Thursday April 28 construction commenced at breeding company De Groot en Slot in Broek op Langedijk by the directors Martin Slot and Jeroen de Haas. The new Breeding centre will be at the location of the old company halls. With the new and modern facilities, De Groot en Slot will have a good position to continue to develop new, successful onion and shallot varieties.
Family company De Groot en Slot is specialised in the breeding of onion and shallots. Director Martin Slot: "As the only global player we focus on these specific products 100%. Having this full attention, a good knowledge network and excellent facilities is a boundary condition for success. Not just in the short term, but primarily in the long term. Creating a successful new variety takes up to 10 to 15 years."
Over the coming weeks around 1,200 piles will be driven into the ground. Besides the pile activities the roof of the expedition hall will be isolated and the remainders of the old building will be carried off. There will be lots of work and it's needed. The new breeding centre has to be in use in mid September, before the onion harvest from across Europe comes in.
Future
With the new building De Groot en Slot is taking another step to strengthen its position as the knowledge centre in the area of onions and shallots and further extend their lead. Jeroen de Haas: "After realising this new building we will have a beautiful location where our diverse logistical, processing and rating processes that mainly play a role in the classical breeding of onions will take place over the coming years. We believe having our full attention on onions and shallots, an extensive knowledge network and excellent facilities is a boundary condition for our success. The coming months are focused on further extending our expertise in the global market. When people across the world think of onions, people should think specialist De Groot en Slot, that's our ambition!"
The construction is carried out by contractor De Geus Bouw and various regional subcontractors, such as Electropartners, Willems, Omnivent, Harder, Omnihout, Jongejans luchttechniek, Breddels Architecten and Groenmeesters.
