World Horti Centre announces webinars to discuss ‘Feeding and Greening the World’

WESTLAND, Netherlands: Three internationally acclaimed best practice cases will be highlighted in a new three-part webinar series  with the theme ‘A one-stop solution to feed the world’. The main objective is to connect the Dutch horticultural ecosystem with the rest of the world in order to contribute to solving the global challenge in Feeding & Greening the world.

The Dutch ecosystem consists of an integrated approach from farm-to-fork to flower and feed the people in the cities. Important parts of the ecosystem are breeding and propagation, growing young plants, growing vegetables and flowers, packaging and logistics, trade, retail and consumer marketing. All parts of the value chain must be represented. Building long-term relationships is essential for all parts of the ecosystem to function optimally.

In the webinar series of three, existing ecosystems at various locations around the world are discussed for inspiration. Making governments, licensing and subsidy providers as well as investors and the financing sector aware of the added value of horticulture as a mature asset class. On 18 May at 14:00hrs (UTC+2) the Chinese High-Tech Agriculture Park in Jiashan takes centre stage and on 15 June AppHarvest from the United States of America. The best practice case on 13 July will illustrate an example from the gulf region.

During the first webinar, various speakers are scheduled to explain the relevant developments on a global scale, business opportunities in China, impact on Sustainable Development Goals and various cooperation models on the topic Feeding & Greening the city.

On the agenda are Lambert van Horen (Senior Specialist Fresh Produce – Rabobank), Wouter Verhey (Agriculture Counsellor China and Mongolia – Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), Jaap Bond (President – Top Sector Horticulture & Starting Materials), Karin Bax (Director – NLWorks) and Meiny Prins (CEO – Priva). Of course, the High-Tech Agriculture Park in Jiashan will also be discussed from the experiences of local administrators.

This webinar series is primarily focused on national and international policy makers, licensing and subsidy providers who stimulate investments in agri-food and investors in horticulture.

Registration for the first webinar on 18 May is possible at www.worldhortievents.nl/solution and is free of charge.

The organising committee consists of Dutch Greenhouse Delta, AVAG, GreenTech, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, Top Sector Horticulture & Starting Materials and World Horti Center.

The Dutch horticultural cluster is strong in facilitating cooperation between governments, industry and the education sector with the aim of jointly creating sustainable urban deltas. Pre-competitive cooperation in which Dutch knowledge and expertise forms the starting point for the cocreation of future-proof production systems in order to work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.