Healthy ambitions

Healthy ambitions

Rijk Zwaan's ambition is to get flavour, convenience and health from everything Mother Nature has to offer. Because this makes nature the basis for all our activities, we think it is important to treat the environment with respect, which is reflected in various facets of our company management.

Environment-conscious operation
At Rijk Zwaan we use CHP engines which are extremely environment-friendly thanks to their more efficient use of energy. Acquiring ever more advanced techniques enables us to carry out analyses in laboratories using fewer chemicals per analysis. We are also working on reducing our electricity consumption with efficient lighting in buildings.

Vegetable consumption
Externally as well as internally we are totally behind promoting vegetable consumption. For example, several of the Rijk Zwaan subsidiaries provide vegetable snacks every week for their employees under the name of Veggyfit. In addition, we are active in connection with 5-a-day – a worldwide campaign which promotes the consumption of healthy food at local level by encouraging people to eat 5 portions of fruit and/or vegetables a day. We also regularly sponsor ‘healthy events’.

Developing knowledge
The horticultural sector is very close to Rijk Zwaan’s heart and we are dedicated to collecting ‘green’ knowledge and pass it on. We have projects running, for instance, whereby we acquaint pupils with the horticultural sector and offer placements to international students. We also participate in a chair at Wageningen University which is aimed at developing knowledge about ripening and ageing of vegetables.

Plant Sciences Award
Rijk Zwaan initiated the RZ Plant Sciences Award in 2006 as a means of motivating students to choose plant-scientific studies, as the number of students studying plant sciences at Dutch universities had been in decline for years, while Rijk Zwaan and all of Dutch horticulture are in desperate need of many highly educated people in the coming years.