Romain Cools, Belgapom: 'Damage to potato harvest can't be estimated at the moment'

Stories about large losses in harvest in the Belgian sector due to the heavy rainfall are circulating in various media.

"However no percentage can be tied to this at the moment, they are still too busy with the total damage inventory. It's impossible to estimate for the entire country, as it differs per region and even per plot. In vegetables this indication is made much more quickly. Thankfully there isn't a panic reaction in the potato sector yet, apart from among those affected," says Romain Cools of Belgapom. "In Antwerp, De Kempen, Limburg and north east Flanders the damage is generally worse than in other regions, where the damage is more local."

Disease pressure

"At the moment there are three issues in play: first of all there are plots or part thereof that have been written off because there was water on it for too long. What the effective damage will be, won't be known until later. There is also anxiety over how high the dry matter content in the harvest of new potatoes will be. We still have a few weeks to go before this becomes clear. Due to the rain the disease pressure of phythophthora is strongly present. Not all plots can be treated as well."

Better weather coming

"Good growing weather is expected for the coming weeks: dry and around 20 degrees," so everything could look different soon. There was an area expansion of 15% calculated in Flanders, but due to the exceptional rainfall there will probably not be an excessive harvest this season. The question is also: will we need it? As far as the free market is concerned a harvest too large could have a negative influence. This is separate from the fact that many growers have been hit hard."

No more exciting weeks

"As far as the old harvest is concerned the coming weeks won't be particularly exciting," Romain expects. There is only a limited amount of varieties, such as Challenger and Fontane for the free market. The industry has covered itself well. There is still enough of Bintje present, the demand for the variety has been lower. Now that the end if near, the quality is under pressure. There aren't as many transactions anymore."