News

The future of farming and food production is a shared responsibility. As a vegetable breeding company, we not only bring new and innovative vegetable varieties to market, but also recognise our responsibility to contribute to sustainable food systems worldwide. That is why we continue to engage with local growers and other partners in the food chain to help feed the world and stimulate vegetable consumption. This story about HortIvoire in Ivory Coast is an example.

In the space of just a few years, the fungus Stemphylium – and in particular Stemphylium vesicarium – has become one of the biggest challenges for spinach growers worldwide. Vegetable breeding company Rijk Zwaan’s spinach breeding programmes are focussed on developing varieties that are resistant to this fungus. The initial results from an ongoing study by Washington State University in the USA have now confirmed that this focus over recent years has resulted in an assortment with a good number of spinach varieties with a high level of resistance to Stemphylium vesicarium.

Although Rijk Zwaan closed its most recent financial year with a slight drop in revenue and profit, largely due to the strength of the euro, the company is continuously expanding its workforce and investing heavily in research and breeding of vegetables.

The research on mildew resistance in lettuce has received a considerable boost. On October 10, the American Foundation of Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) awarded the first research grant to the Crops of the Future Collaborative. This involves an amount of 2.5 million US dollars (2.2 million euros) for the next five years. The award was received at the UC Davis Genome Center in California.

With effect from 02 July 2018 the International Bremia Evaluation Board Europe (IBEB-EU) has named two new official races of downy mildew in lettuce, Bl:34EU & Bl:35EU.

This year again, we were happy to host visitors from all over Africa in Arusha, Tanzania, for our International Field Days. A quick overview in this video !

Rijk Zwaan has launched its first three commercial squash varieties. The breeding company offers a complete market solution under its own identity, with outstanding fruit quality.

Rijk Zwaan will be able to expand its research activities as one of the partners of the Crops of the Future Collaborative. This new public-private consortium is convened by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR, located in the USA) and has research on leafy vegetables as one of its points of attention.

Rijk Zwaan's Red Jet F1 sweet pepper variety has been a successful hit for TAHA member farmers in Tanzania. With the professional assistance from TAHA and the Red Jet seeds from Rijk Zwaan, these farmers recently harvested the first produce of this quality high yielding variety.

On Friday 10 February 2017, the Fruit Logistica Innovation Award was presented for the eleventh time. Over 70,000 visitors to the trade fair were invited to vote for their favourite out of the ten nominees, and Rijk Zwaan is extremely honoured and proud to announce that Knox™ emerged as the winner.