b'LUITJE BROEKEMA (1850 - 1936)DUTCH PLANT BREEDER Luitje Broekema, a lecturer at the then Agricultural College in Wageningen, started crossing wheat varieties. In 1899, this led to a variety named Wilhelmina. In the early 1930s, this variety accounted for more than two-thirds of the Dutch winter wheat crop. One of the most remarkable features of the Wilhelmina wheat was that it was composed as a variety of several lines. Broekema believed that this made the variety better adapted to the different soil and climate conditions under which it was cultivated. Russian geneticist, botanist and breeder Vavilov once described it as one of the most productive wheat varieties in Western Europe. Two years after the introduction of Wilhelmina, Broekema created variety Juliana, marketed in 1921. The qualities of Juliana surpassed those of Wilhelmina and at the end of the 1930s and the beginning of the Second World War, Juliana wheat accounted for half of the Dutch winter wheat crop.NILS HJALMAR NILSSON (18561925) - SWEDISH BOTANIST AND PLANT BREEDERNilsson received his doctorate in botany in Lund in 1886, became assistant at the Swedish Seed Breeding Institute at Svalf in 1888, and was director of the same institute from 1890 to 1924. He was awarded the title of professor in 1902. Under Nilssons leadership, the working method at Svalf was changed from the previously used mass selection of experimentally grown crops to the so-called pedigree cultivation, i.e., the cultivation of offspring from individual plants, and the selection of the obtained LIEUWES KORNELIS DE VRIESstrains. The results of this soon showed (18541929)TEACHER ANDthemselves in a number of cereal varieties PLANT BREEDER of outstanding quality, and the Svalf De Vries worked until he was 21 oninstitution, under his direction, influenced agriculture with a number of excellent cereal the farm and then went to studyvarieties. Combined with his writings it gained a considerable following at home for a teaching degree. In 1883 heand abroad. During the 20th century he devoted his scientific work mainly to the became the head teacher at ainvestigation of a rational method for the breeding of root crops.primary school. In 1894 he took the agricultural instrument test and in 1901 obtained a horticulture degree. Besides his work as aGEERT VEENHUIZEN (1857 - 1930)DUTCH POTATO GROWER AND PLANT BREEDERschoolmaster, he gave agriculturalVeenhuizen left primary school at 13 winter courses. In 1898 he wasand went to work for a tree grower in asked to organize a testing groundNoordbroek. With a short interruption for growing potatoes, which hedue to military service, he worked managed for 25 years. In 25 years,there until he was 23. He subsequently he grew about 150 varieties, ofworked for nurseries in Gouda and which the variety Bintje was by farBoskoop. He modernised his father-in-the most successful. This variety haslaws horticultural business and also been the most important potato onstarted work as a garden architect. At Dutch menus for a long time andthat time, the potato starch industry was the most extensively cultivatedwas booming and Veenhuizen became potato variety in the 20th century. interested in growing potatoes. He was Fifty years after Bintje wasplaced in charge of a test field of a local introduced, the variety occupiedagricultural society in 1889 and became about one half of the potato areacultivation manager of a central test field of continental West-Europe. Byin Sappemeer in 1903. He developed 1975, Bintje accounted for 70 permany new potato varieties, including the very famous Eigenheimer variety in 1893, cent of the area grown for humanRed Star, Bravo and Thorbecke. His variety Eigenheimer reached about a quarter consumption in The Netherlands.of the Dutch potato acreage in the 1930ies. His seed potatoes were also exported abroad. On his retirement in 1927, he received a royal decoration.26IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'