Grafting vegetable plants is becoming standard in more and more countries. The advantages like yield boost and quality improvement are obvious and make grafting easy to calculate. Rootstocks normally have much better resistance to soil-borne pathogens and share this robustness with the main variety by grafting. Compatibility with the main variety is crucial.

At agro-TIP we furthermore pay attention to better nutrient uptake of the rootstock and – even more important – to upgrade quality of the harvested goods. Achieving higher content of ingredients or enhanced internal quality is possible as well. Even earliness can be improved when choosing the right rootstock.

It is understood that watermelon originates from the tropical of Africa. As a consequence it’s no wonder that watermelon requires heat as no other vegetable crop. Wild varieties were used as natural water supply by camel trains thru deserts. Even then people appreciated its refreshing effect and well tasting flesh. By means of breeding over many years taste, sugar content, size etc were improved. But the discovery of seedless watermelon varieties in the 1950s has been by far the biggest innovation in the history of watermelon breeding. Still watermelon is among the top 5 vegetables being produced world-wide in terms of quantity.

agro-TIP runs a very active and creative watermelon breeding program offering both diploid (seeded) and triploid (seedless) watermelon hybrids. To widen and improve the portfolio is not just a slogan but our daily motivation. Selecting the safest place for seed production in terms of disease free areas is crucial in watermelon and of highest priority for agro-TIP.

The international character of tomatoes is unbeaten! Alike customer preferences and versatile manifestation in sizes, shapes and color tomatoes are grown almost everywhere around the globe. Varieties are available for any purpose, any growing climate and any cultivation technique from very low tech open field to fancy high tech greenhouses production technology.

The market in total is segmented into determinate and indeterminate vine types and also into fresh market and processing purpose. Many types have their own and unique characteristics demanding different handling and crop management skills.

Being known and in demand for tomato varieties agro-TIP has gained strong position in all market segments.

Consistently performing varieties with strong and advanced resistance packages are the main characteristics of agro-TIP’s tomato portfolio.

Sweet corn is separated into different gene classes that refer to the sugar content of the kernels. Old standard types or ‘single sweet’s’ (SU) have lowest sugar content. ‘sugar enhanced’ (SE) types have better sweetness but the real revolution came up in the second half of the 1900’s. ‘Super sweet’ (sH2) entered the markets starting in the US in the 1980’s. The super sweets – also called shrunken 2 type – produce notably higher sugar contents by 4 to 10 time higher than SU corn. Furthermore the sugar-to-starch conversion is by far slower and enables growers to extend the harvest window. Retailer benefit from that trait because they can ship and store longer.

agro-TIP is convinced of super sweet / sH2 types and mainly offers varieties of this gene class. Still super sweets are not accepted everywhere but history shows that the convincing properties of high sugar production and extremely long shelf life will dominate on long term.

Squash shows up in different type all-around the globe. Light to medium-light green type with cylindrical or bulbous shape, dark green zucchini types, caserta or round types – squash appears in all nuances of green and any shape from round to long cylindrical.

In fact agro-TIP is known for its excellent squash portfolio and strong virus resistances. Focusing on multi-resistant hybrids we want our growers to have security against viral threats and stability with consistent quality. Not less than this is our motivation to breed and develop new varieties!

Spinach is all about resistance to DM (Peronospora farinosa f. sp. spinaciae). Every few years new races show up and lead to intensive tests of the entire lines. Second important aspect is bolting tolerance that is deciding about the proper sowing slot and growing area.

agro–TIP’s spinach hybrids are very well adapted to many growing areas. They provide high yield and pack-out and furthermore an ease of harvest by an upright plant habit.

Onion is one of most grown vegetable generally appearing in many dishes mostly as a spicing vegetable. Its health effects are exceptionally high which is attributed to sulfur-containing sulfides and selenium compounds that have anti-carcinogenic, antioxidant, antimicrobial and further beneficial effects on human health.

In some parts of the world agro-TIP is known as a leading company in onion seeds business. In fact onion is one of the very strong crops in the agro-TIP portfolio with a wide assortment in long and short day onions for early to late planting and all kinds of color. Healthy foliage and high quality bulbs for several purposes are must-haves of nowadays onion varieties. However, onions may change color and shape when grown at wrong latitude or may even bolt. As a result, particular attention must be paid to variety selection.

The appearance of melons offers a wide range of colors, sizes and weight that specification of the type became standard. Small and big size, round, oval and elongated shape, white, yellow and dark green color, smooth, netted and/or sutures is only what standard types characterizes. But among all differences there are two key points that every melon necessarily needs to have: very high sugar content and very good taste according to the type.

agro-TIP is working on many different standard melon types such as galia, ananas, charentais, cantaloupe, yellow canary and more for sales in any important market in the world. We are aiming at the most suitable varieties in terms of resistance, yield and high fruit quality that is matching our customer’s requirements. At agro-TIP we are also working on specialties with unique selling proposition and special beyond known standards.

The trend of eating fresh and healthy continues since several years and lettuce acquires a special position since it is most likely the fresh vegetable par excellence for the vast majority of people. Composing and eating salad automatically means choosing lettuce as a main component.

People want lettuce to be crunchy and tasty. That is why agro-TIP has focused on romaine types as one of the most demanded lettuce types world-wide. Romaine or cos types offer a wide range of required properties such as a crunchy bit, easy preparation and versatility in use.