New Chief Financial Officer and member of the Board Dirk Neelis

New Vice President I&D Jeroen van der Zanden

Be One Finance strategy project Kairos

Culture Journey Getting to the heart of the Enza Zaden culture

OGSM webinar festival in February Putting a face to the OGSM 

Populus All our colleagues in one HR system

Video: An update on market dynamics Hein Bemelmans, Chief Commercial Officer

New Vice Presedent I&D Jeroen van der ZandenEndFragment

On 1 April, Jeroen van der Zanden joined Enza Zaden as the new Vice President Information & Digitalisation. Jeroen is an experienced leader in areas of IT, Data Management, Supply Chain and Digital Transformation. In this role, he succeeded Peter Baër, who left Enza Zaden per 1 July to move permanently to Italy.

New Chief Financial Officer and member of the Board Dirk Neelis EndFragment

In June the Supervisory Board announced the appointment of Dirk Neelis as the new CFO and member of the Board of Directors, with effect of 1 September 2022. With this appointment, we have succeeded in binding a very experienced and competent professional to this crucial position within a relatively short period of time. Dirk, who is currently Vice President Finance & Control at the Air France – KLM Group, succeeds Joost Gietelink, who was CFO and Board-member for the last 5 years.

Be One Finance strategy project KairosEndFragment

Building together The Kairos project started with a kick-off and designing the key Finance processes and organisation. Jan Roos, manager global business control, core team and management team member: “It was good to meet each other in March physically and share the why, why now, ambition, project approach, and give space to questions and ideas. I am very pleased that over 40 Finance colleagues join in the six workstreams within Kairos, building the design together. We also give close attention to the connection with several internal stakeholders.”  In the period March until June the workstreams designed the processes Order to Cash, Record to Report, Purchase to Pay and Plan to Perform. A sign-off of the Steerco of these processes is expected in July. The next step is to finalise the design of the Finance operations model, which is expected to be signed-off by the Steerco begin September.  Read more on the ‘Be One: Finance’ strategy and project Kairos on EnzaPlaza.

After launching the ‘Be One: Finance’ strategy in December 2021, one of the main projects to achieve the Finance ambition - project Kairos - started. Project Kairos will migrate Finance Operations from country based to process-based with a standardised way of working. Regional and local business control will be established as part of Global Business Control. With signing off the first phase by the Steering Committee, the design phase of project Kairos started in March with a kick-off and several workshops in the Netherlands. In July, a sign off of the designs is expected. With process-based operations, Finance is better equipped to achieve insights based on reliable data, continuously improve the processes, be scalable for Enza Zaden’s growth and better able to control our process risks. This way Finance will be a partner in business that remains in control and adds value at all levels.   Effect throughout the organisationProject Kairos will not only change Finance, but also has effect on the Finance processes throughout the organisation. That is why the steering committee consists of a representation of stakeholders from the Enza Zaden business: Jurre Onrust (International HR Manager), Martin Koper (Global Infrastructure Director), Rodolfo Leyva (Regional Sales Director), Gido Schouten (Strategy & Operations Director Seed Production) with interim chairman Hein Bemelmans leading the steering committee. 

Referral Recruitment Colleagues help find new colleagues EndFragment

Due to the global labour shortage, retaining and attracting talent is one of Enza Zaden’s top priorities. The recruitment team works very hard every day to find, appeal to and bring in suitable candidates. And with success. In the first few months of this year, 129 new colleagues were hired by Enza Zaden.  Almost 8% of the hired candidates in 2021 were recommended by referral. This means that our own employees, friends, family members or acquaintances informed them of the vacancies at Enza Zaden. Thank you very much! Because employees are Enza Zaden’s best ambassadors, a global Referral Recruitment programme will be developed in the coming months. In June, a short questionnaire was distributed, for all Enza employees to share their thoughts on this topic. Over 500 colleagues from all Functions all over the world took the time to answer the questions. The majority (75%) shares Enza vacancies within their network of friend and family and almost 90% of the respondents are willing to refer a suitable candidate to Enza Zaden. Based on the detailed feedback on why and how colleagues want to use their network, a programme that best suits Enza Zaden will be developed.  

