‘It has become a tradition to start each year with a summary of what the past year has meant to the department and to reflect on what the new year has in store for us’, remarked Schippers on 5 January 1987, in his first New Year's address to his staff as the Laboratory's new director.

Who better to look back? At 54 years of age – for 28 of which he had worked at the Phytopathology Laboratory in Baarn – he could still recall the days when Westerdijk and her housekeeper had lived there. It took an effort of the imagination to recognize that past in the complex he was standing in now. A corridor connected the Phytopathology Laboratory to the white building of the Central Bureau of Fungal Cultures (cbs) on Oosterstraat, like an intact umbilical cord. The old Villa and ‘Madoera’ coach-house had been renovated several times and modernized: besides central heating, telephones and electric lighting, a computer network was now being installed. The Villa had a wing with brightly illuminated rooms and modern laboratories, and there was a little electricity substation in the garden. And quite recently, in November 1986, the board and staff had gathered for the festive opening of a brand-new greenhouse. The entire complex had a hyper-modern look to it – as befitted an internationally renowned laboratory, said Schippers.

Phytopathology itself had changed beyond recognition since Westerdijk's time. It had undergone explosive growth, from a small and clearly defined area of science to a ramified international network of specialisms and sub-specialisms. The almost inevitable result had been an enormous fragmentation in research, but on the other hand, the immense expansion had generated countless opportunities for cooperation between teams. Modern communication technologies made it easier and more attractive for teams to work together at both national and international level.

‘We can be well satisfied with our research output, in terms of both quantity and quality’, said Schippers, midway through his speech. ‘It is interesting to see the growing demand in society for… fundamental insight into … possible ways of manipulating the resistance properties of plants to ward off disease and of manipulating antagonistic organisms to protect crops and to improve growth and yield; two areas in which our department has ample experience as well as expertise and enthusiasm.