News on Food Trends from the Netherlands

Last week, after 15 years, Nele Cattoor left the Belgian fruit and vegetable sector. She's taking on a new challenge. Nele was the Belgian Vegetable Processing Sector Union, Vegebe's general secretary.

Wageningen University & Research has conducted research into the resilience of the agricultural sector. How do farmers keep in step with their environment? Examples include the changing weather conditions, climate change and government policy.

The potato growers of Royal Avebe participating in the Optimeel growing programme have been awarded Gold status according to the FSA 2.1 standard of the global platform SAI for sustainable agriculture.

As plantings for the 2021 potato crop in North-western Europe is wrapping up, it seems very probable that total potato area within the NEPG zone (EU-04) will be reduced by 3 to 5 percent.

Wageningen University & Research (WUR) has developed a five-step approach that could help food producing companies create effective sustainability programmes together with supplying farmers.

Last month HZPC Holding B.V. announced to stop with the business activities of Solentum B.V. Pessl Instruments GmbH will take over some of the products of Solentum B.V. as of May 1, 2021.

There seems to be little hope for an imminent agreement between the EU and the UK on mutual trade in seed potatoes. If no agreement is reached, there is a good chance that the export of seed potatoes from EU countries to the UK will be resolutely closed on 1 July.

With the publication of the sustainability report 2019-2020, leading potato processor presents its ambitious Sustainability Agenda for 2030

The PotatoEurope organization has started preparing the potato trial fields at the event location near the central Dutch city of Lelystad.

Last November Agrico built an online news platform to support its buyers and growers with important knowledge and information. Agrico now also shares the latest insights and successes of its Next Generation potato varieties on this online platform

With the event theme 'What's Now, What's New and What's the Future', PotatoEurope 2021 promises to provide insight into current developments in the potato industry as well as a look at the future of the sector.

The winner of the 'Water Innovator of the Year' award was announced during the online conference Water Vision 2021. The three ideas selected were Mid Mix, Mezt and the DUCAM project (Avebe and Wafilin: Sustainable Concentration of Potato Juice with Membranes). The winning finalist: Avebe and Wafilin's DUCAM project

Royal Cosun (parent of potato processor Aviko) closed 2020 with a slightly higher group result than in 2019. Aviko had an exceptionally turbulent year. Lockdowns exerted pressure on Aviko’s turnover in the foodservice channel, whereas other business groups benefited directly or indirectly from higher sales in the retail channel.

Until December 31, 2020 the North-western European Potato Growers (NEPG) was a 5 country organization, but the organization started 2021 without the British AHDB. Also, Victor Pfaff stepped down as NEPG secretary and is replaced by Daniel Ryckmans.

Dutch criminals are increasingly using exports to Africa to launder money which is subsequently invested in diamonds and gold from the continent, FIOD chief Bert Langerak has said.

With the pilot, 'smart big bags' HZPC uses the internet of things to share knowledge and get a better grip on the delivery process of seed potatoes.

Potato coop Agrico held its annual central general members' meeting last week. During this online meeting, the annual figures for 2019/2020 were discussed and Agrico's digital transformation was addressed.

NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) is unsure of the current potato situation and does not expect major changes in the demand side of the market in the coming weeks.