RZ-100-wt4-E-flipbook-240702 - Flipbook - Page 42
In addition, Rijk Zwaan also benefits from the
favourable economic conditions that cause
an upturn in the seed business after the war. In
the first place, the introduction of the Breeders’
Decree provides better protection for growers and
therefore better yields. However, the disadvantage
is still that the Breeders’ Decree is only applicable
inside the Netherlands. In addition, the government
creates a favourable business climate by setting
up institutes such as the aforementioned IVT, which
focuses on giving advice and inspecting crops.
The Netherlands at its narrowest
The ongoing liberalisation of global trade has
great potential for the seed trade, but more
importantly, the horticulture sector in general will
again find it easier to market its products abroad.
Greenhouse horticulture
As a result, production can be expanded, and
this will benefit a seed trader such as Rijk Zwaan
in turn. Liberalisation does have a flip side to it,
Starting in the early 1950s, greenhouse horticulture really takes off,
however. Seed traders abroad also see an oppor-
particularly in The Westland. The growers are all looking for an alternative to
tunity to provide growers in the Netherlands with
‘cold ground cultivation’ after the sector suffered a loss of 16 million guilders
their products. In 1949, the seed trade industry
in 1950. On 12 March 1953, newspaper Het Parool reports that due to the great
becomes concerned about this development.
losses in this sector, the Foundation for Agriculture has asked the Minister of
Agriculture to support the affected growers. However, the minister doesn’t
want to address this unless measures are taken to improve the economic
situation in the ‘cold ground sector’. As a result, many gardeners start to seek
refuge in greenhouse horticulture.
Greenhouse horticulture doesn’t have a very long history compared to
tillage and cattle farming. So when Professor Minderhoud (Professor of Land
Management Science at Wageningen Agricultural College 1927-1959) says to
his students that ‘speaking to a farmer means speaking with twenty centuries
of experience,’ it doesn’t apply to this young horticulture sector.
Greenhouse horticulture in The Westland only emerged at the end of the 19th
century. Growing fruit trees behind walls to shelter them from the wind is the
first step. The next step is to install windows on top of these walls.
The further development of greenhouse horticulture led to large-scale
grape growing in the Netherlands at the end of the 19th century, and in the
1920s vegetables such as tomato and cucumber were also grown under glass.
In the 1950s, we see an ever-increasing expansion of greenhouses in
The Westland, and market gardeners start to specialise more and more.
Grapes as a crop disappear almost completely from greenhouses in
The Westland in those years.
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Rijk Zwaan | Moving forward together