Culture Journey Getting to the heart of the Enza Zaden cultureEndFragment

The Enza Zaden culture, in essence ‘how we do things together’, has a major influence on the success of our strategy. It is also the one thing that cannot be copied by competitors. To get a better understanding of the specific characteristics of the Enza Zaden culture and how it can help us get the best out of each other, an extensive study started in May. The results are expected in October. Be One: Growing Together. That is the core of our strategy for 2025. We want to be the best vegetable breeder in the crop segments in which we are active. With the size and power to remain independent. The strategy sets out how we will deal with changing circumstances to remain successful. This approach only works if our culture fits our strategy.

Culture belongs to all of us  But what is our culture and how has it developed over the past 84 years? And does our culture enable us to achieve our goals? It starts with getting a clear understanding of the specific characteristics of the Enza Zaden culture. It’s about assessing whether the strategy matches the culture and vice versa, what we need to retain and where there are areas to adjust. Ultimately, our culture can help us get the best out of each other. Culture belongs to all of us and it’s a great opportunity for as many colleagues as possible to share their insights. Three phases The culture study is divided into three phases, starting with large numbers of participants, gradually funneling to smaller groups to get more in-depth feedback. The first phase was a series of interactive chat sessions in May, with colleagues from all countries Functions and years of service. More than 600 colleagues from all over the world participated in four online dialogues. The conversations were so active that in total more than 7,000 messages and responses were sent. Many colleagues indicated that they appreciate the initiative, the form and the content.   Based on the outcomes of these online conversations, the second phase started in June: a survey in Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Mexico, India, Southeast Asia and the United States (the largest and most diverse locations in the region in terms of functions). In the third and final phase, previous hypotheses will be thoroughly tested through focus groups sessions in July and September. These discussions are not anonymous, but confidential because they are supervised by an external research agency. The full results of the culture study are expected in September. 

Project Populus: all our colleagues in one HR system As Enza Zaden grows, it becomes more and more complex to know all our colleagues. The current HR system landscape is fragmented with complex processes, limited functionality, difficult to automate and scale up. People data are stored in various documents, saved locally and aren’t linked to each other, making it challenging to know and find our colleagues. The solution lies in one single source of truth, a global easy-to-use platform, making HR tasks fast and fun.  It’s about people, not administration That is why – under the project name Populus – a global HR information system is being implemented, which contains all Enza Zaden people data and supports user-friendly processes. After all, it should be about people, not administration. In 2021, the project team selected a global HR information system and prepared the future processes. The configuration will start in September 2022. In a phased approach, the system will be rolled out over all our locations, starting with The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Mexico and the United States. Other countries will follow in 2023. The final implementation is planned for the first quarter of 2024, after which additional functionalities will be added. 

Populus EndFragment

OGSM webinar festival in February Putting a face to the OGSM  EndFragment

To create transparency, cross-functional alignment, engage and enable managers to explain the F-1 objectives to their employees, a series of webinars was held early in the year. Managers shared their F-1 OGSM’s with their peers and anyone else who was interested in 20-minute interactive sessions.  Enabling the functional responsible explain the OGSM in their own words brings the strategy to life and encourages colleagues to contact each other during the year when case more alignment and/or clarification is needed. Through the personal approach, the sessions really put a face to the OGSM.  All sessions were recorded, making them available to a larger group, while helping with the onboarding of new colleagues during the year. In a quick survey, the participants rated the OGSM festival with a 7 out of 10. A nice score for this first-time effort, with useful feedback for a future round.  

Germany live with Dynamics 365 and Medius EndFragment

Last spring, after 4 months of hard work, Dynamics 365 (D365) finance, D365 procurement and Medius were live in Germany. Since February a lot of effort was put in by the German finance team, the project team and our partner HSO to configure the system based on the standard processes that were created during the pilot project. On top of these standard processes, all regulatory demands were added, giving our German team a system that complies to the German regulations and is still is in line with the global standards.     Solid basis, better insight and automatic processesThe implementation gives a solid basis for the financial processes and reporting for the years to come. On top of that, it enables the German functions to migrate the procurement flow from paper to D365 and achieve better insight into spending. Last but not least, the implementation of Medius helps our German colleagues to get rid of the paper trail that is now created for invoices and gives the possibility to process invoices automatically.  Looking back at the project there is one thing that stands out: the great cooperation between all of the involved project members. It was a real key-component in the successful completion of this part of the project. This really became clear during the execution of the User Acceptance Test when we were all in Dannstadt for a week to work side by side in testing and transferring knowledge on the system to the German team.  What is next?The D365 train did not stop at the implementation for Germany. Currently we are in the implementation for the 3th wave consisting of Morocco and France. According to the current planning we will celebrate the next go-live half of October. Also the wave after Morocco and France is being currently planned. This wave consists of Italy, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Alignment on the planning is underway and we are aiming on implementation at the beginning of 2023. All in all exiting times in the D365 Rollout project! EndFragment

