With well-prepared demo fields and fantastic weather conditions, Bayer looks back on the Nunhems lettuce demo weeks in a very positive way. “It’s the perfect occasion for us, our customers, and more importantly their customers, to get together. We always ensure tailored one to one visits and that exchange of ideas and experiences really drives our business, we value this open dialogue immensely," says Matthew Beevers, Crop Sales Manager Lettuce.
During a period of 3 weeks, stake holders from across the produce chain were able visit the demo location of Bayer in ’s-Gravenzande. The Crop team welcomed visitors, not only from North and South Europe, but attracted a global audience, with many visitors from the Americas, Asia and Australia attending the event. “The combination of the outdoor lettuce demo and our state of the art indoor hydroponic lettuce facility, is unique and attracts many visitors. Hydroponics continues to accelerate as a true alternative to soil production, so it was great to share our experiences, ideas and a specifically selected portfolio with our customers,’’ says Peter Does, Product Specialist Lettuce.
New in outdoor lettuce
The outdoor demo field showed the next generation of Nunhems Multileaf varieties, with a full bremia resistance package, high yielding capacity, improved stability and vibrant colors. In both the Iceberg and Romaine there are exciting new additions for midsummer cultivation. In Iceberg, Pluskin (NUN 0177 LTL) is aimed for summer but also covers late spring/early autumn plantings, both on sandy and heavy soils. In Romaine the variety Sideral (Nun 06136 LTL) brings excellent tip burn resistance, suitable for twin pack, singles and processing. With Juniper, Nunhems is back in green oakleaf with a strong bremia package Bl:16-32, and with Rugbee and Crispol, the Nunhems miniromaine portfolio is growing further. In little gem the breeding focus allowed a display of new Nunhems varieties with internal reds and brilliant greens on display and able to be used in combination. In spinach the 1-16 Pfs resistance portfolio was all the talk, with Hydrus leading the way.
Hydroponic lettuce
The hydroponic lettuce demo and facility, demonstrated a wide range of commercial and trial varieties for both floating and NFT systems. As Multi-color mixes become more and more popular with modern consumers, Bayer continuously looks into new Multileaf varieties with brighter colors and uniform growth speed, benefitting from a larger harvest window and providing more flexibility in planning. Artificial light is seen as the way forward in increasing yield and quality all year around and with the installation of LEDs, Bayer once again shows leadership in hydroponics.
