Facility

Dutch Seed Valley — Enkhuizen R&D Complex (Enza Zaden / Bejo / cluster)

Enkhuizen, North Holland, Netherlands — the geographic epicenter of the global vegetable seed industry. The 'Seed Valley' cluster within a 30km radius of Enkhuizen includes Enza Zaden HQ (Enkhuizen), Bejo Zaden HQ (Warmenhuizen, 20km south), and major R&D operations of Syngenta and BASF Nunhems. Within this small geographic area — smaller than most US counties — resides the majority of the world's proprietary vegetable seed genetics in active breeding programs. The cluster exists because of North Holland's unique combination of mild maritime climate suitable for seed production, centuries of Dutch horticultural expertise, and proximity to Wageningen University (the world's premier agricultural university, 80km south) which supplies the cluster's plant scientists. A flood event (North Holland is partially below sea level; the Ijsselmeer is a retained polder), a novel seed-borne pathogen introduced into the cluster's trial fields, or a targeted cyber attack on the cluster's genomic databases could simultaneously affect the R&D pipelines of multiple major vegetable seed companies. Source: https://www.seed-valley.nl/en/about-seed-valley