Dümmen Orange wins Plantum Sustainability Award 2024
Dümmen Orange, in collaboration with the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, has won the Plantum Sustainability Award 2024 for developing a method to test and breed plants for insect-friendliness.
Pollinators such as wild bees and hoverflies have significantly declined in numbers over the past 30 years. This alarming trend poses a serious threat to the ecosystem.
Bees and other insects are becoming increasingly dependent on garden plants. There is a growing trend in society to replace paving with flowers and plants specifically for bees. However, not all crops — and certainly not all varieties within a crop — are attractive to insects. The method developed by Dümmen Orange and Naturalis tests for nectar volume, sugar concentration, number of flowers and color. The combinations and variations of these traits determine whether a plant is attractive to insects. This way, we can discover which plants make bees happy and which are truly insect-friendly.
The Jury: ‘Tangible societal impact’
"It is a submission in which collaboration with a knowledge institute takes center stage, making knowledge and expertise from another discipline usable and applicable for breeders. This ultimately leads to tangible societal impact," said the jury in its report. According to the jury, it is a fine example of humans and nature working together in harmony.
See the video HERE
The research was conducted by Dümmen Orange's R&D Perennials team in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands. The Plantum Sustainability Award 2024 was accepted by Foeke Gardenier, Dümmen Orange Ambassador, on Sept. 19.
Plantum is the Dutch trade association representing 300 companies in the seed and young plant breeding, propagation and cultivation sectors.
Naturalis is the national Dutch research institute specializing in biodiversity. Naturalis scientists work daily to describe, understand and conserve biodiversity.
