The Netherlands
November 8, 2024
HZPC takes leave of Gerard Backx and calls for resilience revolution This year's Potato Days of potato breeder Royal HZPC Group were marked by a farewell and a new beginning. The theme Resilience Revolution was introduced, and a farewell was said to former CEO Gerard Backx, which was accompanied by a donation to the Paul Speijer Fund.
The message of Potato Days 2024 is harsh but clear: worldwide, nearly half of all food crops are lost in the field. This is caused by lack of water, extreme weather conditions, plant pests and diseases. Given the growing world population and the fact that a third of the crops that do come off the land healthy are still lost later, there is cause for concern.
A Resilience Revolution is desperately needed
There is also good news. For years, work toward solutions has been in progress to make the potato crop more resilient. Under the name Resilience Revolution, Royal HZPC Group wants to open the conversation about this and call for stronger collaboration and cooperation. So that together, we may take bigger steps towards a cultivation that utilizes the full potential of fields around the world.
As part of the new theme, Royal HZPC Group showed its resilient varieties, panelists - including Erika den Daas, CEO van Meijer Potato, Giulio Romagnoli, CEO van Romagnoli Patate en Dick Zelhorst, CEO van Aviko - entered into a discussion with each other, Prof. Martin Kropff talked about Resilient Food Systems, and the Innovation Center showed how resilient varieties are created. More information about Resilience Revolution, including examples of collaborations, can be found at www.hzpc.com/revolution.
A Highlight to Remember
After an impressively fruitful 23 years, Royal HZPC Group is bidding farewell to its former CEO Gerard Backx. He will be succeeded by Hans Huistra. For his farewell, Gerard did not need presents, but if people still wanted to give something, there was an opportunity to donate to a fund dear to him: The Paul Speijer Fund. This fund offers African students the opportunity to study Plant Sciences at Wageningen University & Research. Finally, Gerard crowned his farewell by handing over a check worth €25.000 to Nicole Smit, the founder of the fund and widow of Paul Speijer.
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