Catalogue USA 2020

Field Days
Our goal in the leafy market is to help create competitive advantage for
growers through healthy, resistant, high-yielding, attractive, long-lasting
and ultimately flavorful varieties.
Enza Zaden hosted a three-day long field day event at their San Juan
Bautista Research Station, June 11-13, 2019 highlighting their leafy
greens varietal assortment of arugula, spinach, baby and whole head
lettuce, and endive. Visitors and the Enza Zaden team also discussed
leafy greens trends and innovations in the marketplace. Over 100
growers, shippers and dealers attended the event. With 13 crops, 27
new varieties and over 70 commercial varieties available for viewing,
all benefited from seeing the full picture of what Enza Zaden offers
and offered a platform to discuss custom programs depending upon
customer needs.
Spinach resistance to Bremia 1-17
We made a lot of progress with our spinach breeding program and
have put Enza Zaden back on the map as a spinach breeding company.
Around three years ago we tightened the breeding objectives to stack
and broaden resistant genes and to create fully resistant varieties. We
actively focus on resistance breeding by selecting and crossing specific
genetic characteristics that make the plants resistant to all known
Peronospora races. Growers, especially organic growers, demand a
high percentage of marketable products and year-round homogeneous,
reliable production. This focus on genetic resistance has had the desired
effect; in 2020, Enza Zaden will launch three new spinach varieties
resistant to Peronospora races 1-17.
Little Gems are really hot right now
“Some of our highlights of the day are seeing the breadth of Enza
Zaden’s endive program, as well as the developments in the lettuce
assortment,” shared one visitor. Customers really like the one-cut and
mini-head lettuces and see them as an upgraded product. There is a
trend moving toward more little gems, mini-romaines and growers
wanting to match red and green varieties for head size, speed of growth,
leaf-shape and the overall need for more disease resistance for organic.
Little gems are really hot right now!
Stay tuned for more innovative ‘leafies’ from Enza Zaden.
30 | Enza Zaden
Enza Zaden | 31