Italy Reconnecting EndFragment

Last April, the first ConnectEnzItalia events took place in both Italian Enza Zaden stations: Tarquinia and Santa Croce Camerina. These events have the purpose to (re)connect, finally in person, colleagues from different departments in the stations after the forced separation due to the pandemic.  The idea came from the local RDMT and the initiatives were started after the creation of a cross-functional team which includes enthusiastic volunteers representing all departments in both stations. An initial questionnaire helped to understand how much was known about the different working groups and which were the missing information or curiosity about them. Later, a calendar of events to present each time a department was made and then it was a matter of starting!  The first 2 groups opening the doors of their department and presenting their daily activities, achievements and challenges were the Cell and Tissue Culture laboratory in Tarquinia and the Sales department in Santa Croce Camerina.  Great interaction in a friendly setting was shown in both stations and for new colleagues hired during the pandemic, it was finally a way to know the work of others.  More awareness, connection and appreciation for the work of others were some of feedback received and in Tarquinia, colleagues who joined the event left also with “full hands” with “souvenirs” from the laboratory.

It’s been 75 years since the level of the Po river, from which most of Northern Italy draws water for crop irrigation, was so low. The snowfall and rainfall in 2022 were both 80% less than in 2021. When it did rain, it did so in the form of thunderstorms and, therefore, with little effectiveness in restoring the soil moisture. In Ferrara, sea water returned to the interior of the territory for more than 25 km, creating enormous problems. In Piedmont, water rationing has started, also for civil use and many regions will soon follow. The situation is indeed one of great concern for our growers and for our business. In the north, we have had only a small impact on some crops, like lettuce and cauliflower and also endives could be affected. In the south, the situation is better, but the water level is also under the normal level. Very critical is the situation for processing tomatoes, corn and other large crops in general. Farmers will probably have to choose how many and which hectares to abandon. For vegetables, all new transplants in July and August could be compromised. The lack of water is not causing big problems for our business at the moment, but it could enormously affect agriculture in the whole country if it doesn’t rain soon. This is why we are monitoring the situation very closely.

Challenges due to water shortage EndFragment

In the first semester of this year, HR organized “team connection” sessions both in the Tarquinia and the Sicilian stations. The goal was to help us reconnect in person after a period of absence and to help us get to know our colleagues more in depth as a person and not only as a colleague. In fact: “building teams requires more than just matching skill sets. We need to connect more on human level, to offer value, to be vulnerable, to build skills, to create groups, and to support colleagues with their lifelong goals.”  Adele Lamagna HR Italia

Team connection Italy EndFragment

New facilities to transform Murcia station into a breeding station

Spain

Support from the Argentinian production team in Spain

RDT Lab Accreditation in Spain

Video Update by Prudencio Olivares Serrabona

RDT Lab Accreditation in Spain

Support from the Argentinian production team in Spain

Video Update by Prudencio Olivares Serrabona

The station in Murcia is located the most important production area for open field in Spain. It plays a key role in the network of Enza Zaden stations for leafy and fruity crops. To develop the Murcia station with the high standard required in quality and efficiency, we needed to improve the facilities. A masterplan was developed to transform the station from a screening to a breeding station. One of the steps in that masterplan is the development of facilities to provide the right support in the seed-to-seed process for all the activities in the crops segment defined by Enza Zaden present in the area: Leafy, Brassicas, Melon, Watermelon and Peppers. Seed processing and postharvest in Mucia StationTo achieve this, we have realized the following: • New facilities for seed extraction, seed disinfection and seed storage. • Development of a post-harvest processing line for leafy crops to select    the best plant according to the market standards.  • Installment of climatic chambers and equipment to evaluate the Enza    Zaden germplasm, mimicking the conditions in the post-harvest chain,    from the field to the supermarket. • Creation of facilities for semi-automatic digital phenotyping in leafy crop. • Sufficient workspace for our employees. Separated workflows in the seed processing areaFor the seed processing area, we now have enough space to split the area in distinct parts to have separated workflows for: • Dry seed extraction, for lettuce and Brassicas,  • Wet area extraction for melon, watermelon and squash • Seed cleaning & seed bagging area • Seed storage area where we can realize the right storage and security   conditions

New facilities to transform Murcia station into a breeding station EndFragment

Focus on the whole chain Our product development is increasingly focusing on the whole chain, from grower until consumer. Therefore, we need to increase our knowledge about the behaviour of our genetics during the entire process. With this knowledge we can better inform our customers and we are able to breed for varieties with improved post-harvest qualities.

