Hazera recently completed the move of its R&D center, including laboratories, breeding greenhouses and offices, into its new headquarters in its Berurim site, Israel.
At the same time, the company is investing in the northern Netherlands in a new R&D center for breeding crucifer crops (Brassicas and radish). The project is scheduled to be completed in fall 2017, at an investment of over 8 million euros.
“We are happy to have completed the process of improving the company’s R&D infrastructure in Israel and uniting the great majority of the company’s activities in Israel under one roof in Berurim,” Rami Dar, CEO of Hazera, said. The company’s processing plant remains located in south Israel, Sderot.
“The new R&D center contains all the very latest facilities and technologies in the field of breeding vegetable varieties, enabling Hazera to improve its new product development processes while attaining maximal efficiency.”
Hazera’s phytopathology (plant diseases) new laboratory in Berurim concludes a long process of leaving the old lab in Mivhor and uniting the company’s headquarters and laboratories in Israel in the Berurim site.The total investment in this project was more than 80 million NIS. The company also operates a seed processing plant in Sderot.
The phytopathology laboratory joins Hazera’s other R&D laboratories, including: Biochemistry, Cell Biology, the Genotyping Center and more, that moved into Berurim earlier this year. The laboratory conducts tens of thousands of resistance tests for approximately 75 pathogens and pests, on a wide range of vegetable crops, and is part of Hazera’s global R&D unit.
Hazera currently employs approximately 900 employees worldwide, 400 of them in Israel. About 30% of the company’s employees engage in research and development, and it invests 17% of its turnover in these activities.
