FEBRUARY 2019 SEEDWORLD.COM / 55 Breeding Planning Quality Reporting Off-line apps Trial Production Inventory Processing Sales Software solutions for field crops, vegetables & flowers PANAMERICAN SEED HYBRO SAATZUCHT VAN WAVEREN SAATEN ENZA ZADEN Agro Business Solutions Het Voert 9 • 1613 KL Grootebroek • The Netherlands • www.agrosolutions.nl Since my visit, Dümmen Orange has broke ground on a new state-of-the-art Breeding Technology Centre in the Netherlands. The new facility will be one of the world’s largest laboratories for ornamental research, comprising three floors and facilitating research in phytopathology, genetics, genomics, tissue culture, cell biology, plant physiology and diagnostics. Nicolette Straver, the corporate communication special- ist, says that the research program focuses on traits that bring added value to the value chain, such as resistances, improved shelf life and improved yield. It will make use of technologies that increase the efficiency of the breeding programs through molecular breeding, efficient trait evaluation and genetic diver- sity analyses. The new center is expected to open in 2020. SW speed up bulb propagation and through a tissue culture method has managed to increase the multiplication rate of a single tulip bulb from three to several thousand per year. “A breeding process that takes more than 20 years is not an effective way of responding to changes in consumer and market needs,” says Hans van den Hueval, managing director of research and development for the company. “This revolutionary break- through drastically changes the dynamics of the tulip breeding process that eventually should not take longer than six to seven years.” With more than 7,700 employees, Dümmen Orange brings flower breeders from around the world together. I had a chance to tour one of the glasshouses to get an up-close look at the variety of roses. With annual sales of 350 million euros, the smell of business is a sweet one.