 Pieter van Kesteren
CEO
Nunza BV
The Netherlands
The last five
years were very challenging for the Nunza organization.
During this timeframe, fresh vegetable production became more
and more a global activity, which caused Nunza to adapt its
organization structure from geographical to functional, thus
making it better suited to service the customer wherever in the
world the vegetable production takes place.
During this same period, Nunza made three major acquisitions
that transformed it from a mostly European company into a global
company.
The Sunseeds, Leen de Mos and Rio Colorado acquisitions
contributed on one hand to Nunza's actual global market presence
and on the other hand
extended and improved the Nunza product line. After an
acquisition has been successfully concluded, the real work
starts. Integrating the new company into the total organization
can be very challenging and requires maximum effort and mutual
understanding from all people involved.
Also during these last years, as a result of the concentration
of the global companies in the crop protection business, the
stockholder of Nunza changed three times.
The fact that today Nunza is recognized as one of the leading
specialized high quality vegetable seed companies for the
professional market makes all of us at Nunza very happy and
proud. In my opinion that is the major achievement of our
people during the past few years.
Our key challenges for the future will be twofold.
First and foremost, to successfully and quickly bring to an
ever more demanding global market, a high percentage of the
output of our R&D efforts in a seed quality and product form
that satisfies the most critical professional grower and the
consumer. This has to be done in a way where the Intellectual
Property ownership is not compromised. The technological
conditions for this do exist and will have to be applied in such
a way that the final seed product creates value for all parties
involved, from the consumer back to the distributor/supermarket
to the grower/packer and to Nunza.
The second is as old as our industry : seed inventory
management. This aspect of the vegetable seed business has
recently become even more challenging because of the ever
shortening life cycle of a variety. The intensity and output of
the combined breeding and product development programs of the
international vegetable seed companies are such that an enormous
number of new improved hybrids are introduced almost daily. To
have the right variety in the right quantity, in the desired
seed quality, available at the right moment will determine the
success and financial health of a modern vegetable seed company.
Nunza BV is the holding company of a leading, international group
of vegetable seed companies that is globally active in research,
breeding, production and processing as well as marketing and
sales of high quality vegetable varieties for the professional
grower and the processing industry. Nunza operates in the market
under the brand names Nunhems and Sunseeds. Nunza employs about
1000 people and has operating units in more than 20 countries.
For more information about Nunza BV,
please visit www.nunza.com
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