Enkhuizer breeder sells his peppers worldwide: “Be known as mister pepper”

We soon discover that it is more than just work for Tom during a visit to a greenhouse where he develops his varieties. Because when it comes to peppers, the breeder can’t stop talking. “I love peppers, I can’t help it either,” he says with a laugh.

‘Eat several peppers a day’

He also likes to eat them, very much in fact. “At least four, five or six a day. And if I walk in the crop, it can go up to dozens. Did you know that there is also more vitamin C in a bell pepper than in an orange?”

But how did that passion come about? He grew up in Westland, where his interest in developing vegetables arose. In 1989 he ends up in Enkhuizen. This is where the large seed companies are located, which develop both vegetables and flowers. He becomes a bell pepper breeder at Enza Zaden. “It was still a small company at the time. I was 100 employees. Peppers were still a new market in the Netherlands at the time.”

Tom develops a pepper variety in 1992 that eventually takes over the market. His name is established, and he frequently travels abroad. “We started in Spain. And so we started in Mexico, Turkey, Florida and California. We kept growing.”

But this growth also has a downside for the breeder. The company is getting so big that its function has to be split into several functions. “Understandable, but I didn’t want that.” So he decided to start his own business, although it didn’t happen by itself.

“Developing your own variety takes a few years. So in the beginning I was also hired a lot as a consultant.” But now he is a completely independent pepper breeder with several of his own pepper varieties. “Then you end up in Mexico in a huge greenhouse with your peppers. That’s a kick, that’s great.”

He runs the business with his wife Faye and has 25 dealers worldwide who sell his seeds. When it comes to peppers, he has more varieties combined than all the large multinationals – such as Enza Zaden, Syngenta and Bayer – combined. “And in Spain, more than half of the peppers come to the land of my seeds,” he says proudly.

It also means a lot of travel. For example, Tom has just returned from Vietnam, and trips are already planned to America and the Philippines in the short term. “I try to visit all dealers once a year, so I’m away once every two weeks. Then I try to see as many greenhouses as possible in a few days. Sometimes ten a day. That gives a lot of energy.”

All bell peppers in all colors

Growing up is not his goal, but he has other ambitions. “I want to develop all pepper varieties in all eight pepper colors. And more and more varieties are being added, so that will last my life.” He continues: “That may not be commercial. But I also do it for fun, and it doesn’t make it any worse.”

View Tom’s explanation of how he breeds pepper varieties.