Verenigde Telers Akkerbouw (VTA)

After 20 months of service as the first elected chairman of the NEPG, the Dutchman Jaap Botma from Friesland stopped as scheduled. Jaap was an arable farmer (seed potatoes, sugar beets, onions, cereals, …) for 28 years.

That the potato harvest this year in Europe was well below average due to extreme weather conditions is well known by now. I this article we present some recent data from Great Britain, The Netherlands and Spain that further clarify the situation

The total potato harvest in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France in 2018 will be at least 20 percent lower than last year, according to the latest estimates of the North-western European Potato Growers (NEPG).

Test trials by VTA in the Netherlands reveal an average yield of 47.088 kg per hectare, compared to 58,507 kg/ha in 2017. This means that the yield per hectare is 19.5% lower than the previous season and 12.5% lower than the 5-year average.