On Thursday 8 November Agrico opened its annual Presentation of Varieties and Seedlings at its breeding company Agrico Research in Bant. A large group of visitors from the Netherlands and other countries attended the show, which is also open on Friday 9 November. During the official opening, Agrico’s Managing Director Jan van Hoogen presented his company’s four new promising potato varieties that have been approved for inclusion in the Dutch List of Varieties.

The theme of this edition of the Presentation of Varieties is Italy. Italy is an important market for Agrico. Thanks to the successful introduction and marketing of Agrico varieties such as Agata, Gourmandine and Fontane, Agrico has acquired a strong position in this country. Inspired by Bologna, the hometown of the company's subsidiary Agrico Italia, the show’s venue has this year been turned into an Italian museum, complete with images, sounds, aromas and flavours from the region of Bologna. In this attractive ambiance, on Thursday visitors had an opportunity to find out more about Agrico’s most recent breeding results.

During the show’s opening, Managing Director Jan van Hoogen presented four promising new varieties that have been approved for inclusion in the Dutch List of Varieties. Varietal development is of great importance to Agrico to enable the company to continue to meet the wishes of growers, consumers and processers all over the world, now and in the future.

Three of the newly admitted varieties were bred by Agrico’s own in-house breeding company Agrico Research. One of these newcomers is Performer, a robust chip potato with very good resistance to and tolerance of Pallida that is ideal for English fish &chips shops. With Romie Agrico has introduced a new variety of firm cooking table potatoes with an excellent flavour and presentation that are very suitable for West-European retail sale. The breeding company's third new introduction is Volare, a variety with white flesh that produces high yields of large potatoes.

Volare and the variety Arizona, which was introduced two years ago, are particularly suitable for the Italian market, which is why Agrico chose to put these two varieties in the limelight at its Presentation of Varieties.

The last of the four newcomers is Flair, a variety of smallish, fairly floury potatoes that was bred by Oebele Spriensma, a breeder affiliated with Agrico. Flair is bound to appeal to West-European consumers with traditional tastes.

Source: Agrico