Pop Vriend’s 2023 PopFest takes place in September
PopFest, an event is for growers, distributors and partners to discover Pop Vriend’s newest varieties and latest innovations, will be held Sep. 25-29, 2023. The PopFest Open Days take place at the breeding station in Andijk and can be visited by appointment.
“We want to inspire growers and chain partners with our solutions. Climate change, sustainability, taste and health are complex issues that require a focused approach. At Pop Vriend, we focus on a limited number of crops, allowing us to offer the best varieties and solutions that add value for all stakeholders in the food chain. From growers to consumers,” Joost van den Eijnden, commercial director at Pop Vriend said.
“During PopFest, we give customers technical advice for specific growing areas and share the latest market trends and insights. With our focus, we want to be the best at understanding and responding to the opportunities and challenges our customers face,” Van den Eijnden added.
The Magma Collection
In terms of varieties, Pop Vriend shows heat- and stress-tolerant beans. This year, the Magma Collection, a collection of heat- and stress-tolerant beans initially developed for the U.S. fresh market, expanded to include varieties for the European fresh market. The Magma varieties prevent gaps in production programs due to heat stress.
Year-round spinach
In baby leaf spinach, the most important development is that the portfolio for the Northwest European market has been completed with new varieties in the early and late segments. Pop Vriends’ focus is to enable baby leaf spinach growers in Europe to serve supermarkets with varieties that are consistent in production and with high leaf quality-easy to process and attractive to consumers. The Pop Vriend varieties are distinguished by the combination of highest resistance levels and best leaf quality: crisp, fresh green and “fork size.”
Pop Vriend also introduced a new series of oriental spinach varieties, which are characterized by a complete resistance package and an improved leaf type leading to less processing loss and better shelf life in the chain.
Part of the KWS family
INITIO is a nutrient-based seed treatment developed together with parent company KWS. The treatment was introduced last year in spinach and has shown very good results over the past year. INITIO increases yield security through faster and more uniform emergence, a more resilient crop and improved root system development. During PopFest, specialists will be on hand to share the latest results and showcase INITIO trials. In red beet, the focus is on integrating genetics from KWS’ sugar beet program into our red beet genetics. This year large-scale trials are being conducted with new, experimental varieties that have Rhizomania resistance in addition to the current characteristics of Pop Vriend genetics, high brix and strong foliage.
Chain solutions
In addition to agronomic traits, Pop Vriend also focused on needs of the chain after the grower. During PopFest, a number of inspiring concepts will be shown that demonstrate how Pop Vriend can help respond to market trends and changing consumer needs.
Breeders and other specialists will show the latest innovations on the demo field. Additionally, Pop Vriend’s bean, spinach, chard and beet varieties can be seen and tasted during PopFest.
For more information, email info@popvriendseeds.nl or visit popvriendseeds.com
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