Van Rijn-UK Open Day – A great success!
The first official van Rijn (UK) Open Day was held at Honeypot Lane near Colsterworth on 2nd December this year. The UK based van Rijn team of Sue Williams, Ian Josiffe and Jim McCreight were joined by four of their Dutch colleagues to welcome visitors.
50-60 people attended the open day, including packers, processors, growers and agronomists. The visitors were able to look at new varieties in trial in the UK from the van Rijn breeding programme together with others already in UK production such as Piccolo Star and Saphire with Branston UK Limited.
In addition they had access to the expert advice and knowledge of the van Rijn breeders and agronomists on site to answer questions about any part of the potato production chain from varieties and seed through to harvest and markets.
The Open Day also raised the profile amongst the UK industry about the new joint venture between van Rijn and KWS, which was set up on 1st July 2008.
The general feeling was from both van Rijn and it’s customers was that the Open Day was a great success – one that will be built on in 2009 and beyond.
