Bejo is expanding their research capacity in the new Research Center, which is currently under construction. With an extension of 6000 (!) square meters of greenhouse and climate space, the new complex offers many new possibilities.

It has been known for years that the world population is growing, disease resistance is desperately needed in plants and that continuous innovations are needed in the seed sector. This is partly the reason of this expansion in Warmenhuizen. Ten new climate chambers are being built. This creates many more possibilities for developing new breeding techniques, tissue culture and the new “Speed ??Breeding”. The climate in the complex can now be controlled all year round, so that results can be seen quickly if the breeders want to cross-breed a resistance for a particular pathogen.

Due to the expansion, different departments can be separated better. The trials of the phytopathology department, for example, were located next to tissue culture greenhouse compartments. It is then a challenge to keep the material clean and to prevent virus infections. All these new innovations and options should contribute to produce healthy and robust vegetable varieties.

The Research Center is not only good for the development of healthy vegetable varieties, this complex will also be largely energy neutral. This is partly due to the use of an enormous fully automatic pump installation. The energy for this pump is obtained by solar panels.

The new Bejo greenhouse complex is expected to be operational in 2022! More about the complex at Bejo in the article of the Noord-Hollands Dagblad here. (Dutch)

Within Seed Valley, the companies continue to invest in R&D. For example, Syngenta opened a Technology Center in 2019. More than 30 growth rooms and a large number of greenhouses are located here, where research to climatic conditions is done.