Vegetable seed company Nunhems has opened a new breeding facility in Culiacan, Mexico, which will focus on the development of new tomato, hot and sweet pepper and cucumber varieties.

The new research and development station will feature over 17ha of greenhouse and open field facilities in the north-western Mexican state of Sinaloa.

In a statement, the Netherlands-based company said the opening of the site reaffirmed its “strong commitment to Mexican agriculture, adding that it would help contribute a continuous supply of high-yielding vegetable seed varieties to the Mexican and international markets.

At the facility’s opening ceremony Nunhems’ chief executive Douwe Zijp said: “Mexico is at the forefront of the world’s vegetable producing countries and therefore represents a very important market for Nunhems’ global business.”

Nunhems is trade name of Bayer CropScience, the vegetable seeds division of German research and development group Bayer.