Dutch king to attend Koppert Biological Systems’ 50th anniversary

The king of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, will be present at the celebration of Koppert Biological Systems’ jubilee anniversary at Berkel and Rodenrijs on Thursday, 14 September. To mark the occasion, the king will officially open the newly constructed ‘Experience Centre’.

Fifty years ago, the family company got underway with the idea of combating pests in crops using natural enemy insects instead of chemical agents. Koppert looks for solutions that can be found in nature itself and manufactures products that can be used by professional growers. Over time, the company has grown to become an international organization with 25 subsidiaries. Koppert’s natural solutions are now used worldwide to combat pests and diseases in agriculture and horticulture. The company also focuses on improving soil quality.

The king will officially be opening the Experience Centre. This information centre has been created in response to the growing demand to give visitors an insight into the world of biological crop protection. The Experience Centre will give growers, research institutes, students and authorities from both local and overseas organizations access to information about the vision, research, and the development and production processes at Koppert in an interactive way. After the opening, the king will talk to a number of the company’s employees. He will also be present at the opening of the international Jubilee Seminar that Koppert has organized.

In the sixties, cucumber grower, Jan Koppert, just like other growers experienced a great deal of setbacks with pests in his crop. Together with his son, Peter, he set out to find a natural solution to protect his crop and experimented with the deployment of predatory mites against a spider mite infestation. It proved to be a successful solution and formed the foundation for Koppert Biological Systems.

In the 50 years that followed, the family company led by Peter, his brother Paul, and cousin Henri Oosthoek, grew to become the global market leader in biological crop protection for protected crops.

The company continues to grow each year. Besides providing more than 40 different natural enemies to combat harmful insects, Koppert also supplies microbiological solutions and bumblebees for the sustainable production of agricultural and horticultural crops.

For more information:
Koppert Biological Systems
info@koppert.com
www.koppert.com

Publication date: Fri 18 Aug 2017