the dynamic vegetable-seed market.
South Africa and Argentina
From our locations in Oudtshoorn and Mendoza we coordinate our increasing seed production activities (mainly
open field crops) respectively in South Africa and Argentina.
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the power of our company
Committed, enthusiastic employees
We want our employees to enjoy their work. We are therefore very proud of our energetic company culture
and of the great passion with which our highly committed employees help us achieve our aims. More than
1400 employees of around forty nationalities work together in close harmony to develop healthy vegetable
varieties. With respect for one another and for our living environment. This teamwork is the basis of our
success.
Enza Zaden offers its employees plenty of scope for entrepreneurship and personal development. Our
Enza Academy plays an important role in this respect.
Enza Academy
Enza Zaden is a healthy company and we expect our global growth to continue in the years to come. We
realise that will involve a lot of dynamics and new challenges. We prepare our employees for those future
challenges by boosting their development with specific training courses given by authorities in our sector, but
also by our own employees. They are after all the most up-to-date on the latest developments. This enhances
our expertise and our skills.
Andrea Schieder, Senior Breeder Radish & Cornsalad, about the Management Course:
“The course was a milestone in my professional, but also in my private life. It was an eye-opener and
broadened my mind to look at things in a different and a larger context.”
Mathieu Pel, Senior Researcher/Biotechnological Breeder, about the Project Management Course:
“This course enabled me to better explore my role(s) within a project and pinpoint improvements to be
achieved.”
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Lola Garcia
Senior Breeder
Sonja Bakker
Junior Purchaser
Paul van Dijck
Crop Marketing Specialist
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Carla Tavares
Laboratory Assistant Seed Technology Research
Nancy de Croes
Assistant Customer Services
Herre van der Sloot
Senior Breeder
Nick Mendham
Portfolio Manager & Senior Crop Specialist Onion
Judith Jansen
Laboratory Assistant Germination
Jigin Fu
Breeder
the power of independence
A family company’s vision of the future
Being an independent family company, we are able to focus on what really matters. We have a clear vision
of what we stand for and what we want to achieve. The mainstays of our company are the commitment and
enthusiasm of our employees, our entrepreneurial spirit and our high standard of innovation and creativity. In
the many years since our establishment they have helped us lay the basis for a strong, healthy company. We
have great faith in the future.
With our innovative products we create added value for the entire production chain. With the high-quality
genetics of our vegetable varieties and vegetable seeds, but also by closely listening to the market, entering
into a dialogue with the chain and supporting our growers with practical support and cultivation advice based
on our research results. We intend to continue to invest a significant proportion of our turnover in searching
for ways of creating added value.
But creating added value in our products is not our only aim. We also want to create jobs, income and a
good working environment for many people all over the world. And we want to create the seeds needed to
grow enough healthy, balanced food for the rapidly growing global population. We want to contribute to our
changing living environment in every way we can.
We hope to be able to continue to guarantee our customers the best seeds for the best vegetable varieties in
the future too. And to continue to offer our employees a company in which they enjoy to work and of which
they are rightly proud.
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Gerwin Broersen
Business Controller
Enza Zaden
P.O. Box 7 | 1600 AA
Haling 1E | 1602 DB
Enkhuizen, The Netherlands
Tel +31 (0)228 35 01 00
Fax +31 (0)228 31 59 60
info@enzazaden.nl
www.enzazaden.com
© January 2013 | Enza Zaden Beheer B.V. | Enkhuizen | The Netherlands