ThePartnership no. 16

North America:

North America: cross-regional teamwork leads to success Column Rodolfo Leya, Regional Sales Director North America North America is a challenging business area that has grown a lot in the past, and this is expected to continue in the future. The convergence of local and regional markets looking to consume healthy vegetables in their conventional and organic form, is what makes this new market so attractive. When we talk about the North American vegetable market, we talk about the United States, Canada and Mexico: three regions where Enza Zaden is widely represented. Our US headquarters are located in Salinas, California. And with two breeding stations, one in San Juan Bautista, California and one in Myakka, Florida, we are able to work year round across several crops, both conventional and organic. In the US, our largest efforts and biggest sales are conducted in the open field segments: lettuce, spinach, arugula, herbs, summer squash and melons. In Canada, we are more focused on the high-tech environment. Our solid presence within the blocky sweet pepper, tomato and cucumber segments, grant us a privileged position in this important market. In Mexico, our M&S and R&D facilities are located in Culiacan, Sinaloa: a very intensive horticultural area that focusses on US exports. Lettuce Lettuce is one of those high-value, labour-intensive crops. “Mechanical harvesting is not new in lettuce,” says Portfolio Manager Jochem Koopman. “However, until now it has been implemented mainly for types of lettuce with loose leaves, such as babyleaf and Eazyleaf®. The global developments with regard to labour have resulted in an increase in demand for mechanical harvesting of heads of lettuce. Iceberg and Romaine are the most important types of lettuce for this development,” says Koopman. “The mechanical harvesting of a head of lettuce requires different properties in a variety than manual harvesting. For us, as a breeding company, it is important to follow the developments in this field closely. Therefore we maintain close contact with our customers and discuss their needs and wishes.” Moving forward together Besides that, Enza Zaden keeps an eye on the technological developments that are available. Koopman: “All sorts of machines are being developed. From machines that cut the head of Demo field days Germany (wk 37) and The Netherlands (wk 39) Visit our demo field days in Dannstadt, Germany (wk 37) and/or Twisk, The Netherlands (wk 39) to see how our lettuce varieties perform in the field. More information on our website enzazaden.com. lettuce at the base, to robots that pick the entire head from above. We need to be on top of that so that we can attune our breeding activities also to these developments. On average, it takes seven years to develop a new variety. But to offer a year round lettuce programme to our customers, we need a range of varieties for different seasons and production regions. This makes the breeding process for this crop even more complicated and time consuming. It is vital to work together closely with growers, breeding companies and tech companies.” *In April 2004, the Japan Agricultural Corporation Association called on JA All Farms, all JAs, and all the money in the forest, and established the 'Agricultural Labor Force Support Council'. What’s the secret to this success? As we are able to better understand market trends at the level of traders, retailers and food marketers, we can improve the communication with growers and provide solutions for their needs in the way of improved genetics. This requires the full effort of a large team of professionals in several disciplines working in the three countries. The combined efforts in Breeding, Seed Operations, Customer Service, Finance, Logistics, HR, Marketing and Sales keep making it happen. Key customer management, the right steps By being close to our customer base, we have been able to create added value for them. But as the market keeps moving and evolving to new consumer trends and demands, the need to better understand and anticipate these demands becomes increasingly important. Consider the latest merger in the California lettuce industry, when Taylor Farms (an already very large food grower and processor) acquired Earthbound Farms. This single move creates a challenge, as they have now become an even larger company. But this is a challenge we can face, because we already worked with both teams across crops and regions. This enables us to continue working along the same line, understand their wishes and needs, and to adapt to this new situation. It’s highly likely that we will face similar merger situations more often in the future, as players become bigger and more focussed on serving the end consumer. Cross-regional and cross-functional teamwork are therefore essential to assure present and future growth across segments, technologies and locations. Rodolfo Leyva works at Enza Zaden for 8 years. He was first based in Mexico but since 2018 he is Regional Sales Director of the North American subsidiary. Rodolfo believes that really knowing your customers is the way to joined success. To realize this, cross-regional teamwork is essential, especially in a diverse market as North America. 24 | Partnership Partnership | 25