Located in the heart of the “Phyto Valley” in Thurgau, Switzerland – where phyto-pharmaceutical companies, startups and laboratories have created a network of excellence over the past decades – Nutreco's Garden of the Future will play a key role in the discovery and development of proprietary phytotechnology solutions for our Nutreco Exploration team. It will be led by Dr. Bernd Büter, Director of the Phytotechnology Program and Nutreco's Garden of the Future. Dr. Karin Berger, Phytotechnology Discovery Director, will serve as ethnobotanist, responsible for screening the plants and confirming their efficacy.
Nutreco's Garden of the Future will officially open in the spring of 2024, and we look forward to presenting our new facility to employees, customers and the media. Its infrastructure and facilities will include offices, laboratories for testing biological activities in bioassays and analytical work, a greenhouse for plant breeding and propagation, experimental fields for the development of growing protocols and a “Future Garden” to display our plants.
The work being done at the discovery facility will focus on creating Phyto-complexes: plants or plant metabolites which, when added to feed, have physiological impacts that consistently support resilience, performance and welfare of aquatic species and farm animals. Our Phyto-complexes are developed in direct response to an aquaculture or livestock market issue brought to the Nutreco Exploration team’s attention by our business partners across Nutreco. Each phase of discovery and development involves that business partner, to ensure we stay closely connected to the business and meet the very specific needs of our customers. The fact that our Phyto-complexes are intentionally created by and developed for the business sets them apart from the products already available on the market. Nutreco’s Phyto-complexes are novel and standardised; they target a specific physiological issue, and are proprietary, sustainable and effective.
