Wageningen UR had earlier decided to dispose of Spelderholt because this experimental farm could not get enough assignments from the poultry sector for it to be run profitably. Livestock Research will shut down its own poultry experimental farm and carry out applied research together with animal feed company Schothorst Research in Lelystad. Aviagen, an international market leader in poultry breeding and genetics, has leased Spelderholt from 1 April. It will set up its own R&D lab there. Aviagen develops breeding material for producing broiler chicks and turkeys. The lease marks the end of ninety years of corporative poultry research in the Netherlands. Spelderholt was set up in 1921 as an ‘experimental station for the poultry sector in Beekbergen’. In 2004, the experimental farm moved to a new and huge abode in Lelystad. This is the place now leased to Aviagen for a period of twelve years.
Spelderholt leased to leading poultry breeder
Spelderholt, the Wageningen UR experimental farm for the poultry sector, located in Lelystad, has been leased to poultry breeding company Aviagen. This was disclosed by Wageningen UR Livestock Research on 6 April.