SWITZERLAND – Nutreco, a Dutch producer of animal nutrition, has proudly announced the grand opening of its Garden of the Future, a state-of-the-art hub for its phytotechnology program in Thurgau, Switzerland. 

Under one roof, this innovative facility consolidates Nutreco’s phytotechnology activities, including discovery, experimental cultivation, plant development, and production.

The two-day event celebrating the opening featured tours, presentations, and workshops led by Nutreco’s exploration team for customers and journalists. 

Nutreco’s new CEO, David Blakemore, gave the opening and closing remarks, and Chief Science Officer David Bravo was the keynote speaker.

The Garden of the Future includes a 500-square-meter experimental greenhouse for plant breeding and propagation, a 5,000-square-meter vegetative mass propagation greenhouse, 30 hectares of cultivation space, and a “Future Garden” showcasing novel plants. 

The facility is directed by Dr. Bernd Büter, head of Nutreco’s Phytotechnology Program. Dr. Karin Berger, phytotechnology discovery director, is the ethnobotanist responsible for screening plants and confirming their efficacy.

Located in the Phyto Valley—a hub for phyto-pharmaceutical companies, startups, and laboratories—the Garden of the Future focuses on creating phytotechnology solutions known as “Phyto-complexes.” 

These complexes, derived from plants or plant metabolites, support the performance, health, and welfare of aquatic species, farm animals, and companion animals. Many Phyto-complexes are developed from plants that have never been cultivated before, requiring advanced plant production expertise.

Nutreco’s Garden of the Future will help us address many of the specific challenges our customers face and support them in improving performance, health, and welfare in unprecedented new ways. The work being done here is truly groundbreaking—Nutreco’s Phyto-complexes are unmatched in quality and consistency, and most use plants that have never been cultivated for animal nutrition. We believe these products will benefit producers worldwide and play a very important role in helping us achieve our purpose of Feeding the Future,” said Blakemore.

Bravo added that Nutreco’s Garden of the Future team has already taken great strides in filling our innovation portfolio with new solutions directly addressing the customers’ challenges, with four Phyto-complex products already launched and 17 in the pipeline. 

So far, we have collected around 450 unique plant material samples and are performing field trials and production in seven countries. We’re excited to present this new facility and the pioneering work of our Exploration team to our colleagues, journalists, and customers this week,” he commented. 

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