Rijk Zwaan has launched its annual demo days in Fijnaart, the Netherlands, which this year takes place from 19-28 September.
This six-week period allows Rijk Zwaan to optimally advise all visitors and give each of them a personalised guided tour, with visitors seeing a large number of new introductions in various open-field vegetable crops – including the lettuce trait called Knox, and early celery varieties.
Rijk Zwaan traditionally chooses to open up its demo field to visitors for a period of several weeks rather than just a few days.
“This gives us the opportunity to show all our open-field vegetable crops to customers properly,' said Arno van Oers, coordinator of the demo field in Fijnaart. 'We take each of them on a personalised guided tour, tailored to their specific interests, so that we can exchange ideas and optimally advise them on solutions to their particular challenges.
'We’re also keen to hear their feedback on our novelties, of course,' van Oers added. 'We’re expecting to receive a lot of visitors from all over the world. When arranging an appointment, customers can choose a time for their visit that works for them and we can also tell them when the relevant crop will be at its best.'
One of the highlights of the demo days will be Rijk Zwaan’s lettuce varieties with the Knox trait. This trademarked innovation delays pinking in lettuce after cutting, resulting in a longer shelf life for fresh-cut salads. More than ten varieties across several lettuce types already have the Knox trait.
As always, visitors to the Rijk Zwaan demo field will be able to see a large number of new introductions in many different crops, such as lettuce, brassicas, spinach, endive, radish, corn salad, beetroot, leek and chard. This year, Rijk Zwaan is presenting a particularly wide range of novelties in celery and celeriac, including some early varieties.
After their tour of the demo field, visitors can reflect on what they have just seen in the demo room. This year, to provide them with extra inspiration, the demo room will also showcase various solutions, concepts and product applications for distinct markets.
Some of the ideas on display will include cucumbers with a smaller seed cavity (convenience segment), highly resistant fruit varieties (organic segment) and robust spinach varieties suitable for freezing (industry segment).
