Europe - Seed World

Europe - Seed World

By Europe - Seed WorldBusiness
Download on the App Store

Europe - Seed World episodes

  • Singing for the Seed Industry

    It’s rare that the seed sector and the music industry overlap, but Anton van Doornmalen, Rijk Zwaan’s co-owner, chairman of its supervisory board and a singer-songwriter on the side, is changing that. For van Doornmalen, music is more than a way to unwind after a day in the office — it’s his way of sharing knowledge and passion for the vegetable seed industry. 

    Van Doornmalen’s album “Seed Songs” describes the positive atmosphere and feeling of togetherness that he says the seed industry delivers. Songs like “We are just seedsmen” explain what it’s like to work as a seedsman, as well as talking about the goals and challenges in the industry. The song was written by van Doornmalen and is his take on the famous Paul Simon song “The Boxer”. 

    “With my songs, I want to capture feelings,” says van Doornmalen. “A feeling can remain in the songs forever.” 

    During the 2024 World Seed Congress hosted by the International Seed Federation (ISF), van Doornmalen performed his song, aptly called “ISF”. Some might remember originally hearing the song at the 1996 World Seed Congress in Amsterdam. 

    “For me, it was very special to perform at the ISF in front of so many longtime companions, competitors and friends,” he says.

    Besides the new version of the song, Anton played “Passion in Seed”, originally composed for Hiroshi Sakata and the 100th anniversary of the Sakata Seed Corporation. 

    “This reflects the good atmosphere in the vegetable seed industry,” he says.

    One of Van Doornmalen’s newest songs is “We are One”, written to celebrate Rijk Zwaan’s 100th anniversary. The song connects all of Rijk Zwaan’s subsidiaries and is accompanied by the European Pop Orchestra, a symphony orchestra specializing in pop music.  

    Van Doornmalen has released nine multi-lingual albums that include over 50 songs sung in Dutch, English and German. All of van Doornmalen’s music can be streamed on Spotify or found on YouTube. The “ISF” music video created for the 2024 ISF conference can be found here, and the song can be downloaded for free here. Under this link you can find additional information about van Doornmalen’s music. 

    All of van Doornmalen’s concerts have a charitable purpose, supporting the foundation Sibusiso, which helps mentally and physically handicapped children in Tanzania. 

    “With my performances, I can share these feelings to the audience — and I can do something good at the same time,” he says.

    The post Singing for the Seed Industry appeared first on Seed World.

    4 min
  • Plants are talking. To grow food sustainably, let’s listen in. – A European Seed Innovation Webinar
    Plants use fast electrical signals to control development and defence. Learn how these signals can be decoded using machine learning and used to breed and grow better plants During this session you’ll learn: About sophisticated information networks that plants using to sense and react to their environments How tapping into these information networks using electrophysiology […]
    52 min
  • A Day in the Life of a Plant Breeder
    Caio Canella, soybean breeding research specialist at the University of Missouri-Columbia, talks about the upcoming “Support-A-Scholar Fundraiser: A Day in the Life of a Plant Breeder Panel Discussion” on March 2 at 1 p.m. Organized by the NAPB Borlaug Student Scholars, this e-event will be a panel discussion focused on how daily work as a […]
    7 min
  • Cutting Breeding Time with Kidist Kibret
    In our latest Giant Views video, Dr. Kidist Kibret, breeding software professional of Agronomix, sits down with Shawn Brook. In a world where it’s hard to get engaged in the industry, Kibret shares that she’s keeping herself motivated by getting excited about bioinformatics. When it comes down to plant breeding, bioinformatics is imperative. Kibret shares […]
    18 min
  • Sustainable Intensification: The Holy Grail
    In our new video, Marcel Bruins sits down to talk with David Zaruk, professor at Odisee University College in Brussels, Consultant on Risk Perception Management and blogging under the name The Risk Monger. Zaruk shares his ideas on the sustainable intensification approach, what element is often missing in these strategies, and what the seed sector […]
    12 min
  • Fake News, Misinformation and Disinformation in Agriculture
    In our new video, Marcel Bruins sits down to talk with Professor Joe Schwarcz, Director of the McGill Office for Science and Society in Montreal,Canada. Schwarcz shares his ideas on fake news, misinformation and disinformation, what are some of the most repeated pieces of misinformation in agriculture, and why people fall so easily for these […]
    30 min
  • In It for Agriculture, In It for Good
    In our new video, Marcel Bruins sits down to talk with Monica Sorribas, Marketing Leader Europe for Corteva Agriscience. Sorribas talks about the focus on sustainability in seed applied technologies, and shares several examples on how her company is putting sustainability in practice. She also addresses how to stay safe in covid-19 times through a […]
    9 min
  • How to make the agro-industry future proof?
    In our new video, Marcel Bruins sits down to talk with Marloes Groot, Global Marketing and Sales Manager for Teal Agro Technologies. Groot talks about what makes her company special, and why they have taken a different path from the rest. She also addresses customer needs and the importance of microplastic free seed applied technologies. […]
    9 min
  • 11 strategies to thrive in today’s environment
    Seed organizations and industry suppliers are facing unprecedented business challenges. Like being tossed around in a whirlwind with no clear sense of how to get out.

    One thing remains clear – new plans, reallocation of resources and new strategies must prevail to survive this and come out the back end with a tail wind.
    1 hr 4 min