Potato News from Europe

On 7 and 8 November, Agrico held its annual variety show at its research station in Bant. During this show, the cooperative presented its new, innovative varieties and inspired visitors to work together to maximise professionalism in the chain.

In October, Ukraine imported 92,600 tonnes of potatoes, which exceeds the annual import volume, according to Ukrainian Horticultural Association (UHA).

To demonstrate the capabilities of Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) systems in french fry production, Elea cut and fried a record length potato strip in a demo during its recent Elea PEF Advantage Days at their headquarters in Quakenbrueck, Germany.

As of August 1, 2019 Tolsma-Grisnich, with residence in Emmeloord, the Netherlands has started a cooperation with José Bernad Refrigeration, with residence in Albacete, Spain, to explore the Spanish Agrofood market.

El Consello Regulador, a la espera de que Bruselas incluya la Agria y la Fina para doblar la producción.

Meléndez invertirá 15 millones en ampliar en 21.000 metros su fábrica de Medina del Campo con la creación de 50 empleos.

Health and wellness have been top of mind for many European and US consumers for some years, but now, this is also becoming a key theme in the Middle East and Africa.

Dewulf, full-liner in machines for the cultivation of potatoes and root crops will show seven machines at its stand at Agritechnica 2019. They range from soil cultivation to planting and from harvesting to storage.

UK Storage systems provider Crop Systems Limited is adding new features to its SmartStor® controller, which will help users reduce storage costs, while improving their ability to manage stores remotely on mobile devices. See it at BP2019!

TOMRA Food, junto a Compac y BBC Technologies, ambas pertenecientes al Grupo TOMRA Food,mostraron sus novedades en la Feria Internacional del Sector de Frutas y Hortalizas, FruitAttraction, que celebró su 11ª edición en IFEMA.

Daniel Leighty has been promoted to Global Vice President of Sales. Leighty is now responsible for Key’s worldwide sales organization to bring the company’s high performance digital sorting, conveying and process automation systems to the market.

The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) have released a new potato production estimate for consumption potatoes in the leading 5 North-Western potato countries. If all potatoes will be lifted totally about 26.9 million tons will be harvested.

Jeroen van Soesbergen, Plantera, Marknesse: 'The fact that there are still varieties that are being trialled is an indication that there certainly is a demand.'

Jeroen Kuin, Agroplant, Medemblik: 'No customer wants to depend on only one or two varieties for processing.'

Willem in 't Anker, C. Meijer BV, Rilland: 'There's a constant need for new potato varieties, also for French fries.'

Tigran Richter, Norika/Binst, Sanitz (D): 'For every interesting potato variety that performs better than what we already have, there's a chance in the market.'

Rindert Dankert, Breeding Company Kooi, Leeuwarden: 'In order to increase a possible success, we focus mainly on the early segment.'

Harry van de Vijver, Germicopa, Quimper (F): 'Give us yellow-fleshed French-fry varieties with broad nematode resistance.'