Potato cooperative Agrico realizes record sales in an improving market

Dutch potato cooperative Agrico held its annual central members’ meeting, during which the financial statements of 2021/2022 were explained, and the members looked ahead to the new harvest year.

Jan van Hoogen, general director of Agrico:
 

"The market situation and difficulties with shipping potatoes on time made 2021/2022 a challenging season. We are therefore delighted that we nevertheless managed to realize a significantly improved result."

Seasonal sales 2021/2022

COVID-19 once again had a major impact on the sales of seed potatoes during the 2021-2022 financial year. On top of that is the war between Russia and Ukraine. At many destinations, it was a huge challenge to find sufficient containers in time to ship the potatoes.

Thanks to concerted efforts and improved market conditions, we managed to nevertheless realize a significant improvement of the result in comparison to financial year 2020-2021. This applies to both seed and ware potatoes.

In the past financial year, Agrico achieved a record turnover of EUR 343 million (USD 364 million). As a result, despite a direct increase in costs of 35%, we managed to increase the payment to growers by almost 20%.

The average price for seed potatoes was more than 20% higher than during the previous financial year, the price of ware potatoes around 47%.

The kilo prices for organic seed potato and ware potato growers were also considerably higher. However, due to the lower yields as a result of late blight, the hectare balances for organic production were disappointing. Agrico is reasonably positive about the forecasts for financial year 2022-2023. There is an enormous demand for food and this will only increase in future years.

Appointment of Mark Zuidhof as board member

Chair Adrie Vermeulen kicked off the central members’ meeting with a short interview with Agrico’s new COO, Mark Zuidhof. He and Jan van Hoogen will form Agrico’s board of directors until 1 January 2024.
 Appointment of a new member of the supervisory board

Apart from being informed about the explanatory notes to the financial statements, during the central members’ meeting, the members received information about the situation within the organization and the subsidiaries.

The reappointment of Mr Gert de Raaff and the appointment of Agrico member Ms Monique Besseling from Wieringerwerf as a new member of Agrico’s supervisory board were also announced. Ms Besseling fills the vacancy that was created by the departure of Mr Laurens de Winter.

During the meeting, Mr De Winter was thanked for his commitment and involvement over the past year. During the members’ council meeting on 15 December 2022, Ms Besseling and Mr De Raaff were (re)appointed by the council of members.

Growth through change

After completing the formal part of the meeting, the science journalist Hidde Boersma shared his vision on the agricultural sector. In his inspirational story, Boersma talked about ecomodernism: the less agriculture, the better. Will that save nature, the climate and mankind?

Growth through change is the central theme at Agrico. The agricultural sector in the Netherlands is in the middle of a process of radical change. That certainly also applies to Agrico as a key player in the arable sector. By constructing the mini tuber storage facility, Agrico has taken a new step in its strategy. The storage facility has capacity for 10 million mini tubers.

In this facility, the mini tubers cannot come into contact with other agricultural products, therefore limiting the risk of disease. This is a significant milestone in achieving the high quality standards set by Agrico in the development of the propagation materials.