In North Holland, between Enkhuizen and Warmenhuizen, lies over 370 hectares of the most advanced agriculture development in the world. The Seed Valley is a consortium of innovative companies researching plant breeding and seed technology to develop new vegetable and flower varieties. With an ambitious goal of feeding 2 billion more people in the face of climate change and extreme weather, let’s learn more about the people shaping the future of food.
What is Seed Valley?
The term “Seed Valley” was coined by Jan Baas, former mayor of Enkhuizen, as a way to describe the high-tech plant research taking place in the region. In 2008, the Seed Valley consortium was formalized, to coordinate activities and strengthen collaboration between the companies.
Seed Valley companies are focused on improving global food security, by increasing the yield of crops and creating plants that are more resistant to changing weather and climate conditions. Companies participating in Seed Valley include plant breeders, seed technology companies, research facilities, plant nurseries, automation and machine developers, and more.
Today, Seed Valley encompasses over 30 companies, employing 3500 people and generating 1.7 billion euros of revenue in 2022. The seeds of nearly half of the world’s vegetables originate in Seed Valley, with approximately 58% of revenue arising from outside the EU.
The Challenges Facing Global Agriculture
Seed Valley seeks to breed plant varieties that can withstand the challenges of the future. New plant varieties must be able to:
- Withstand climate change and weather disasters. Climate change is not only driving long-term trends like hotter summers and wetter winters, but it is also causing dramatic, unpredictable weather events. Floods, storms, frosts, and draughts can all cause a crop to fail, sometimes with devastating results. New food plants must be adaptable to long-term climate conditions, and also able to withstand the stresses and challenges of extreme weather events.
- Plan for population growth. By 2050, the world population is expected to be 9.8 billion people, and reach over 11 billion people by 2100. Feeding this growing population with current plant technology requires more land, water, and labor than available. New plants must be more productive, and more efficient with resources.
- Combat food waste. Today, nearly a third of all fruits and vegetables are thrown away. At Seed Valley, new plant varieties are being developed that combat food waste. For example, they have developed a new variety of lettuce specifically for hamburgers, with a leaf exactly the size of a hamburger bun, and a thicker leaf that provides more crunch and a longer shelf life. Syngenta has developed a new variety of broccoli, with long, slender stems that are more attractive and appealing than the thick, tough stems of the past, thus encouraging consumers to eat the nutritious, delicious stems of broccoli.
- Thrive in local soil, pest, and disease conditions. Seeds that thrive in the Netherlands may not grow well in other regions around the world. Seed Valley produce must be able to thrive in a variety of soil conditions, while also resisting local pests, fungi, and diseases.
- Accommodate local growing practices and consumer preferences. Farmers around the world have different cultivation techniques, and local consumers choose produce based on different properties. Plants developed in Seed Valley need to meet the needs of farmers and consumers in different areas.
As you can see, the demands placed on the researchers at Seed Valley are high, and they are developing innovative techniques to research and iterate varieties more quickly. For example, it typically takes seven years for a new plant variety to reach the marketplace, but DNA testing of seeds and early sprouts allows varieties to iterate more quickly, without waiting for the plant to reach maturity and fruit before being analyzed and propagated.
Companies Making a Difference in Seed Valley
Seed Valley is powered by over 30 companies active in over 100 countries around the world, collaborating to improve cultivation and crop yield, and support the world’s food supplies. Some of these incredible companies include:
Syngenta
Based in Basel, Switzerland, Syngenta was formed when industry giants Novartis Agribusiness and Zeneca Agribusiness merged. Syngenta was purchased by Chinese enterprise Sinochem, and, in 2020, Syngenta Group China was formed, merging Syngenta Crop Protection, Syngenta Seeds, Adama, and Sinochem’s agribusiness into a single entity, with revenues of over $19 billion USD in 2023.
Syngenta’s primary products are pesticides, selective and non-selective herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, corn, soya, and biofuels. In 2021, the company announced an initiative to develop sustainable weedkillers using AI and deep learning technologies.
Syngenta has been recognized as one of Canada’s top employers, and in 2011 Science Magazine named Syngenta among the top 10 employers in biotechnology.
Bayer Crop Science
Founded in 1863, Bayer is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and biomedical companies. In 2016, Bayer divested a significant amount of its agricultural assets to BASF in order to receive regulatory approval to buy US biotech giant Monsanto, in the biggest acquisition by a German company in history. Bayer has three primary business units: Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Consumer Health, and Bayer CropScience. Bayer CropScience is responsible for just under half of the company’s $50 billion USD revenue in 2023.
Bayer CropScience focuses on crop protection, non-agricultural pest control, seeds, and plant biotechnology. The company currently focuses on scalable solutions for regenerative agriculture, aimed at regenerating topsoil, increasing biodiversity, and improving the water cycle. A recent partnership with ADM in Poland provides farmers with the financial and technical support to adopt a range of regenerative practices, reducing carbon emissions from farming by up to 40%. The goal is to expand the program throughout Eastern Europe, combining science, technology, business expertise, and farming knowledge to reduce carbon emissions, increase biodiversity, and promote soil health.
Enza Zaden
Enza Zaden was formed in 1938 as “De Enkhuizer Zaadwinkel”. Today, it is one of the 10 largest vegetable breeding companies in the world, with over 2500 employees in 24 countries, but remains a family business.
Since 2016, Enza Zaden has made a particular impact on global agriculture through their HREZ (High Resistance by Enza Zaden) line of tomatoes. In the early 2010s, the global tomato supply was increasingly in jeopardy due to the Tomato Brown Rugnose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV), spreading rapidly from the Middle East to Europe, and then to North America through our global, connected supply chain. Finding a resistant strain of tomatoes became crucially important to the industry. Today, the HREZ line has been introduced in all the major tomato-growing regions of the world, and Enza Zaden is offering an ever-increasing list of varieties, including plum, beef, grape, cherry, cocktail tomatoes, and more. HREZ was recently awarded the SIVAL silver medal from a jury in France’s professional fruit and vegetable sector.
Hazera
Founded in 1939, Hazera has been innovating seeds and vegetables for over a century. Today, Hazera is owned by French seed producer Vilmorin, which is owned and managed by the international agricultural Limagrain group. Limagrain is owned and operated cooperatively by French farmers, and has more than 10,000 employees in 56 countries, with annual revenue of over €2.6 billion euros.
Hazera is most famous for producing high-yield vegetables with a long shelf life, including the Galia melon, the Daniela tomato, and the Pointed cabbage. In 1999, Hazera produced the first mini seedless watermelon with a long shelf life, and in 2018, the company introduced a beautiful red Brussels sprout. Hazera is focused on innovation, with over ⅓ of its staff employed in R&D and investing 20% of its annual turnover in its four R&D centers around the world.
Seed Valley in the Netherlands is at the frontier of science, nature, and innovation, shaping the future of food. Or, as they would say, it’s the “epicenter of seed magic.” For companies seeking candidates in the life sciences, or for professionals looking to make a difference with their careers, Grapefrute is the experienced recruitment partner that creates perfect matches. Contact us today for more information about how we can help supply the talent for hard-to-fill positions in R&D, biotech, supply chain, and more.