PopVriend Seeds in Andijk

Deep dive into the world of vegetables

Since it was acquired in 2019, PopVriend Seeds has generated important synergies in KWS’ newest business unit, pooling our scientific know-how and many years of experience in vegetable seed breeding from the Netherlands. The Dutch member of our KWS family organizes the PopFest every September.

New spinach varieties are sown every week and must be adapted to the seasons, explains Johan Rijk.

It’s 9 o’clock in the morning in Andijk. Lake Ijssel is right behind the dike, and a colorful sign on the right of the road points the way to the PopFest. Right next to it, in the greenhouse normally used for breeding work, the first groups of visitors are already arriving. For the Open Days, it is transformed every year into a place where visitors can not only discover the latest vegetable varieties and innovations in the fields, but also stay for lunch and enjoy a pita with PopVriend vegetables or a red beet muffin.

“We want to offer our customers an all-round experience,” says Merel Kors from the Marketing Team, who organized the event. “PopVriend focuses on just four crops, and we want to be the most specialized partner in the industry for them. In practice, that means addressing and inspiring the entire value chain from producer to consumer.” Preparations for the PopFest begin as early as May, with the project team deciding which new ideas will be included depending on the feedback from customer support colleagues in the markets.

Just 21 days from sowing to harvesting

“We really want to talk directly with our visitors and discuss the challenges they face in their everyday work. That allows us to directly identify many needs and wishes for our vegetable seed,” explains Jacco Kaarsemaker, Head of Marketing and Communications at the Business Unit Vegetables. “The value chain for vegetables is changing at a rapid pace – in addition to agronomic properties that are driven by climate change, sustainability and efficiency, for example, aspects such as taste, convenience and attractiveness are also important. It’s very important to know what consumers want. After all, millions of people around the world eat our products every day.”

Lovingly prepared: For lunch, there are vegetables served up in unusual ways – from the pita platter to red beet muffins

René van Meijel presents overarching concepts at the PopFest

Successful event: An all-round experience for customers

The preferences of guests vary depending on the country and customer interests – as can be seen from the different spinach varieties growing in the fields around the greenhouse. While young spinach (baby leaf) is popular in the U.S., for instance, people in Asia tend to prefer leaf spinach (bunching spinach) with its typical red roots. “Spinach is a very dynamic vegetable,” says Johan Rijk, Senior Spinach Breeder. “Baby leaf spinach, for example, can be harvested just 21 days after being sown. Our farmers have to supply supermarkets on a weekly basis and so every week they sow new varieties we develop. These are adapted to the seasons and light conditions, for example.”

“Spinach is a very dynamic vegetable.”

Johan Rijk

The entire spinach cultivation chain is also different: Only 20 growers are responsible for 90 percent of the spinach produced in the U.S., for instance. “My goal is to grow a resistant and stable product our partners can rely on in their everyday work,” adds Johan Rijk. “That’s what drives me. Contact with customers is extremely valuable for a breeder. You really have to seek direct dialog in order to find even better solutions moving ahead.” Behind the greenhouse is the world’s largest trial field for spinach, which is being grown alongside beans, Swiss chard and red beet. Talking about red beet: Our colleagues at PopVriend are using results from KWS’ established sugarbeet research to create a new rhizomania tolerance in it.

Market leader

“We are the market leader in a limited range of crops, which means we can focus intensively on the decision-makers in our value chain,” says Jacco Kaarsemaker. “That’s why our customer support employees are not organized by region or country, but work together in eight different specialized account teams. This allows us to share knowledge about the same type of customers, which enables us to bring new and diverse solutions to market faster and more effectively.”

That’s where René van Meijel’s team comes in. As Global Customer Team Lead Baby Leaf NAFTA, Europe and Oceania, he is not only responsible for these individual areas, but also for the global value chain for red beet. “We use the PopFest to present overarching concepts such as Spinach 365. Thanks to our broad portfolio of spinach varieties, we can ensure stable, high-yielding and fork-sized spinach production at all locations in the U.S. all year round – a genuine benefit for our growers, packaging companies and, of course, the customers.”

Event location for a week: PopVriend Seeds’ greenhouse in Andijk

From the producer to the consumer: Red beet juice, the final link in the value chain

In the midst of things: Visitors can get first-hand information directly from the field

Keen interest in catch crops

New ranges and products are also on display at the PopFest – and are thus planted directly in the minds of visitors. One example is KWS’ Fit4NEXT range: The catch crops are a fine way to implement crop rotations for spinach and beans and keep soils rich in nutrients. Five of the mixtures were shown at the PopFest to arouse the interest of guests and demonstrate the contribution to sustainability catch crops make.

“We at PopVriend don’t sell catch crops at the moment,” says René van Meijel. “However, we can see there is keen interest among visitors and a growing market for sustainable solutions – a good idea for leveraging even more synergies together with KWS in the future.” |

This article is from insideKWS, the employee magazine of KWS. If you are an employee of our company, you have access to all other articles and previous issues. |