South Australian delegation visits the ‘De Ruiter Experience Center’

A delegation from South Australia, led by the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development and several staff members accompanied by representatives of the South Australian agricultural industry and the Australian ambassador to the Netherlands, visited the De Ruiter Experience Center. The aim of the visit was to exchange knowledge with a clear focus on sustainability and digitization while keeping in mind the similarities and differences between both countries at the level of greenhouse horticulture.

On August 1, the Hon. Clare Scriven MLC, Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development of South Australia, and Dr. Greg French, the Australian ambassador to the Netherlands, visited the De Ruiter Experience Center in the Netherlands together with a trade delegation.

The visit started with an extensive discussion on Bayer Vegetable Seeds' long-term strategy for vegetable seeds on topics such as energy costs, sustainability, product affordability, labor, and digitization with Anne Williams, Head of Protected Crops for Bayer's Vegetables Seeds business.

Regarding the latter topic, the use of Plantbalance (https://plantbalance.ag/) was discussed, with an additional explanation from Borg Exelmans, Managing Director and Head of Digital Transformation.

Consequently, Nico van Vliet, Value Chain Development Lead, reflected on the consumer characteristics and the joint chain approach towards supermarkets with category management and flavor stories as an example.

After the presentation session, the visitors were invited to the De Ruiter market to taste and experience the large tomato and cucumber portfolio.

To end, the entire South Australian delegation could taste several delicious tomato plates prepared by Chef Guus Vredenburg, during which additional topics were discussed between all participants.

As the similarities and differences between the Netherlands and South Australia in terms of greenhouse horticulture were emphasized, allowing both parties to learn from each other, this visit was experienced as very valuable by both the South Australian delegation, which consisted of representatives of the South Australian Government, the Australian Embassy in the Netherlands and the South Australian agricultural industry, and Bayer.