1964TriasCucumber1965SubitoSpinachsmaller in number and, due to their specialisedTo create a round seed, seed companiesskills, they require much less advice. For thisstart ‘pelleting’ the seeds. This means that pillsreason, the sales force needs to be adjusted in theare created from the seed, the same type of pillsearly 1970s. But Rijk Zwaan’s sales reps continue toas in the pharmaceutical industry. Rijk Zwaan isvisit the growers and give them advice. This meansalso keeping an eye of this development, andthat they can still indirectly influence the demandmanaging director Herman Beeftink takes theof the plant breeders for specific varieties. After all,initiative in 1968 to develop his own ‘pill’ togetherthe market gardeners will always be the foundationwith German company Saat und Ernte Technik.on which Rijk Zwaan has built his business.These so-called ‘pillettes’ should ensure that1966BiestoTomatoRijk Zwaan maintains its top spot in this marketsegment. But manufacturing pills is a very1966Start of exportsto Belgium andScandinavia.different activity to breeding plants.After their introduction in 1970, everything seemsto be going well. Turnover is rising, but it is soondiscovered that the pillettes, whose casing meltsaway after seeding, are not working properly. Salesreps working at Rijk Zwaan recollect: ‘They lookedSeal logo, moregreat, nice packaging, but they didn’t germinate.’stylised, 1970.1967Start of exportsto France andthe UK.Moreover, a competitor has a better solution, inwhich the casing splits rather than melts.After this unsuccessful adventure with Saat undPromotion for the new seed shape ‘pilettes’Ernte Technik, Rijk Zwaan decides in 1972 to out-1968Start of pilettedevelopment.source pelleting to Royal Sluis, the developer of theAnother very important factor that helped the‘split pill’. The new partnership is very successful,company to succeed is the aforementionedwith Rijk Zwaan reconnecting to that marketemergence of the ‘pill’. Due to sharply rising laboursegment very quickly. Pelleting and other seedcosts in the early 1960s, growers start lookingtreatments have led to a relationship with Incotecfor more efficient cultivation methods. So the(still ongoing), then a subsidiary of Royal Sluis andemergence of plant breeders as important playerstoday a leading seed technology company.Special packaging wascreated for the pilettes.is also a result of the search for efficiency. It isprecisely those plant breeders that are switchingto the use of sowing machines that automatically1964-1965sow seeds into press-pots. One key requirementhere is that the seed must be round in order topass through the machine properly.1960-1980 | Time for expansion57TurnoverFTE––
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