Current contract prices would make it practically impossible to keep growing potatoes in Belgium

There are plenty of potatoes coming from Spain at the moment. Everyone's busy with their main harvest, and this year's quality is exceptional, especially from the Seville region.

According to Bart Nemegheer, a Manager and Commercial responsible of De Aardappelhoeve, the stormy weather hardly affected the Spanish potato season.

Bart Nemegheer:
 

"The abundant rain has made for poorer quality, but only in Cartagena. Overall, however, the season looks very good."

Organic potato harvesting is currently in full swing in Spain too.
  Bart Nemegheer:
 

"Here, too, the yields are good, and the quality excellent. We've received beautiful, top-quality potatoes. Europe's organic share remains stable and may even be growing slightly. Europe wants to use its Farm-to-Fork strategy to get to a 30% organic share by 2030."

"We'd like to see that share rise faster, but due to the current crisis, consumers are more price-conscious and cautious with spending. That also affects organic potatoes, as they're slightly more expensive. But, we generally cannot complain."

He assures us that the ever-increasing costs are not yet driving growers, en-masse, toward grain farming.

Bart Nemegheer:
 

"The potato acreage even increased slightly last year. Demand is good, so everything kept going well, despite the pandemic. Potato product exports also continued to be successful. Demand is and will remain there."

"However, the increased costs mean contract prices will have to be raised to remain future-proof. Prices staying as is would make it practically impossible to continue growing potatoes."

On the sales side, Nemegheer sees processed convenience products' popularity climbing.

Bart Nemegheer:
 

"They're especially trendy among young consumers. This group is increasingly opting for easy-to-use, pre-cooked products. It's a growing market to which traders will have to respond. Nevertheless, I firmly believe there'll always be room for fresh potatoes."

De Aardappelhoeve's The Potato Chef brand responds to this convenience trend.

Bart Nemegheer:
 

"We offer a wide variety of pre-cooked, tasty potato products, thus offering people a choice. It's also a solution for our residual flows. The fresh market is very strict with sorting. If there is slight damage or a spot, the potatoes are immediately discarded."

"That's a shame, for sure, but we can use those potatoes for our The Potato Chef products. This way, we can upgrade these potatoes to products for daily consumption."