Guide Joop van Doorn in the monumental Regentenkamer, the period room that serves as the reception area of the Sow to Grow museum. Photos: Moebius.
In a monumental building in the heart of Enkhuizen is housed Sow to Grow, an interactive museum for visitors of all ages and an education centre for primary schools and employees in the seed sector.
‘We are truly unique in the world. As far as I know, there is nowhere else in the world a museum dedicated to plant breeding and seeds. This museum naturally belongs in Seed Valley, because West Friesland is the cradle of crop breeding for the horticultural sector. We really need not be modest, because a third of the global trade in vegetable seeds comes from the Netherlands and tens of thousands of people work in this sector’, says Henk van Wielink, chair of Sow to Grow. He sits proudly in the monumental Regentessenkamer of this interactive museum in Enkhuizen, one of the two period rooms in this monumental former orphanage. On the wall hangs a small section of restored gilt leather wallcovering from 1742, but otherwise the room is most fittingly hung with historical botanical illustrations.
Seed Valley
Van Wielink is a former employee of Royal Sluis, the Enkhuizen family business in seeds that, via Seminis and Monsanto, has since been absorbed into Bayer. ‘This region is now known as Seed Valley and there are still dozens of seed companies active here. Seed Valley is to plant development and seed technology what Silicon Valley is to software and IT. A highly innovative and still-growing sector, of which we are in part a living calling card. The sector has a desperate shortage of staff and very limited capacity to inform consumers and pupils about the role of quality starting material for food supply and our wellbeing’, says Van Wielink.
Going deeper
‘We provide education through our exhibition, guided tours, trail activities and museum lessons for schoolchildren, but we also run a course of six half-days twice a year and a three-day course for employees of breeding companies’, says microbiologist Joop van Doorn, volunteer at Sow to Grow and former manager at Enza Zaden. ‘That course functions as an introduction to the field, covering all aspects and processes of plant breeding and seed production, processing and distribution. That is something the companies themselves often don’t get round to’, says Van Doorn. He also leads a guided tour through the museum’s exhibition on plant breeding and food supply: featuring a diverse range of historical objects such as plaster models of vegetable varieties, prints, old advertising boards, seed-sorting machines and information panels, as well as an interactive trail with screens, assignments and the video game Top of the Crops. There is no shortage of depth: over the years, for instance, 717 cauliflower varieties have been developed in response to different product requirements such as ease of use, growth and yield, but also because of introduced traits such as disease resistance and nutritional content.
‘The exhibition broadly follows the seven steps that are important in seed breeding’
‘The exhibition broadly follows seven steps that are important in seed breeding’, explains Van Doorn. ‘Collecting, breeding, multiplying, processing, accelerating, strengthening and marketing. Using these as a framework, topics are addressed such as climate change, biodiversity, mutation breeding and new genomic techniques, as well as practical matters such as tissue culture, quality control, seed cleaning, coating and packaging, and even legislation and patents. If you want, you could easily spend an entire afternoon in the exhibition.’
Schoolchildren
In addition to visits by tourists, interested members of the public and professionals to the exhibition, there are also regular guided tours and special museum lessons for primary school pupils and occasionally secondary school pupils as well. For this purpose, a laboratory has been set up on the first floor, equipped with a large DNA model, binoculars and laboratory equipment including an old DNA sequencer and an LED seed germination cabinet. All donations from seed companies. ‘The lab coats are already hanging up ready’, points out Van Doorn. ‘We have already had three thousand pupils from the region visit, mainly from primary schools, but we can also organise tailored educational elements or educational games in consultation with the teacher. From a simple germination or seed game and identification cards for brassica vegetables to a full school practical.’ At the end of October, the lab hosted a Halloween Craft Afternoon, during which children aged 8 to 12 could hollow out a pumpkin and carve a face of their choosing. A novel way of exploring the concept of working towards desired crop traits.
COMPANY: Sow to Grow – A Plant Science Experience
PRODUCT: education on the present, past and future of plant breeding
STRUCTURE: foundation / volunteer organisation
LOCATION: Enkhuizen town centre
NUMBER OF STAFF: 70 volunteers (in seven committees)
YEAR FOUNDED: 2018 (continuation of Saet & Cruyt Museum Andijk, established 1979)
TURNOVER: growing by 10 to 15% per year since 2021
WEBSITE: www.sowtogrow.nl
SPECIAL FEATURES: Has a themed front garden with vegetables and ornamental crops, and serves as a meeting and wedding venue