“At Rijk Zwaan everything revolves around people, from start to finish,” stated the jury report. “Employees are encouraged to display their creativity and entrepreneurialism without limitation. The organisation actively seeks interaction with consumers, such as through its ‘Love My Salad’ Facebook page. And in the context of the company’s motto of ‘Sharing a healthy future’, it celebrates growers’ achievements and embraces collaboration with strategic partners. The result of all this is an extremely solid organisation which presents new developments and products in rapid succession, year after year. A robust, top-level company where the people make the difference.”

“We definitely didn’t take it for granted that we would win the award again this year,” says Marco van Leeuwen, Managing Director of Rijk Zwaan. “A breeding company is a complex entity in which long-term success depends on getting all the individual details right. Our highly competent employees are crucial to this, as are our dependable partners whom we have known for many years. We work closely together to develop new collaborative models and marketing concepts in the aim of increasing the entire sector’s earning capacity. We invest 30% of our turnover in R&D, simply because we can’t produce new varieties without research. Despite our international activities, the Dutch greenhouse horticulture sector remains an important domestic market for us at Rijk Zwaan. It’s a source of many enthusiastic collaborative partners who help us to produce accelerated innovation.”

During the awards ceremony, Van Leeuwen emphasised the importance of contributing to a positive image for the greenhouse horticulture sector, and the key role which businesses play in doing so. They receive valuable support from the Dutch government’s top-sector policy as well as the excellent marketing and branding activities by organiser Hillenraad.