In 1930 Patericus Schoneveld established the company and mainly grew vegetables in the open to sell via the local auction. The activities soon expanded to include flowering bulbs, cut flowers and bedding plants. The first glasshouses were subsequently erected. Father Schoneveld passed the company on to his son, also called Patericus Schoneveld who gradually added more pot plants to the product range, until about 1970, when the business consisted only of cut flowers and pot plants.
Patty and Hans Schoneveld joined their father’s company in 1970. At that time greater emphasis was placed on pot plants: St. Paulia, Cyclamen and Primula and commercial activities increased. In addition to the location in Twello, Schoneveld was also active in Vleuten. Patty concentrated on propagation and experimented with breeding for the first time.
During the 1980s, competition in the commercial sector increased considerably and put pressure on returns. The companies were split and Patty Schoneveld took over the activities in Twello. A decisive choice was to invest in knowledge. After a number of years this resulted in the successful introduction of the Cyclamen Super Serie®, the current ‘Original®’. The Cyclamen range became more extensive with the introduction of the colours red and white besides salmon and ‘white with eye’. The products soon became well-known for their long flower life, both during transport and among consumers.
Also in the 1990s, much attention was paid to breeding Primula Obconica. Wageningen University was working on a primin free variant with the advantage that it did not cause a rash. Schoneveld continued this research. It took another 10 years before the material was sufficiently pure in genetic terms for single colour varieties. In 2002 we introduced the primin free Primula Obconica ‘Touch Me’ with its distinctive bright colours.
In 2004 Peter van de Pol joined the organisation as Operations Manager. Under his management the company was able to achieve continued growth and increase efficiency even further. In 2007 Peter took over the general management from Patty Schoneveld and he also became owner of the company. The organisation continued to grow and in 2009 this success was celebrated during the 75th anniversary activities. At that time the company name was changed to Schoneveld breeding.
The company continued to develop under the new name and started to focus on collaboration within the entire chain. In this concept, the grower is put centre stage and Schoneveld provides support in the form of growing recommendations, and marketing and sales support. In 2014, Schoneveld breeding won the prestigious International Grower of the Year 2014 award. In particular, connecting the partners in the chain, thus enabling specific market-oriented responses to trends in sales were considered to be distinguishing.
The company is still characterised by its tremendous drive for innovation and considerable commitment to its clients. Throughout the years the employees also remained loyal to this originally family-owned company, giving Schoneveld breeding a unique and personal nature and while at the same time exuding professionalism in an environment continually undergoing considerable changes.