Israeli seed company Zeraim Gedera has held a series of seminars and open days during the last three weeks.

The company brought representatives from 21 countries to its headquarters in Gedera to meet the rest of the “Zeraim Gedera family” and familiarise themselves with the latest developments within the company and the seed industry.

The four-day educational seminar programme ran alongside an open invitation to the Israeli industry, along with Zeraim representatives and employees to view a demonstration plot of commercial and trial varieties of tomatoes, peppers, melons, watermelons and sunflowers.

Participants came from across the southern hemisphere, North America, Europe, the Middle East and Far East. Gerry Kelman, manager, vertically-integrated marketing, said: “We have brought members of the industry and our own family together to show everyone where we are and in which direction we are heading.

“Extension services, exporters, other seed companies and growers from Israel have been here and it has been a real education for our representatives overseas - some of whom were making their first visit to Israel - to see how we work and what we can offer.

“We recognise the long-term benefits of this. We have already built a good reputation and image in the industry, but this can only help to boost that. What we hope is that when people around the world are faced with two varieties, from different seed companies, their experience of Zeraim Gedera and knowledge of our approach and capabilities will hold us in good stead.”

Kelman added that new varieties of watermelons are creating particular interest and that Pro-Veg Seeds, the company’s representative in the UK will be setting up a trial site of a few plants of each variety for people to look at. “These are small (1-1.5kg), seeded varieties with fantastic taste, in a variety of shapes and rind patterns.

“In terms of melons, on the other hand, we are working mainly with Galia, Yellow Canary and Ananas types at the moment,” he said.

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