从图尔高起步的家庭种子生意
Christine 和 Robert Zollinger 都在园艺专业上受过训练，1980 年代初开始积累蔬菜育种和种子生产的经验。1984 年，两人在图尔高州 Amriswil 起步，挑的是传统蔬菜、香草和花卉的种子。
开头几年以选种试验为主，前后做了三年多才拿得出第一批货。1987 年第一本目录出版，里面只有十二个品种。
1991 年搬到瓦莱州的 Les Evouettes
生意慢慢做起来之后，1991 年出现了一个机会：他们在瓦莱州 Port-Valais 的 Les Evouettes 买下一块二十五公顷的农场，位置在日内瓦湖畔、罗讷河入湖口。这块地让能种的品种一下子多了起来，家里也从一块试验菜园变成有自己农场的种子公司。
今天这片农场的耕地是三十公顷，位处下瓦莱的山谷里。气候干燥少雨，正适合留种：种子在这里收，品种比较试验也在这边的田里做。
只做传统品种，不做杂交种
从选种、繁殖到装袋，全部由自己人做完，中间不外包。他们的品种带自己的标记，标记代表几条约定：适应阿尔卑斯山一带气候的传统作物；不用杂交种，收下来的种子可以年年再种，不受专利或基因改造限制；选育和生产都在瑞士境内。
顾客每年会把觉得稀罕的品种种子寄回来，有的一次只寄几粒，因为那个品种已经没人种了。这些样本先在试验园里种下，长出来再跟别的品系比对性状，觉得好才继续繁殖。一个品种从试验走到正式进目录，常常要三到五年。按 Till Zollinger 的说法，店里扩繁的品种有四百五十余种；因为种子能存放好几年，每年实际重新种下去的约为二百五十个。
二代接手后的这十几年
2016 年，Christine 和 Robert 因为常年做的事获得 Lammsbräu 可持续性奖；同一年公司交给第二代的三兄弟 Tizian、Til 和 Tulipan。2019 年他们推出自有化妆品品牌 ZiZAN!A Biobotanica，用有机种子生产剩下的原料来做；2022 年最小的弟弟 Falc 也进来，四兄弟齐了。2022 年瓦莱州政府评的农业功勋奖，获奖的还有 Turtmanntal 高山牧场的合作社。
现在的目录是四百五十余种蔬菜、花卉和香草，每年还在往里添新找到的老品种。分工上 Tizian 管育种和研究，Guillaume 管生产，Aurélie 负责试验田，Til 是总经理兼股东之一。
怎么买，怎么去看
2006 年公司有了自己的网站，目录邮购一直保留到今天。种子主要靠网店直接卖给家庭园丁，在瑞士各地的花卉中心、有机店、杂货店和本地农场也能买到。配送只在瑞士境内：标准件 4.90 瑞郎，两到四个工作日；优先件 9.95 瑞郎，一到两个工作日；Z Bio Club 会员免运费。会员一年 99 瑞郎，原价 119 瑞郎，一年给四个不对外卖的品种，外加园艺问答。
开放日是每年七月第二个星期六，当天有导览，带人看种子从下地到装袋的全过程。团体参观整场收 222 瑞郎，店家建议夏天来，六月到八月田里最热闹。育苗苗在另一个单独的网站卖，是季节性供应，Z Bio Club 会员还能早一天逛苗市。公司也接定制生产，从食品工业用的特种作物到种子扩繁、品种比较试验都做，规模从一平方米到十万平方米都接。
A Family Seed Business That Started in Thurgau
Christine and Robert Zollinger were both trained in horticulture and spent the early 1980s learning vegetable breeding and seed production. In 1984 they began selecting seed of vegetables, herbs and flowers in Amriswil, in the canton of Thurgau.
The first years went on selection trials, and it took them more than three years before they had anything to sell. The first catalogue appeared in 1987 with just twelve varieties in it.
The Move to Les Evouettes in the Valais
As the business grew, an opportunity came in 1991 to buy a 25-hectare estate at Les Evouettes in the Valais, close to where the Rhone runs into Lake Geneva. The land opened up the range considerably, and the family went from a small trial garden to a farm of its own.
The land worked today is 30 hectares, in the lower Valais. The valley is dry and sunny, which suits seed growing: seed is harvested here, and the variety trials are run in the same fields.
Heritage Varieties Only, and No Hybrids
Everything from selection and production through to packing is done in house. The varieties carry the company mark, which stands for a set of promises: traditional crops adapted to the Alpine arc, no hybrids, so seed can be collected and sown again without restriction by patents or genetic modification, and production and maintenance in Switzerland.
Customers send in seed of varieties they think worth keeping, sometimes only a handful of seeds because that variety is no longer grown anywhere. The samples go into the trial garden, and it commonly takes three to five years before a variety reaches the catalogue. Till Zollinger puts the numbers this way: more than 450 varieties are multiplied, and because seed keeps for years, roughly 250 of them are grown again each year.
The Second Generation and the Catalogue Today
In 2016 Christine and Robert were honoured with the Lammsbrau prize for sustainability, and the same year the company passed to the second generation, the brothers Tizian, Til and Tulipan. In 2019 they launched ZiZAN!A Biobotanica, a cosmetics brand built on what is left over from organic seed production, and in 2022 the youngest brother Falc joined, completing the four. The Valais state agricultural merit award for 2022 went to them and to the alpage cooperative of the Turtmanntal.
The catalogue now runs to more than 450 varieties of vegetables, flowers and herbs, with old varieties newly found added most years. Tizian heads breeding and research, Guillaume runs production, Aurelie works the trial fields, and Til is chief executive and one of the owners.
How to Buy, and How to Visit
The company put its first website up in 2006, and the mail-order catalogue is still sent out every year. Seed is sold mainly through the website to home gardeners, and also through garden centres, organic shops, bulk grocery stores and local farms across Switzerland. Delivery is within Switzerland only: standard post costs 4.90 francs and takes two to four working days, priority is 9.95 francs and takes one to two, and members of the Z Bio Club ship free. The club costs 99 francs a year, 119 before, and sends out four varieties each year that are not listed in the public catalogue, along with gardening advice.
The open house day falls on the second Saturday of July, with guided walks through the crops showing how seed gets from the field into the packet. A group visit costs a flat 222 francs, and the company suggests June to August, when the fields are in flower. Seedlings are sold on a separate site as a seasonal offering, and club members get in an early to the seedling market. The company also takes on production work to order, from specialty crops for the food industry to seed multiplication and variety trials, on anything from a single square metre to a hundred thousand.
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