Qui sommes-nous
L'Association Coopérative des plants et semences Anna Paulowna garantit l'artisanat depuis plus d'un siècle. Une sélection rigoureuse et des conditions climatiques uniques garantissent des plants sains de pommes de terre et des semences de céréales saines.
Nous pouvons nous considérer comme la plus ancienne association de semences et plants, qui fonctionne encore de manière indépendante. Depuis notre centenaire, le 8 octobre 2013, nous sommes autorisés à porter le qualificatif Royal (Koninklijk).
Royal ZAP a racheté Semagri Holland depuis le 1er janvier 2017. Une maison de négoce qui s'est forgé une solide réputation dans la production de pommes de terre féculières de haute qualité.
Grâce à la coopération des deux sociétés, une entreprise solide a été créée avec une vaste expérience dans la production de matériels de jeune génération, de haute qualité, en pommes de terre et céréales.
La collaboration avec des producteurs indépendants aux Pays-Bas ainsi qu'avec des producteurs étrangers offre une large gamme de nouveaux hybrides et de potentielles nouvelles variétés de pommes de terre.
Des croisements prometteurs sont testés dans divers champs d'essai en Europe, en Afrique du Nord et au Moyen-Orient. A cela s'ajoute la connaissance large des marchés sur plusieurs continents qui permet d'introduire des variétés nouvellement développées.
Depuis le 1er janvier 2018, la production, les achats et les ventes de toutes les variétés libres sont sous l'entière responsabilité de Royal ZAP. Les variétés féculières, quant à elles, sont sous la responsabilité de Semagri tant pour la production que pour les achats et les ventes.
N'hésitez pas à nous contacter si, en tant que producteur, vous recherchez un bon prix et des garanties de vente pour vos semences ou vos plants.
Notre équipe de salariés motivés a acquis ses compétences par la formation et l'expérience à travers les années. Ils voyagent partout dans le monde pour acquérir des connaissances et, au mieux, se préparer aux besoins en constante évolution afin de pouvoir cultiver les meilleures variétés de pommes de terre, mais aussi les céréales les plus productives. L'engagement personnel et les circuits courts entre le producteur et le client final sont les véritables piliers de notre succès..
International
1905 Teachers and potatoes
Bintje and the Z.A.P. have one thing in common: a teacher with an agricultural deed. As the Frisian teacher L. de Vries named his new potato variety after his best pupil Bintje Jansma in 1905, so would teacher N. Raap from Anna Paulowna in The Netherlands be at the cradle of the Z.A.P.
In 1912, at a meeting of the Dutch Society for Agriculture, he told his listeners that they had to grow their seed themselves. Until then, the growers got seed from the province of Zeeland because that's where the best seed came from.
The pocket knife (a crazy story)
The story goes that a grower from Anna Paulowna of the province of North Holland found in a bag of seed from the province of Zeeland an object that he had lost during the sale of his wheat on the Alkmaar grain market. It was his pocketknife! The wheat from the polder in the northern part of North Holland had been transported to Zeeland and later returned with the wheat seed!
1913 Establishment
There was a lot of confusion about the date of its creation. The first minutes date from 29 September 1914 and from that time also the first regulation dates. But in 1913 the association was already active. However, due to time shortage and illness, Secretary Raap had not been able to take notes before, as he argued at the 25th anniversary in 1938. He suggested linking the founding date to an important day in the history of North Holland: Alkmaar's relief, or Alcmaria Victoria. On October 8, 1573, the Spaniards had to give up their siege of the city because the Dutch crossed the dikes around Alkmaar and the Spaniards got stuck in the mud. Not only at Alkmaar the victory began, but also in Anna Paulowna when, retroactively, the association was pulled out of the clay on October 8, 1913. She was given the name: Seed and Seedlings Growers Association Anna Paulowna. Z.A.P. for short.
As a thank you for the move, Mr. N. Raap was given the position of secretary on the first board of the association. J.C. Blaauboer became chairman and C.Rezelman treasurer. In 1918, the youngest grower G.C. van Balen Blanken became the first director. But Master Raap is always called 'the father of the Z.A.P.' in all memorial books.
Many generations cultivated their seed and seed potatoes for Z.A.P. In the old minutes and member lists you will come across many of the same names over the years. People who often grow seed and seed for the producer organisation on the same farm as their father and/or grandfather. Now, a hundred years later, the Z.A.P.'s objective is still the same: to grow and sell seeds and seed potatoes of excellent quality.
First minutes ZAP / Eerste notulen ZAP
C.G. van Balen Blanke
First director / Eerste directeur
N. Raap
Secretary and founder / Secretaris en oprichter
Van Ewijcksluis (Storage location)
From the beginning, the seed and seed trade is located in van Ewijcksluis, a small village on the edge of the Wadden Sea and the Amstelmeer. It owes its name to Daniel Jacob van Ewijck, governor of King Willem II. Van Ewijck had to supervise the poldering of the Anna Paulownapolder. The polder was given the name of the king's then consort. The village had and has a port and maintained until 1924 a ferry service with the then island of Wieringen. Then the 'small dike' was built and Wieringen had a fixed connection. Until 1937 there was also a tram connection to Schagen. The station building was later converted into a warehouse of the ZAP.
Wieringerwerf (Office)
The Anna Paulownapolder was drained in 1847 and on 1 January 1870 Anna Paulowna became an independent municipality. Since 1990, after the municipal reclassification, the Waardpolder and the Wieringerwaard are also included. This last polder celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2010. The fact that the polders were claimed from the sea a long time ago can still be seen, even after 400 years, sometimes when we work the soil hands full of shells still come up!
Present day
Rapen and Bintjes, a lot has changed in a century. What remained is the name of the men of the first hour: teacher N. Raap and G.C. van Balen Blanken – they were honored in Anna Paulowna respectively with a square and a street. Bintje Jansma lives on in the potato variety that is still grown by the Z.A.P. in the same polders as before.
In a century the ZAP cooperative has expanded from 11 to 40 members. The small warehouse and the office at the secretary's house have been replaced by two large warehouses and a spacious office. Z.A.P. is represented in several countries and is selling their quality varieties to farmers worldwide. In our core we still are a small cooperative and are we farmers growing for farmers. The ZAP cooperative still uses the credo from their initial founding:
Growing seed potatoes and seeds of excellent quality.