Nine American and Canadian journalists are touring the Netherlands for a week to blog, chat and write about the Netherlands’ state-of-the-art sustainable horticulture.
The Sustainability Initiative is being led by Martin Olde Monnikhof, agriculture attaché of the Dutch embassy in Washington. He is taking the group of journalists to visit 24 Dutch companies and research institutions specialising in plant breeding, green genetics, seed technology, climate control and process automation in greenhouses, funding greater sustainability and long-term visions of innovation.
On Thursday morning, the group will visit Enza Zaden. Apart from a tour of Enza Zaden’s R&D activities, while in Enkhuizen the journalists will also be introduced to the seed technology of INCOTEC Group, the molecular genetic research of Keygene and the objectives of Seed Valley.
Other firms and institutions on the tour calendar include TNO (the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research), Wageningen University, Rabobank, Koppert Biological Systems, Plantum NL, Priva and Flora Holland.
The journalists will talk to representatives of Dutch companies and institutions about what they see here, and how it relates to agriculture in the US and Canada. They will share their observations and thoughts on their own blogs, on Facebook and on Twitter.
The aim of The Sustainability Initiative is to create a network and encourage debate between leaders in agrarian sustainability and innovation.