RZ-100-wt4-E-flipbook-240702 - Flipbook - Page 157
R&D for a greener future
The demand for organic vegetables is increasing
worldwide. Moreover, the legislation for the
20
22
Lucioso
Cocktail tomato
use of pesticides and chemicals is becoming
increasingly strict. That is why Rijk Zwaan is
continuing to expand its range for organic cultivation. The varieties it is developing make it possible
for different growing regions to supply consist-
The European
Green Deal
First generation
resistant to
ToBRFV.
ently high-quality organic products all year round.
Since 2020 , Rijk Zwaan has partnered with other
seed companies in the ‘Green on Seed’ project,
which explicitly looks at biological alternatives
to chemical seed treatment. Also for the
The European Green Deal (EGD) is introduced in 2019. The EGD is a set
conventional range, Rijk Zwaan is focusing more
of rules and strategies aimed at achieving a climate-neutral future.
and more on cross-breeding resistances and
As part of the ‘farmer to plate’ strategy (2020) – one of the central
robustness. Moreover, Rijk Zwaan is increasingly
pillars of the EGD – the European Commission has set the goal of
using non-chemical seed disinfection methods
reducing the use and risk of chemical pesticides in the EU by
to prevent fungi, such as ‘hot water treatment’, for
50 per cent by 2030. This is because the overuse and misapplication
seeds in its regular range.
of such pesticides can have negative impacts on soil, (ground) water
and agricultural diversity. They can also have harmful effects on
Despite the fact that there is an intrinsic motiva-
plant, animal and human health.
tion at Rijk Zwaan to expand its organic range
and reduce the use of chemical pesticides,
Rijk Zwaan ‘is more pragmatic than ideological in
that sense’, says Marco van Leeuwen.
If 25 per cent of agricultural land is indeed used
for organic cultivation by 2030, as the European
Green Deal aspires to, productivity will be lost.
The transition to more organic and less chemical
pesticides needs to be better supported – for
example, by registering alternative biological
control and seed treatments. Alternatives are
often not yet available for certain pesticides and
2021-2022
fungicides that Rijk Zwaan and many farmers and
gardeners depend on. Nevertheless, Rijk Zwaan
continues to try to use organic alternatives as
much as possible.
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| Innovations and new technologies
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