Peter Korsten , Botany , fine-tune from the HAS Hogeschool , Horticulture and Agriculture in 1993 , and founded Botany 15 years ago , a fellowship that develops production for the horticulture sphere .
Boany is a society with extended knowledge and expertise in both cultivation and inquiry . Botany is located in Meterik , and it is a partner troupe of the HAS Hogeschool in Venlo . Botany and the HAS are , among other thing , guide research together with Signify into industrial plant recipe in the Brightbox in Venlo .
How did the outset of your life history feeling like?Peter : " I was raised on my parent ' tomato plant nursery in Panningen . I opted for an didactics at the HAS Hogeschool because I wanted to take over the company . For a present moment , I doubted between the HAS and Wageningen University , but I thought that there was not much way for actual growing at the university , and so I prefer HAS . And the peculiar affair was : at the HAS I constitute out that there was more than just growing . After graduate , I decided to continue my studies at the university . Meanwhile , I consider a nice vacancy at WUR Glastuinbouw ( still PPO back then ) and write a varsity letter . I had already started the debut calendar week when I was charter as a fertilization investigator . I never begin at university . "
How was Botany founded?“It is actually a fluke . After that first job , I had several office at WUR Glastuinbouw , Eurofins ( then BLGG ) and ICL ( then SCOTTS ) , such as leading a team of gardening adviser and a enquiry lab . I also gave advice and was working on product development . In 2003 , I was work for WUR Glastuinbouw again , in the midst of a reorganization . At the time , I was working with 2 large customer : the Productschap Tuinbouw and the government . They want to make a alteration towards more co - creation with companies in the glasshouse horticulture and I developed a plan for it . Because of the reorganization , the plan was put on time lag . With 2 fellow worker , the approximation arose to go forward with the program , but with our own new society . We could attain a deal with WUR Glastuinbouw , and Botany was started . "
What does Botany exactly do?“At first , we were focusing on facilitating inquiry & development in the horticulture sphere . We rented distance to caller to conduct enquiry . We also develop vegetables , flowers , and pot plants to generate income . In 2008 , we added the expertise branch , and we were also supplying knowledge and experiences to companies . In the end , we toss cultivation . We are now focusing on 6 subjects : plant physiology , seed physiology , entomology , phytopathology , refinement techniques , and cultivation scheme . We rise tests , conduct research , make epitome , guide the evolution of product . "
What makes Botany a success?“We distinguish ourselves from other companies because we rivet on the professional nurseryman , and then specifically the research & development companies : breeders , agro - chemists , and agro - technicians . We retrieve about developing a ware , and the company takes it to the food market . The basis of our success is that we start the company with the three of us . We really complemented each other . Now I am doing it alone . Huub has clear away , and Geert has left the troupe . That take some getting used to , but I have a team of 30 people around me . 5 companies go to the Botany Group , Botany , Exploras , Innoveins , Innoveins Seed Solutions and BrightBox . When I look back to the original plan , we really continue to it . The vision has not changed , although it has been align to market development . Co - world is still the primary root word in all our work . And we made research affordable .
So you did terminate up somewhere different than you had thought …. “I used to see myself wreak in product development , but I did not await I would combine it with a business . But it turned out like this , and I still care it . "
How do you depend back on your college years?“It was 4 happy eld in which I reveal a lot . I was living on my own , and I am glad I made that choice . It gave me independence . And the instructor that I will always retrieve is Jasper hideout Besten , who was middling young at the time , and that made an impression on me . For Brightbox , I often lick with him . Now he teaches New Cultivation Systems . I still think that is special . "
And your wife also studies at the HAS , right?“Yes , she was doing Environmental Technology . We never foregather at school , but we did when going out . Another reward of experience on your own . We have 3 Logos , 11 , 12 , and 14 . They are very interested in plants and my trade , but all from their own perspective . The first likes to puzzle out in the garden , the second has more sake in the biology of the plant , and the third is more into the business panorama . you could see the idea vernal multitude have of gardening is very unlike from when I grew up . In my youth , gardening was dirty and hard work . Now it is very voguish . "
What would you say to educatee now?“Make an effort of the substantial courses . As director , I am much less focused on works than I used to be , and much more on the occupation side . But just because I have a heap of plant noesis , I can make the right tie-in in the company , and I know what is really authoritative . In my view , that is the added economic value of studying at the HAS . "
Source : HAS Hogeschool
