During August 10-14, Seminis held practical-scientific workshops in a new demonstration field near the city of Melitopol in Zaporozhye region, the Ukraine.

The subject matter of the workshops was primarily intended for professional vegetable growers who had long and successfully been growing large acreages of vegetable crops employing modern growing techniques and irrigation and making extensive use of Seminis hybrids. Over a period of four days, a total of nearly 200 people were introduced to new Seminis varieties and hybrids of vegetables.

Parking lot Demonstration field A meeting of workshop participants A meeting of workshop participants

Registration of workshop participants The workshop opening session Rick Naber, Seminis General Manager for CIS countries delivers an opening speech at the SVS workshop Seminis experts and specialists making their speeches at the workshop The workshop is in progress

While visiting the Seminis exhibition and demonstration field, workshop participants had an opportunity to see the assortment of vegetable crops recommended for production in the Ukraine which comprises in excess of 200 varieties and hybrids of tomato, cabbages, sweet pepper, eggplant, root crops, watermelons, melons, onions, sweet corn and many other crops. Displayed were not only already known varieties and hybrids but also a great number of new and promising varieties that had shown outstanding performance in south Ukraine growing areas, in particular on Seminis seed trial grounds in Odessa and Zaporozhye regions.

Demonstration of the SVS Seeds SCC Web site Visitors showing great interest in the Exhibition Root crops and sweet corn Vine (cucurbit) crops

Visitors showing great interest in the Exhibition Root crops and sweet corn The pumpkin hybrid Prizewinner F1 PS Now let's proceed to onions Onion crops

Onion crops Onion crops Onion crops Tomatoes

During the workshops, much attention was given to recommendations of Ukrainian vegetable growers who have wide experience in working with Seminis hybrid seeds of vegetables. Workshop participants had an opportunity to familiarize themselves with cutting edge technologies of intensive vegetable farming as well as with the latest in small-scale mechanization.

Tomatoes Tomatoes Cabbages Cabbages

The workshop atmosphere was businesslike. The participants had a chance not only to see but also taste various vegetables, melons and watermelons. There was a lively exchange of opinions and impressions between the workshop participants, which continued in a friendly atmosphere at the dinner table.

Cabbages Cucumbers A friendly atmosphere at the dinner table

We would like to wind up our brief account of the Seminis workshops conducted in August 2004 with the words of one of the participants: “Year after year, I become increasingly convinced that growing hybrids and varieties of vegetable crops from Seminis seeds is a sound and profitable business”.