EUROPEAN-SEED.COM I EUROPEAN SEED I 51 can be in the form of an animation, a brief presentation, a mini lecture, a picture show, etc. Always a combination of visual information with voice over spoken text. There are also interactive games available where people can learn about the business while playing a game. There is a movie about the sector and visitors can listen to a ‘symphony’ of the sounds of plant breeding and seed production/processing. Visitors can feel and smell different types of seed or taste some seedlings grown in the form of cress plants. In other words, all senses are being stimulated in this interactive experience. ES: WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ARE THE MAIN AIMS FOR THE SOW TO GROW EXPERIENCE? HvW: Funny enough, the aims of Sow to Grow are not much different from those of Saet & Cruyt. We still want to pay more and better attention to the sector and emphasize the important role The Netherlands plays in plant breeding. And we want to convey the message that plant breeding is of major importance to feed the growing population of this world, both in terms of quantity (food security) as well as in terms of quality (nutritional and health stimulating value). ES: BESIDES HORTICULTURAL CROPS, WILL SOW TO GROW ALSO FOCUS ON AGRICULTURAL CROPS? GM: We want to represent as much as pos- sible the entire sector, which means that we also pay attention to agricultural crops such as maize, wheat, rice, potatoes and grasses and we include also ornamental crops. Of course, our museum collection is mostly built on our regional history in veg- etable and flowers, but we increased the attention to the other players in the sector as well. We invite experts of those compa- nies to visit our experience and to advise us in how we can do that even better. ES: ONE OF THE AIMS OF SAET & CRUYT WAS TO INTEREST YOUNG PEOPLE FOR THE SEED SECTOR. WILL THE NEW SOW TO GROW ALSO AIM TO DO THIS AND HOW? HvW: Yes, as we stated earlier the younger generation is definitively an important target group. We plan to organize school visits and workshops and one of our next developments is the creation of a special education program using the content of the experience. As we mentioned above we use interac- tive information and games to transfer information and our messages in a more playful way. Besides our experience, we also facilitate another activity related to personal talent development, which is called Talentorium. This initiative was born following this goal, to inform people more about the plant breeding sector and to invite them to consider working in the sector. The Talentorium is a three-day program in which a person can discover and develop his/her talents. The course takes place in the inspiring environment of the experience and will be given fol- lowing the same seven process steps that we explain about the seed sector: Collecting, Breeding, Multiplying, Processing, Enhancing, Strengthening and Marketing. It will be given by pro- fessional coaches and, because of this approach, will become a unique pro- gram. This course is meant for people who want to orientate themselves on their personal career possibilities and is not only for people in the seed industry but can also be applied for people from other businesses. ES: OVER THE PAST DECADES, THERE HAVE BEEN MANY CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS SURROUNDING THE SEED SECTOR, SUCH A BIOTECHNOLOGY, PLANT BREEDING INNOVATION, SEED TREATMENT, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. WILL THE EXPERIENCE ALSO BE HIGHLIGHTING THESE TOPICS IN EXHIBITIONS OR OTHERWISE? GM: These are important topics for the industry and of course we mention those in the information we give to the visi- tors. We pay attention to subjects such as modern plant breeding techniques, biodiversity, organic farming, seed treat- ments, protection of intellectual property, etc. However, we stay factual and remain impartial from an opinion about good or bad. Instead we trigger the visitors to think about some of the dilemma’s the world is facing with feeding the future number of people on the earth, especially in regions such as Africa and Asia. ES: WHAT DO YOU HOPE VISITORS OF SOW AND GROW TAKE HOME FROM THE EXPERIENCE? HvW: We hope that they take home the knowledge how professional and impor- tant this plant breeding sector is and how special it is that a small country like Holland is the world champion in plant breeding and supporting in feeding the world. Secondly, we hope younger people will discover what an interesting sector this is to work in. With this experience the Dutch plant breeding and seed sector, which is hardly known by the larger public, is opening up and inviting everybody to get to know us. (Sow to Grow, Westerstraat 111, Enkhuizen, The Netherlands) Through interactive games, visitors learn more about plant breeding.