Author: avishag

August 2022

 Since 19th May 2022, Ofer Peleg has been the new Deputy CEO of Hazera. He leads Sales, Supply Chain, IT and Production. Ofer says: “We have great DNA in Hazera, but also opportunities and potential to become a well-integrated company and realise solid and robust processes”.

Ofer, fifty years old, lives near Tel Aviv, with his wife and three children, aged 21, 18 and 13. He used to work for several leading companies in multicultural and dynamic environments. “I started as an Industrial Engineer in the Pharmaceutical Industry where I stayed for about twenty years. At Teva Pharmaceuticals, the Israeli global generic leader, I served in various positions in both R&D and Operations, where my last role was to manage three large facilities in Europe. For that role, I moved with my family to Amsterdam for two years. After that I became Vice-President of the Global supply chain at Sun Pharmaceuticals, a global Indian Pharmaceutical company. In the last four years I was the vice-president of the Global supply chain at Netafim, a global leader in precision irrigation. At Netafim, I focused on the same customers and ambition as Hazera; helping farmers to get the best out of their crops for both quantity and quality.”

Go the extra mile
“I was given a very warm welcome, both at Hazera and Limagrain. There is a strong sense of partnership and the people I have met enjoy their profession and are very enthusiastic, willing to go above and beyond to serve our customers. They know that by doing so, they are making the world a better place. Shortly after I started at Hazera, I was lucky to meet many of my colleagues at the annual Limagrain conference in Prague.

Marathon run
“I have started to learn that there is a huge know-how and great professionalism here”, says Ofer, “but our competitors are not waiting for us, and we have to be agile, flexible and focused on quality. We can’t stop, not even for a minute; we are running a marathon and we want to finish first. There is also an opportunity for becoming a well-integrated company and realising solid and robust processes.”

Way of working
“We produce seeds all over the world. How can we do this as efficiently as possible? What is our optimal footprint? How do we optimize our inventory?  How can we leverage our capabilities?  In my former positions I have helped answering similar kinds of questions. I’m looking forward to sharing my experience and contributing to Hazera.”

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In recent years we have witnessed various trends in the consumption of vegetables and fruits.
One of the most notable trends is in the watermelon category.

Not inconvenient anymore
Watermelon was long perceived as inconvenient. Especially with decreasing households, watermelons were found too big, giving too much waste and too heavy to carry. Also the lack of good taste and quality was a reason for people to buy other fruits. With the introduction of the high quality, high tasting seedless mini and midi watermelons, consumption is increasing rapidly, in some countries over 10% in the last 5 years. Watermelons are used as a healthy snack, during dinner or lunch or as refreshing drink.

3rd choice of consumers
Watermelon is gaining popularity worldwide staying in the top 5 of fresh consumed fruits globally. In the European Union watermelon is the 3rd choice of consumers as refreshment after apples and oranges. In USA watermelon is 3rd choice after bananas and apples. With the COVID pandemic people started to focus even more on health. Another push forward for watermelon consumption.

Yearround offering
Hazera’s global experience in the watermelon industry provides solutions that fit the needs of all partners in the fresh chain now and in the future through close collaboration. Due to our intensive breeding efforts we are able to offer year round, high quality, high tasting watermelons.

New launches in Spain
Hazera launched 3 new seedless watermelon varieties in Murcia, Spain targeted for the South European watermelon producers:
• Margay, a uniform, crunchy, great tasting midi watermelon with great feedback from Spanish retailers targeting 2 categories at the same time: fresh cut & fresh.
In the mini seedless category 2 novelties were highlighted for the Spanish production:
• 50037 a mini of 1.3-2.1 kg featuring excellent crunch and taste which was very well appreciated by retailers.
• Latest newcomer 50041 a nice, red round watermelon with excellent shelf life capacity is showing good results in both indoor in Almeria as well as the open field in Murcia.

Looking for more insights? Or curious on the solutions we can offer?
Contact us. We are happy to meet.

Mark van der Zouwen
Cucurbits Global Product Manager
Mark.van.der.zouwen@hazera.com

Arjan van Steekelenburg
Chain Manager Fresh Produce
Arjan.van.steekelenburg@hazera.com

Yoav Levy
Cucurbits Regional Product Manager
Yoav.levy@hazera.com

 

Hazera has been developing and selling primed onion seeds since 2009. This experience translates into the market as the share of primed seeds is increasing. Many growers are discovering the benefits. Primed seeds can ensure faster crop development after sowing, more uniformity in the crop and final product and better quality onions. That is why it is also interesting for you.

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Our dedicated High Tech tomato team started the preparations for our tomato demo at the Delphy Improvement Center in Bleiswijk.
The team, consisting of motivated colleagues from R&D to Commercial and Marketing planted a wide range of our newest hybrids in our screening and demo greenhouse. In this demo all important segments of the tomato category are present, like large loose, truss (large & medium) and Cherry (round & plum).

Partnerships
During the season our team is monitoring the new tomato varieties very closely.  Based upon all obtained insights and knowledge the best performing varieties, this can be on e.g. taste or yield, are selected. The information that we gather during the season is used to support and inform our partners all along the tomato value chain. Because together we grow the tomatoes of the future.

Highlights
Over the last years Hazera has worked passionately to develop tasty tomatoes with benefits for the full produce chain. We are convinced that this year, again, we have a compartment full of exciting new varieties. This year we decided to expand our ‘high taste’ acreage in our greenhouse by 20%.
On display you will also find some highlights that are monitored for several years and which we are thrilled about. We are happy to present you the following great tasting varieties:

Camelot
Camelot is a cherry plum variety (12-15 gr) which is very succesfull in Spain and Morocco.
This variety is the only variety which ripens to full red on the plant. In our HT demo we are doing agronomy trials to adapt for the High-Tech segment. Camelot has a high yield potential and has an excellent post-harvest quality, even up to 20 days and has very low waste percentages. The flavour, shape and colors are comparable with the benchmark in this segment.

Sensera
A medium, great tasting, truss variety with an average weight of 95-110 grams.
The Sensera truss is best presented as a 6-pack and has a perfect on the shelve performance because of the firm green part which can also act as a natural handle. In consumer evaluations this variety scores very high on perceived freshness and buying intent. Even after 8 – 10 days.

Goutine
This large specialty tomato is known for its stunning and vintage taste experience.
The variety has an average fruit weight of 90-120 grams and is grown (and already famous) in multiple places around Europe.

Summersun
Summersun is known to be the best tasting yellow cherry tomato in the market and has an average fruit weight of 10-12 grams. This tomato has a big entourage of enthusiastic partners along the chain; the tomato that puts a smile on the consumers face.

Curious?
Curious about our varieties? Or other solutions we can offer?

Your invited to meet the team in our taste experience center @Delphy Improvement Center in Bleiswijk. In our mini supermarket you can taste the highlights and we can discuss our full program. Data performance is available.

Only together good tasting tomatoes and  on-the–shelve concepts can grow into lasting partnerships.

We are happy to contact you for an appointment from April onwards. If you can’t wait, please contact our team.

Marcel van Kester: marcelvan.kester@hazera.com 
Karel Welten: karel.welten@hazera.com 
Arjan van Steekelenburg: arjan.van.steekelenburg@hazera.com
Robbert Biemans: robbert.biemans@hazera.com