Together with their customers we looked at what requirements are truly important for sustainable varieties. They came up with 5 sustainable traits; Marketable yield, Fertilizer, Storability, Crop protection and Fresh water use.
Now they can finally measure and determine whether a variety is sustainable. Not defining by one single trait but by a balanced set of five.
In their Even Greener calculator, you indicate which traits are most important to you, and we provide a potato variety that meets these requirements. This gives you access to the best sustainable potato varieties.
Fertilizer efficiency
How much a variety can produce can be stimulated by fertilizers. How efficient a plant works with these fertilizers is different per variety. The prices of fertilizers are increasing dramatically. This is a challenge for potato growers around the world.
There are two ways to reduce the dependency on fertilizers:
Applying fertilizers through field fertigation. This is more precise than conventional methods. Besides, it optimizes water and fertilizer use.
Field fertigation is not widely used in potato cultivation yet. So it is crucial to choose the right varieties which have the best balance between fertilizer input and quality and yield output.
Even Greener varieties use nutrients efficiently, reducing fertilizer waste and achieving a good yield and quality.
Fresh water use
Climate change is making potato cultivation more challenging. Do you want to reduce fresh water usage or mitigate the production risks due to longer dry periodes? Even Greener varieties can tolerate dry periods well and use water more efficiently.
Storability
Food waste is a serious problem. Food can be wasted because it is thrown away, but also, for example, during storage. The longer we can store potatoes with high quality, the longer we can offer delicious potatoes, the less food waste there will be.
Even Greener varieties are selected to reduce the use of anti-sprouting inhibitors in cold store. They can be stored for a long period without losing external and internal qualities.
Marketable Yield
One of the most important ways to bring down the carbon footprint per kilo of a crop, is by increasing the yield per hectare. The potato in general, is very good at this. And the Even Greener varieties are even better. In their Even Greener model, we focus on the average performance of the variety, according to the requirements of the market.
