News on The Potato Supply Chain from Europe

Mientras Bruselas destaca los beneficios comerciales y la reducción de aranceles para exportaciones agroalimentarias, agricultores y ganaderos anuncian movilizaciones y bloqueos ante el riesgo que el pacto supone para sus explotaciones.

Jason O’Leary, a potato grower from Blackwater, Co. Wexford, has been elected Chair of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) Potato Committee, which represents potato growers within Ireland’s largest farming organisation.

Germany’s potato industry calls for urgent research and coordinated measures against the spreading reed glasswinged leafhopper to protect cultivation, jobs, and regional economic strength.

Scientists decoded a haplotype-resolved potato genome and GWAS of 141 accessions, identifying StTST2, a tonoplast sugar transporter. StTST2 boosts photosynthesis, sugar accumulation, source–sink transport, and tuber yield via interaction with SUT2.

DLG Benelux has officially changed its name to DLG Markets Benelux, effective immediately. The rebranding aligns with DLG International’s transition to DLG Markets and reinforces the organization’s focus on serving global and regional agri-food markets.1

Fruit Logistica 2026 (4–6 Feb, Berlin) brings the global fresh fruit industry together with six expert stages, 200 speakers and multilingual talks, covering markets, farming, technology, logistics and future innovation.

Las tendencias alimenticias y los hábitos de consumo se transforman en europa y el mundo, y España no es la excepción. Cada vez se consume menos patata fresca.

Los agricultores alemanes lograron una cosecha de patatas excepcionalmente alta —con rendimientos un 20% superiores y más superficie cultivada— pero el fuerte excedente hundió los precios hasta un 60% y generó un mercado exportador muy competitivo, por lo que se considera necesaria una reducción del área de cultivo para equilibrar la oferta.

La UE no logró firmar el acuerdo con Mercosur por falta de consenso, mientras que el comercio hortofrutícola muestra un fuerte desequilibrio para España, con exportaciones en caída y unas importaciones muy superiores y en aumento.

La medida, que pretende redirigir fondos para inversiones en defensa y seguridad, supone un recorte de 900 millones de euros solamente para el campo español.

Agricultores y ganaderos de Castilla y León, junto a miles de productores europeos, protestarán en Bruselas para exigir un presupuesto agrícola justo y evitar los fuertes recortes propuestos para la PAC 2028–2034, que consideran una amenaza para el campo y para los consumidores.

Restrain®, a specialist in residue-free technology for potato production and storage, has appointed Van Iperen BV as the distributor of Restrain Accumulator in the Netherlands.

Table potato variety Country is attracting growing interest in the German market. The need for a stress-resistant, high-yielding variety with good skin quality prompted Böhmer to start trials with Country in 2023.

Dutch arable farming plays an important role in national food security. Members of Parliament were able to experience this firsthand on Wednesday 3 December.

M&S has partnered with Suffolk-based Home Farm Nacton, based on the historic Orwell Park Estate, to bring customers across the UK new variety celebration potatoes for the festive season.

Castilla y León, líder español en producción de patata, enfrenta el desafío de mantener su regadío basado en aguas subterráneas bajo nuevas exigencias de sostenibilidad marcadas por la Unión Europea.

SACAPP’s 2026 conference returns to Dundee on February 5, bringing UK growers together to explore innovation, data-driven production, water resilience and new uses for potato waste, with speakers from Japan, Orkney and Scotland’s plant health leadership.

Lamb Weston, HAI, Radboud University and ISPT are advancing potato processing with AI and hyperspectral imaging to boost quality, reduce waste and improve efficiency. Lamb Weston experts say the technology enables consistent supply and faster, deeper quality predictions.