Source: Globes online

Zeraim Gedera will invest €4 million to set up an R&D center in Spain. The center will mainly raise new crop varieties for the development of new varieties.

The station will cover 12.5 acres of greenhouses and laboratories. New crop varieties take five years to grow. The greenhouses will serve as a laboratory for developing higher quality varieties and seeds of crops with longer shelf lives and greater resistance to pests and diseases prevalent in Europe. The varieties will meet the tastes of European consumers.

Zeraim Gedera will have $7 million in sales in Spain in 2004, and it plans to reach $11 million in sales in 2005.

Zeraim Gedera president and CEO Ohad Zuckerman said, "Spain is now the fruit and vegetable grower for Western Europe." He added that the Spanish R&D center would bring the company closer to the European market and improve its ability to meet consumers' fresh produce needs vis-à-vis European supermarket chains.