RZ-100-wt4-E-flipbook-240702 - Flipbook - Page 46
Grower’s eye
One of the greenhouse products with which
Rijk Zwaan creates a furore in the early 1950s is the
Regina lettuce variety. A significant investment in
1951 precedes the success of this variety. This is a
time when lettuce is developing as a greenhouse
product. Not just does the larger area under glass
create more demand for lettuce, but the growers
have also decided to grow lettuce in the greenhouse prior to growing tomatoes. The lettuce
variety commonly cultivated until then was the
May Queen, but according to Jan Wesseling, who
had just started working at Rijk Zwaan, they are not
very cost-effective: ‘...they weigh seven to eight
kilos per hundred, so they have very little to offer’.
It is clear that a better product, more suitable for
cultivation in a greenhouse, is required. From his
sales reps, Rijk Zwaan gets a tip-off that a mutant
Although he has to pay 3 thousand guilders for
of Early French Train, an early-growing lettuce
the ‘mutant’, Rijk is prepared to take the risk. But
variety, is growing in a test plot. Rijk Zwaan’s
they will not give him the plant until he pays
grower’s eye immediately sees that this still young
half of the amount in advance. With the benefit
plant could have a promising future. Rijk Zwaan
of hindsight, this is worth the investment many
realises that the plant offers many opportunities
times over. With that one plant, he is able to carve
not just for greenhouse cultivation but also for
himself an important niche in the lettuce market.
export; this is because the growing export trade
Thanks to this variety, his lettuce yield goes up
requires a stronger lettuce variety.
from 7 kilos per hundred heads to 15-16 kilos.
Selection trials on
the farm in Bergschenhoek.
The resulting first lettuce variety is called Regina,
and is an instant success for Rijk Zwaan. After these
initial successes, Rijk Zwaan starts an active crossbreeding programme. There is a breakthrough in
1961, when this programme produces lettuce varieties that can be grown in greenhouses in winter.
These varieties include: Deciso, Rapide, Vitesse and
Valore. Eloquent names, which reflect the main trait
of each variety. During this period, Jan Wesseling
and Rijk Zwaan form the duo that lays the foundations for later successes in plant breeding.
Besides lettuce, the duo of Wesseling and Zwaan
are also enjoying a great deal of (greenhouse)
success with the Flora Blanca cauliflower variety.
This cauliflower remains part of the Rijk Zwaan
range for a long time. In the 1952 catalogue,
Flora Blanca features prominently on the front
page and is announced in the catalogue itself
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Rijk Zwaan | Moving forward together