AccreditationFinally, in May 2022, after more than a year and a half of work, the Spanish RDT lab received accreditation, showing that we were able to overcome the difficulties of the implementation, but also experienced the joy of successful multicultural cooperation. In the process we were able to generate a cooperation based on trust which also allowed us to make further process improvements in all cooperating departments beyond the scope of accreditation. As this was a good and learning experience, we all look forward to taking up the challenge of maintaining the accreditation and contribute to the global sustainable profitable growth of Enza.

During last year, we experienced an increase in restrictions of seed movement worldwide. Implementation of EU regulation to control ToBRFV, hampered our possibilities to ship seeds from Spain to the rest of the EU. Accreditation of our lab by ISO17025 would allow seed movement since those labs are accepted by European and Spanish legislation as authorized to certify seeds for plant passport. Big challenge This stimulated us to embark on the path of obtaining accreditation for our Spanish RDT laboratory. This, however, was a big challenge as implementing of ISO 17025 in the RDT lab in Spain required adaption of our daily work in the lab, establishment of a system of impartiality and confidentiality, a calibration program, a document control system and annually management review.  Cross-functional cooperation Cross-functional cooperation was essential to move the project forward in a timely matter and we worked closely together with Seed Health Lab, Seed Pathology Research, Business Support Spain, External ISO Consultant and Quality Assurance to aligned protocols and procedures to harmonize as much as possible. This is important, as this implementation is the blueprint for future global implementation.

RDT Lab Accreditation in Spain EndFragment

Cross-functional alignment in onion seed production in Argentina

Onion seed production in South Africa

International teamwork in onion seed production  Support from the Argentinian production team in SpainEndFragment

This year Enza produces 40 Ha of intermediate and long day onion seeds in Spain for the first time. Both our Regional Production Specialist Pere Miro and the growers do not know our genetics and are not familiar with our inspection and quality protocol. Therefore, Pere Miro received the support from Guillermo Yaciofano and Eduardo David Gervilla from our Argentinian production team for 2weeks. They have a lot of experience in the quality checking and training the farmers’s teams. Within two weeks, all fields were checked and cleaned up when necessary during the important flowering period and the best product quality is assured. A good example of how international teamwork can lead to getting the best products.

Disease monitoring of breeding leaf samples Cooperation between Seed Health and Routine Disease Testing EndFragment

Onion seed production in South AfricaEndFragment

South Africa

Onion seed production in South Africa EndFragment

In South Africa, our team lead by Japie Pretorius contacted several growers to produce 1/3rd of our total requirement directly under supervision of Enza Zaden for our 2024 harvest. This way we increase our freedom to operate by having more control over the field allocation, quality checks and lead times, leading to a better quality, reliability and more flexibility for our South African onion seed productions

Support from the Argentinian production team in Spain

In Argentina, Adrian Gomez and his team setup producibility trials of new R&D varieties to check the producibility criteria and the adaptability of the varieties under the Argentinian conditions. This way we proactively collect production information we use for our decisions and planning of the variety introduction, and we can use this data for a better production planning in the scale-up to commercial quantities. In October, both the R&D and the production team will meet-up in Argentina for the evaluation of the trials, to align our field observations and discuss the new material being forwarded. In this way we have cross-functional alignment on transfer criteria of new R&D material and a smooth handover with reliable data.

Cross-functional alignment in onion seed production in Argentina EndFragment

The consumer is looking for fresh & healthy food. Preferably locally produced. The low or no pesticide use makes the end-product a modern alternative to organic as well.  Market leaders in USADue to close customer connection and good cross functional team play, we have become market leaders in USA in just a few years’ time. Currently we are working hard on strengthening our pipeline and assortment. This to ensure our leading position in USA, but also to gain market share in other regions.  The video gives more information about CEA

Watch video

CEA or Controlled Environment Agriculture is term we use for High Tech Hydroponics and Vertical Farming. This is globally the fastest growing production method for leafy greens. USA is leading this trend, but we see rapid developments in other regions as well. Constant quality & quantityCustomers are looking for a more secure way to produce lettuce of constant quality & quantity, as this is requested by food service industry or retail. CEA has proven to be successful and profitable for our customers. They now copy paste their activities to other cities backed by capital investors, hence the rapid sales growth. Note that the real expansion has yet to start. Other advantagesThe possibility of fully automizing the entire production processes, while labour shortage is a structural issue, is a big driver. Automation tackles another industry issue as well: food safety. Since no hands touch the product during the entire production process, the risk of contamination with human pathogens is virtually zero.

