PAYR, the Finnish Potato Sector Association, joins Europatat!

Founded in 2015, PAYR brought together the previous smaller potato associations to form a co-operative group able to speak for the whole potato value chain in Finland. PAYR also promotes the potato sales and supports potato research. The association collects funding for its activities from projects and operators linked to the potato branch. 

The board of the association consists of 9 members representing 8 categories of the Finnish potato value chain: Food potato industry, food potato production, food potato and market sector, starch industry, starch potato production, seed potato, research and advice and early potato. The current Chairman of the Board is Mr. Markus Jussila, that represents the food potato Industry, and the Vice Chairman of the Board is Mr. Timo Myllymäki, that represents the seed potato branch. Laila Matikainen is the representative of the association. 

Every year PAYR’s members gather for a two-day Potato Winter seminar, where the aim is to provide potato professionals with current and important information on a wide range of topics, including research, regulations and technical innovations. 

 

In 2025, PAYR will celebrate its 10th anniversary. Becoming a member of Europatat is a great boost for the association for the upcoming celebrations.

Europatat membership

Europatat presently incorporates the national associations of the biggest potato trade partners in the EU as well as individual companies active in the potato trade. In total, the Association has currently 65 members that represent more than 20 countries in the EU and beyond. More precisely, Europatat’s membership is composed by 18 national associations, 41 companies and 6 associated members.

According to the latest Eurostat’s data on production (including EU 27, UK, Norway and Switzerland), the 16 national associations that are members of Europatat represent more than 80% of the total potato’s production in Europe. 

The membership of Europatat is balanced between its various membership categories and members’ focus. This guarantees a good balance of interest and a wide diversity of expertise available to the association.

In the future, Europatat seeks to reinforce even further its cooperation with companies and associations based in other European countries in order to better reflect the reality of the potato trade in the EU.