News on The Potato Supply Chain from Belgium

Europatat welcomes its new Communication & Policy Advisor, Berta Redondo

Although the full harvest is not in the stores yet, the North-Western European Potato Growers (NEPG) estimates the actual harvest at 28.9 million tons for the 5 countries. This is more than the estimate of last September.

Dewulf~Miedema - supplier of a complete line of agricultural machinery for the cultivation of potatoes and root crops - has selected Dewulf as its new official company name.

For the current European potato harvest, the North-western-European Potato Growers (NEPG) estimate the total potato production at 27.9 million tons for the five NEPG countries (Belgium, Germany, France, The Netherlands and Great Britain). This is up 13.5 percent compared to last season.

Op basis van proefrooiingen en praktijkresultaten verwacht de NEPG een totale oogst van 27,9 miljoen ton aan consumptieaardappelen in Noord-west Europa. Dat is 13,5% hoger dan vorig jaar.

In Belgium - and also in the Netherlands - drought has taken its toll on the early potato harvest. But for the main crop (for storage) a lot depends on the coming weeks and the month of August.

Karel Decramer has decided to quit as the sales director for the vegetable division of Dewulf, specialist in the field of harvesting technology for potatoes and carrots.

The total consumption potato area in North-Western Europe, has been estimated at 578.821 ha, which is 4.6% more than last year and 8.3% more than the 5 years average, according to the NEPG.

Last week on 15 & 16 June, the Europatat Congress 2017 took place. Feedback on the congress and side events has been extremely positive.

The Antwerp Court of Appeal has sentenced a farmer in the Belgian province of Antwerp to pay a large fine and damage compensation to Breeders Trust for not reporting his acreage farm saved seed for the varieties Asterix and Fontane which are protected under Plant Breeders’ Rights.

Potato Machine Manufacturer AVR explains a number of options for the crop handling & storage equipment launched last season

Now that the potato planting season is upon us, we have a newcomer in the field. Potato machine manufacturer AVR is launching the trailed Ceres 450 combined potato planter.

The organizers of the Europatat 2017 Congress in Antwerp from 15 to 17 June announce the addition of a number of high level speakers to the programme

The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) estimates the potato acreage will grow by 3.6% compared to last season.

Pom'Alliance and Pomuni are joining forces in the fresh potato sector. Both companies signed mutual cooperation agreements on March 30, 2017.

The seed potato breeding company Interseed Potatoes GmbH located at Wittmund Germany, recently became the newest shareholder of Breeders Trust.

According to the data of Belgapom, the Potato Processing Industry in Belgium last year not only set a record for the amount of potatoes processed, but also a record for investments in the sector, with over 300 million euro (325 million USD) invested.

WatchITgrow is a new geo-information platform developed for the potato sector in Belgium with the purpose to better estimate and increase the potato yield in a sustainable way.