CEA is booming! EndFragment

Enza Zaden has a new demo location!  EndFragment

After a six-year collaboration with Triomaas and Peet van Dorp, Enza Zaden now has its own demo and test location for tomatoes at Duijvestijn Tomaten in Pijnacker. For the coming years, we will have the availability of 9,000 m2 of greenhouse space, of which 3,000 m2 is for the lighted crop (LED and SON-T) and 6.000 m2 is for the unlit cultivation. Besides there is a display room where we can show our products to the customers and there is some office space available. Product and sales development This location should give a strong impulse to our product and sales development, with the focus today on our ToBRFV high resistance varieties. In addition to the R&D variety trials, we will also have a ‘living’ catalog of grower trials and commercial varieties available at this location. With this location we have the possibility to organize trials in-house and are we no longer dependent on third parties. This can greatly help the sales team in their day-to-day work. House Fair  The doors were officially opened in June and in week 24 and 26 the yearly House Fair event took place. During the week 24, customers from different countries visited the location where we could inform them about the assortment of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant and melon. Both growers and chain parties had the opportunity to make an appointment with one of our colleagues. And for those who would rather not come to the location due to the ToBRFV virus, an online edition will be offered in week 26.

For any question, please contact Margrethe Tool:  m.tool@enzazaden.nl.

Successful Global I&D Week EndFragment

I&D conference On the last day, we also organized our very first I&D conference. External partners (Microsoft and Motiv) and internal colleagues (TDM, DSCP, PlantXR, NextGB, Digital Phenotyping) hosted a stand on the inspiration market. The market provided “a very good opportunity to get a feel of internal projects that you normally don’t get that much information about”. People indicated that they really “learned a lot from other colleagues’ perspective”. In parallel, everyone joined two workshops on design thinking, storytelling, and/or excellent teams. Participants “loved the discussions during the workshops”, enabled by “the perfect size of the groups”. The closing BBQ, which we enjoyed bathing in the sun, “was perfect, and it felt good to be there and sense a feeling of a real team.”. One of our colleagues perfectly summarized all three days: “we were no longer separate groups, but really one department. Thanks a lot for the great week!” Do you feel inspired and want to know more – just let us know!

Every year, we organize the Global I&D Week. The last two editions were all-digital, so we were thrilled to finally be able to host an on-site event again. Roughly 80 I&D colleagues, including our international colleagues, enjoyed three fully-packed days.  “I&D festival – Back together”This year, our theme was “I&D festival – Back together”. During two Covid-years, we have largely worked from home. At the same time, we also welcomed many new colleagues. We therefore wanted to reconnect with each other in real-life, but also reconnect with Enza’s core: what is it that we actually work for as I&D?  It was an absolutely amazing week. Tours at M&S, SO and R&DTo be successful as I&D, it is crucial to understand the processes from the different business functions. The team therefore enjoyed tours at M&S, SO and R&D, guided by passionate colleagues from the respective departments. “The guides gave excellent explanations with plenty of room for questions and discussion”, and “even if you work for Enza for a longer period it’s still good to ‘refresh’ your thoughts about the core business of Enza Zaden.” Q&A sessions and sailing trip On day two, Jeroen van der Zanden (VP I&D) and Jaap Mazereeuw (CEO) were “both very open and specific” in their Q&A sessions. People valued “the relaxed environment” in which “it felt easy to talk”. The following sailing trip aboard the Willem Barentsz provided the perfect opportunity to “socialize with the colleagues you have not spoken to since a long time - or did not even knew they were colleagues”.

