News on Potato Storage from Europe

During the last weeks, free buy prices from different North-western European quotations have dramatically fallen, no longer allowing to cover production costs. North-western European Potato growers (NEPG) respond.

Restrain, the world’s leading provider of ethylene-based sprout control solutions, has announced the appointment of Dr. Benedikt Cramer as its new Managing Director, while current MD Dirk Garos will take up the new role of Strategic Director.

Researchers in Norway investigated the best way to avoid the formation of acrylamide when producing potato chips. They focused in particular on identifying the most suitable potatoes to use.

Meet Mooij Agro’s Smart Cooling Manager for the cold storage of potatoes, onions and other crops. This smart system communicates between cooling cells and units, and automatically controls the temperature for each unit.

In Belgium, Industriële Koeltechniek Roose (IKR) recently installed a new cooling and freezing system at potato specialist De Aardappelhoeve.

KLIM’TOP Controls manufactures, sells and installs cooling units and ventilation systems for the farm industry, and more precisely for long-term storage root vegetables such as potatoes.

Ventilation costs a lot of electricity and has become pricey now that energy prices are going through the roof. One stroke of luck is that the latest generation of fans is much more energy efficient.

During its last meeting prior to Potato Europe 2022, the North-western European Potato Growers (NEPG) estimates that global potato production in the NEPG zone (EU-04) will be down by 7 to 11 %.

Much is expected from precision farming both inside and outside the potato sector. The term is often mentioned in the same breath as a sustainable future for potato cultivation. But precision farming is more than a future perspective.

The Net Zero Hectare project has secured GBP 2.06 million (about USD 2.36 million) in funding acquired from The Farming Innovation Programme, run by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in cooperation with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

It attracts quite a bit of attention, the dizzying weaving of steel, which now rises high above the other business premises on Vossenberg (Tilburg, The Netherlands).

It’s now six years since Farm Electronics became a subsidiary of the Dutch Tolsma Grisnich Group. Both Tolsma Grisnich and Farm Electronics brands have their 'specific' UK or European potato.

The skyrocketing energy prices in 2022 are a huge challenge for potato growers. After all, ensuring good storage conditions in storage areas with the aid of fans and cooling installations costs a lot of electricity.

By constructing its own mini tuber storage facility, seed potato company Agrico is taking the next step in its professionalization. Agrico currently rents a separate area from an affiliated grower for its mini tubers.

APH Group, a distributor of farm equipment, recently closed several multi-million contracts in China, Romania, and Saudi Arabia. APH Group will supply storage-, grading and washing installations for three new French fries factories.

Intersur ha adquirido para su nueva sede en Castilla y León, las instalaciones en Tordesillas (Valladolid) de la extinta Agroinnova S.L. – Las Patatas del Abuelo. Esta importante inversión permitirá a la empresa desarrollar un importante plan de cultivo para Castilla y León.

With an innovation award under its belt and a new technical expert on the payroll, sprout inhibition developer Restrain was a popular participant at the 2021 British Potato Industry Event in Harrogate.

Asaja Canarias ASAGA, advierte del desabastecimiento de papa de semilla y aboga por planificar la siembra para evitar una caída de los precios en 2022