Welcome to the Flanders , regio of the Bourgondiers . The barbarians of germanium invaded Gallie , which was governed by the romans in December 406 .One of those barbarian tribes were the Bourgondiers . They came originally from the isle of Bornholm in the East sea and they brought that name via Eastern Europe to their place of settlement : Bourgondie.
The Vikings were defeated near Chartres in 911 by the first duke of Bourgondie . The defeated Viking leader Rollo was spared by accepting a baptism and was banned to what we now call Vlaanderen. It is so that we can say that we have possibly something in common with our chairman Thor Kofoed , who lives and farms on Bornholm . It is clear that the Vlamingen and definitely the West Vlamingen ,still have some Viking blood coursing through their veines
West vlaanderen ,as the main agricultural province , is represented here by the provincial agricultural deputy Bart Naeyart. Agriculture is very important in West Vlaanderen (1/3 of the agriculture production of Flanders) with the research center Inagro as a service oriented center what is very appreciated by the farmers.
Because multiplication of grass seed is very important for Vlaanderen and because 80% of growing of grass seed happens in West Vlaanderen , we are hopeful for future cooperation with Jonas Claeys of Inagro
We would also like to thank the grass seed company Pregras , part of the Aveve group , represented here by Koen Ganne for his support.
Last but not least we thank the umbrella organization Intersemza whose president Philippe Martin and secretary Luc Couvreur are present.
We are grateful for this support and cooperation with all of you
With the sustainability goals in mind I would like to emphasize once more that West Vlaanderen is the ideal province for grass seed growing because of the soil and its location near the sea and because of the professionalism of the multipliers .This professionalism is a result of crop guidance which ensures that the grass seed companies can deliver a top quality product in Belgium and in Europe.
We are happy to be your hosts for this dinner in this unique spot , the Pier of Blankenberge .
Enjoy and have a wonderful evening.