The Fenix project enters a new phase – with sales projected in all targeted areas in 2022. EZ Benelux is a frontrunner with sales earlier than anticipated. Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) represents a formidable challenge for the global tomato industry, with ToBRFV’s impact on yield, shelf life, and overall quality threatening supply and profitability to the point of losses of 30% up to 100% in certain area. It is a major challenge getting rid of this virus from the greenhouse. There is no treatment for a plant that has this virus, so there is no cure. The solution to fight against ToBRFV lay into a multi-layered approach that combines high resistance and sanitary measures. To date, the virus has been reported in at least 35 countries across four continents in the world. Because Enza Zaden uses one single dominant gene, the breeding team is rapidly introgressing high resistance into a wide range of tomatoes. To-date, 14 Enza Zaden varieties have already moved to commercial status. Market acceptance for ToBRFV-HR is high, therefore we are assessing upside sales scenarios. The Fenix project team has defined the following ‘tactics for growth’ for 2022: · Safeguard the processes to keep the speed and seed quality. · Sharp product positioning thanks to strong alignment with the sales & breeding team. · Closely monitor seed demand, seed supply (forecasting). · Pricing strategy for ToBRFV-HR varieties across the globe. · Manage closely the rootstock launch. · Manage the new virus developments. · Launch a global ToBRFV-HR marketing campaign. For more information, please contact Jean-François Thomin.

The Fenix project enters a new phase EndFragment

The Genebank harbors a large collection of germplasm with huge potential for Enza Zaden. It may help to reduce breeding time and it may contribute to the discovery of new traits faster than our competitors. For reference, the ToBRFV resistant gene was first identified in an accession from our collection! Transparency & accessibility The Genebank is undergoing changes aimed at promoting the use of the collection. As a first step, a good deal of transparency and accessibility is needed. Data collected by different parties should be centrally administrated and accessed by all R&D colleagues. To make this happen, we are currently working on an R2D project in which the Genebank administration will be replaced by Phenome. Positive impactWouldn’t it be awesome to immediately see phenotype, genotype or other information (e.g. seed health test results) attached to the material you want to screen? Think of this transition as an integration of the Genebank administration with breeding (and in the future Biotech), leading to processes like seed requests, multiplication or seed health testing becoming extremely simplified, better managed, and more efficient at the Genebank level. Ultimately, this will positively impact Breeding and Biotech, by providing data and better managing expectations. This project will also directly influence projects like R2D Track & Trace and will enable the connection of Genebank information with other data present in the Smart Data Platform.

Next steps At the end of November 2021, a successful PoC (Proof of Concept) was performed to assess the possibility of using Phenome as a Genebank application. Next step is performing a trial migration into Phenome in a test environment to validate the migration template. We plan to have the project finalized by Q2 2023, with all information migrated and the Genebank fully operating via Phenome. More informationIf you would like to know more, contact c.cucio@enzazaden.nl.

Connecting the Gene Bank EndFragment

Video EndFragment

W-EU Product-Management team in full swing EndFragment

During the process of merging the 3 European Sales Regions into the West European (W-EU) Marketing & Sales Region, the implementation of a Product Management Team (PM-Team) structure was one of the corner stones. Beginning of this year, the entire W-EU Marketing & Sales region - but also the W-EU PM team - went live. Now, 6 months later, we are proud to inform that the W-EU PM-Team is up and running and for the last vacancy a very valuable candidate is found and will close the current gaps soon. Finalization Strategic Market Plans The W-EU PM-Team has already proven that it is closely connected to our local markets and our sales colleagues in the countries. They are providing a very beneficial, holistic, overall perspective of all product-related dynamics and trends in the West European market. As a result, a huge milestone was the finalization of 13 Strategic Market Plans for the most important crops in West Europe. These plans were approved by the W-EU M&S Leadership-Team some weeks ago and will give the entire W-EU sales organization guidance in our actions within the region. We will act aligned & powerful!  Agile and determinate product creation In addition, the PM-Team is enriching our entire regional product development process. In close interaction with our R&D colleagues and the local product development teams in the countries, we have all components for an agile and determinate product creation and positioning, well suited to the respective market needs. Powerful pipeline filling process The merge of • the accumulated knowledge of R&D; • the testing of our genetics in the local market; • in combination with detailed local customer & market knowledge of the sales teams; • and enriched by a holistic and clustered overall West European perspective;   enables us to have a very powerful pipeline filling process.  By implementing the PM-Team structure within the W-EU M&S region, we added an important piece to support a core element of our entire Enza Zaden Group strategy 2025: “being the first in developing the best products”. The PM-Team is contributing to successful product development but also to improve the understand our customers’ needs. On behalf of the W-EU Product Management Team Christof Flörchinger

Video Update by Prudencio Olivares Serrabona EndFragment