The multi-million euro investment includes advanced greenhouse facilities and laboratories where 25 R&D experts will focus on developing innovative varieties across crops including spinach, beans, red beet, chard, cucumber and peppers
Seed specialist KWS has announced a “significant expansion” of its site in Andijk, the Netherlands, with the construction and official inauguration of a state-of-the-art research and development centre.
Covering an area of around 10,000m2, the centre houses a 6,600m2 greenhouse and a preparation and research area for outdoor vegetables including an office and laboratory.
KWS said the 25 R&D experts who will work at the new facility will focus on research into spinach, beans, red beet, chard, cucumber and peppers.
“The new facilities allow us to test significantly more plant lines,” explained site manager Frank Hollenberg. ”That also includes, in particular, the cultivation of doubled haploid cucumber and pepper plants, which our KWS colleagues are developing in Wageningen.
“I would like to thank everyone involved for the successful implementation of the project.”
The group said it had invested a double-digit million euro amount into the new facilities, with special attention paid to sustainability during the planning phase.
For example, 360 solar modules were installed to provide the Andijk site with green electricity.
The KWS site in Andijk is located in the heart of Seed Valley, a global centre for vegetable breeding in the northwest of the Netherlands, and serves as a central hub for the vegetables business unit.
KWS entered the market for vegetable seeds in 2019, and the company outlined it is pursuing a long-term strategy that entails the organic development of its own breeding activities for tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, melons and watermelons in addition to the sale of in-licensed varieties and targeted acquisitions.
Since entering the market, the company has built up an international network of research and breeding stations, which now comprises ten sites in the Netherlands, Brazil, Spain, Turkey, Italy and Mexico.
“With this investment, we underline our ambition in vegetable breeding,” noted Simon Walter, head of business unit vegetables.
”These new facilities mark a significant milestone in our global R&D network and infrastructure.
“Moreover, we have successfully attracted and recruited highly qualified colleagues from around the globe,” he added.
With these key elements in place, we are ready to drive innovation and introduce high-quality varieties from our newly established breeding programmes to the market.”
According to KWS, the new programmes are successfully progressing through their lifecycle stages, and the group anticipates introducing new, innovative varieties of all nine vegetable crops within the next three years.
