Beginning on 1 November, Bert Scholte will join Netherlands company Naktuinbouw and will become its new head of variety testing following a hand-over period. He will succeed Kees van Ettekoven, who is set to retire in 2017.
With the appointment of Bert Scholte, Naktuinbouw can continue to play the leading role it holds globally in the area of Plant Breeders’ Rights, and further develop this role where required. This includes aspects such as the application of new DNA techniques with Plant Breeders’ Rights research or research into the infringement of those rights.
After graduating in Plant Breeding at Wageningen University, Scholte commenced the role of variety registration manager at Cebeco Seeds BV. There he was responsible for, among other things, variety registration, intellectual property/Plant Breeders’ Rights and product development of various agricultural crops; inside and outside Europe.
In 2002, Scholte was appointed area manager of grains and legumes at Cebeco Seeds BV in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Ukraine. In 2004, he made the switch to ESA (European Seed Association), becoming technical director. In this role, Scholte was responsible for all agriculture and vegetable crop sections and represented ESA in a technical area, both in Europe as well as globally. This position saw him develop a substantial network throughout the years. From his previous roles he was
closely involved with the activities of CPVO, UPOV, ISF, OECD and UN-ECE.
From 1 November Kees van Ettekoven will further develop his current role as chairman of the Working Group on Biochemical and Molecular Techniques and Profiling in Particular and vice-chairman of the Technical Committee of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). After his retirement in 2017 he will actively continue in these roles on behalf of the Netherlands.
