History of Rijk Zwaan

In 1924, Mr Rijk Zwaan opened a shop in vegetable seeds and so laid the foundations for the company of Rijk Zwaan as it is today. Right from the start, Rijk Zwaan had the initiative to develop his own vegetable varieties for professional growers. Besides developing and selling vegetable seeds, Rijk Zwaan also gave expert technical advice to all his customers. In 1932, Rijk Zwaan built his own breeding and selection nursery in Bergschenhoek. Here it became possible to carry out the research and development activities to the optimum. From these beginnings, Rijk Zwaan has developed into a leading vegetable seeds company.

The first subsidiary company was established in Germany in 1964. In 1970, the parent company moved to the present headquarters in De Lier, a leading area for indoor horticulture. From 1980 onwards, international activities increased sharply. This led to the foundation of a second subsidiary company in France in 1984. Further international development followed with the foundation of subsidiary companies in the United Kingdom (1987), Spain (1988) and Belgium (1989). In 1990, Rijk Zwaan acquired the Grow Group, thereby extending its activities with sales of young vegetable plants. By founding subsidiary companies in Portugal (1991), Poland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Australia (1992) and the USA, Rijk Zwaan has developed into a leading international company.

History of Rijk Zwaan Australia
The history of the subsidiary in Australia goes back to 1987. Arie Baelde emigrated from Holland to Australia and started a subsidiary for TS Seeds BV, a company by which he had been employed in Holland. In 1991 Rijk Zwaan took over TS Seeds BV and with that TS Seeds Australia.