Potato News from Belgium

Sensor-based food sorting solutions pioneer TOMRA Sorting has appointed Ashley Hunter as senior vice-president and head of its food business.

According to Romain Cools from Belgapom it is a fact that the consumption of fresh potatoes by Belgian families is falling, but he expects the prices to remain high.

Breeders Trust, an organisation set up by seed potato companies to enforce proper contributions by farmers for use of proprietary potato varieties, has sued two Belgian Farmers for infraction of breeders rights of potato varieties.

FoodDrinkEurope, the trade body representing Europe’s food and drink industry, welcomes the political agreement reached between the EU and Canada on the key elements of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

Mydibel has existed for 25 years as of 2013 and they are not letting this go by unnoticed. The site in Moeskroen has changed into a striking eye-catcher.

AVR is a leading supplier of agricultural machines, specializing in potato cultivation mechanization. Since spring of this year, crop handling technology has been added to our line-up following the acquisition of Climax International B.V.

Similar a un expendedor de bebidas, el primero de estos distribuidores está ya en funcionamiento en Bruselas, según recoge el diario La Dernière Heure en su edición digital.

Dutch Potato Processing Company Aviko is looking into expansion of processing capacity for french fries in Belgium, report several news sources in the country.

La prohibición de importar papa procedente de la Unión Europea por parte de Rusia entró en vigor, después de tres meses de negociación.

Representatives from across Europe?s food supply chain have today announced the launch of a joint effort to tackle the major societal problem of food wastage via the publication of their Joint Declaration entitled, “Every Crumb Counts”.

McCain Foods and Pinguin NV have completed the sales agreement of the Lutosa division.

The Belgian potato processing industry has seen a spectacular growth during the last decades. The companies active in this sector have grown from 500.000 tons of processed potatoes in 1990 to 3,65 million tons of raw material in 2012.

EUPPA, the European Potato Processors’ Association, is organising in Brussels its 1st Congress for the processed potatoes’ sector on 16th May 2013 in Brussels, which will be also an opportunity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of EUPPA.

Based on a survey among 123 of its members, the Belgian organisation PCA expects an 8% increase in the potato acreage in Flanders for the main crop, as well as an increase in the acreage of early potatoes of 7.5%. Potato farmers were expressing their p...

SHAFFE, the Southern Hemisphere Association of Fresh Fruit Exporters, which unites all significant Southern Hemisphere fruit growing export countries (including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, South Africa and Uruguay), remains ...

At Ecofrost in Belgium, a new potato specialities line was commissioned last spring. The line is used to produce formed potato croquettes and pommes noisettes. Raw materials for these products are the rejects and the nubbin waste from the Kiremko Frenc...

The ever changing story of Europe's relationship with biotechnology took another twist recently when the giant German chemical firm BASF announced it was halting the development of all its GM potato varieties in Europe.

At Fruit Logistica 2013 next week (Berlin, 6-8 February) Syngenta will unveil key elements of the company’s integrated business of seeds and crop protection – a world first for new innovation and crop solutions.