Potato News from Belgium

Belgium potato chip manufacturer Roger & Roger invests €10 million (USD 12 million) in Croky Plant

For the current European potato harvest, the North-western-European Potato Growers (NEPG) estimate the total potato production at 27.9 million tons for the five NEPG countries (Belgium, Germany, France, The Netherlands and Great Britain). This is up 13.5 percent compared to last season.

Op basis van proefrooiingen en praktijkresultaten verwacht de NEPG een totale oogst van 27,9 miljoen ton aan consumptieaardappelen in Noord-west Europa. Dat is 13,5% hoger dan vorig jaar.

VDH Concept, a Belgian company specialized in retail packaging for potatoes, vegetables and fruit, has recently introduced SQ Pack, packaging with a net structure perforation.

Mydibel strengthens management team to support its national and international growth ambition:
Appointment of Marc Van Herreweghe as CEO of the Mydibel group

Mydibel versterkt management ter ondersteuning nationale én internationale groeiambities:
Marc Van Herreweghe wordt CEO van de Mydibel Groep.

TOMRA Sorting Food has announced a positive six months trading since the start of 2017 thanks to the successful launch of three sorting platforms, new senior management appointments and the implementation of an enhanced customer support service.

In Belgium - and also in the Netherlands - drought has taken its toll on the early potato harvest. But for the main crop (for storage) a lot depends on the coming weeks and the month of August.

Karel Decramer has decided to quit as the sales director for the vegetable division of Dewulf, specialist in the field of harvesting technology for potatoes and carrots.

The total consumption potato area in North-Western Europe, has been estimated at 578.821 ha, which is 4.6% more than last year and 8.3% more than the 5 years average, according to the NEPG.

Today, Starch Europe launched a new online Q&A platform “Starch in Food: Your Questions Answered”

TOMRA Sorting Food has unveiled a powerful new graphical user interface (UI) to help food processors get the most from their sorting systems by optimizing work flows and reducing waste to deliver improved profitability.

Last week on 15 & 16 June, the Europatat Congress 2017 took place. Feedback on the congress and side events has been extremely positive.

From Belgium, Van Roey & Zonen explains how TOMRA has helped its potato and onion sorting business to reduce expenditure and boost productivity.

TOMRA Sorting Food has launched TOMRA Care to satisfy customers’ changing service needs, and to meet the new way of thinking about service in general.

The Antwerp Court of Appeal has sentenced a farmer in the Belgian province of Antwerp to pay a large fine and damage compensation to Breeders Trust for not reporting his acreage farm saved seed for the varieties Asterix and Fontane which are protected under Plant Breeders’ Rights.

Potato Machine Manufacturer AVR explains a number of options for the crop handling & storage equipment launched last season

TOMRA Sorting Food has delivered the world’s highest capacity steam peeler to a leading potato processing company.