Suspense in Berlin! The Warmerhuizer broccoli shoots - new from Netherlands based Bejo Zaden - will have to compete with sweet potatoes from America, Czech pineapple with small pieces of fruit and sun ripened cherry tomatoes from China at the world's largest trading fair for fruit and vegetables. Who has the best new product?
"To win the Fruit Logistica Innovation Award 2012? That would be fantastic. But we are already very happy with the nomination. It confirms how innovative we are." A co-worker Perry Kuilboer from Zuid Scharwoude looks forward to the next Fruit Logistica. Bejo Zaden will be one of 2400 standholders. Everybody from the world of fruit and vegetables will be in the Messe Berlin from 8 to 10 February inclusive.
This is the seventh time Bejo Zaden will be at Fruit Logistica. There are ten nominations and this is the first time a product from Warmenhuizen has been nominated for the prestigious prize for the most innovative product in the area of potatoes, fruit and vegetables with its purple broccoli with a tinge of asparagus.
Bejo Zaden is one of the pillars of Seed Valley. This cooperative arrangement in the province of North Holland started in 2008 and is the most important international centre for plant improvement and seed technology. The fourteen companies of Seed Valley with strong concentrations in the municipalities of Harenkarspel and Enkhuizen have an annual turnover of 1.2 billion Euro.
Worldwide more than a thousand people are working for Bejo Zaden with improving, production, processing and selling of seeds. The assortment consists of more than eight hundred varieties, divided into 45 plants. The products are suitable for all markets and various climates. In short Bejo looks after the development and marketing of first class starting material for the worldwide cultivation of vegetables.
"Annually about forty new vegetable varieties come from long running improvement programs. We continually look for a better and healthier plant" Perry Kuilboer says. He is the company's sales manager for the Netherlands. Annually the company carry out tests and has improvement stations in the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, India and Guatemala. About one hundred years ago Cor Beemsterboer from Warmenhuizen and Jacob Jong from Noord-Scharwoude started the basis of Bejo. They specialised in the selection and improvement of cabbage, carrots and onions.
Will the Fruit Logistica Innovation Award 2012 be a new crown on the work of the two pioneers? The sector knows the new broccoli shoots as 'purple sprouting broccoli', a purple variety of the green broccoli. "The broccoli shoots are new for the Netherlands and combine the strong taste of the well-known broccoli with a soft asparagus taste" Perry Kuilboer explains.
"Super healthy also because of the high concentration of glucoiberinen. That is ten times as high as in normal broccoli." The purple broccoli is grown by BioBrass in Zeewolde.
Source: Agriboard
Bejo Zaden is one of the pillars of Seed Valley. This cooperative arrangement in the province of North Holland started in 2008 and is the most important international centre for plant improvement and seed technology. The fourteen companies of Seed Valley with strong concentrations in the municipalities of Harenkarspel and Enkhuizen have an annual turnover of 1.2 billion Euro.
Worldwide more than a thousand people are working for Bejo Zaden with improving, production, processing and selling of seeds. The assortment consists of more than eight hundred varieties, divided into 45 plants. The products are suitable for all markets and various climates. In short Bejo looks after the development and marketing of first class starting material for the worldwide cultivation of vegetables.
"Annually about forty new vegetable varieties come from long running improvement programs. We continually look for a better and healthier plant" Perry Kuilboer says. He is the company's sales manager for the Netherlands. Annually the company carry out tests and has improvement stations in the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, India and Guatemala. About one hundred years ago Cor Beemsterboer from Warmenhuizen and Jacob Jong from Noord-Scharwoude started the basis of Bejo. They specialised in the selection and improvement of cabbage, carrots and onions.
Will the Fruit Logistica Innovation Award 2012 be a new crown on the work of the two pioneers? The sector knows the new broccoli shoots as 'purple sprouting broccoli', a purple variety of the green broccoli. "The broccoli shoots are new for the Netherlands and combine the strong taste of the well-known broccoli with a soft asparagus taste" Perry Kuilboer explains.
"Super healthy also because of the high concentration of glucoiberinen. That is ten times as high as in normal broccoli." The purple broccoli is grown by BioBrass in Zeewolde.
Source: Agriboard