News on Food Trends from the Netherlands

Lamb Weston / Meijer is receiving the Task Force sustainable palm oil award for its complete switch to 100% physically segregated sustainable palm oil in accordance with the Task Force commitment and the agreements made within the Dutch sector association (VAVI).

Avebe and Groningen University are jointly looking into the possibility of housing the Avebe Innovation Centre at the Zernike Campus in the city of Groningen.

KWS is selling its conventional seed potato business to Stet Holland B.V. An agreement to that effect was signed yesterday. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2016.

Dutch Potato Company Agrico was awarded the Ambassadors’ Prize 2016 for its project in Kenya that aims to establish a profitable potato chain for all stakeholders, including 12,500 small-scale farms.

Research to develop potatoes with sustainable resistance against phytophthora via genetic modification with genes from wild potatoes and good resistance management ended with the publication of the scientific results. The approach resulted in potato plants which require 80% less chemical control.

Member of the Provincial Executive Tjisse Stelpstra opened Tuesday Avebe's new ‘Inline Protastar’ factory in Gasselternijveen.

McCain Foods Limited and TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P. have announced that they have agreed terms for the sale of a majority stake in Van Geloven B.V. to McCain

The new Mooij Agro Croptimiz-r storage computer is now officially certified as IP54

Precision agriculture is already the norm for many arable farms. New methods for collecting important cultivation data are currently being developed. Does this require future growers to become ICT experts?

The 'clean eating' trend has inspired a back to basics approach in product development and is an overarching theme in Innova Market Insights' Top Ten Trends list for 2016.

During the annual shareholders meeting of Breeders Trust, held on 13 October 2015 in Vienna, Mr. G.J.F. Backx (Joure) was elected as the new chair of the Board of Breeders Trust.

Hybrid potatoes are piquing the interests of people both within and outside the potato sector. A hybrid combines the best of two systems in order to maximize performance. But what does hybridization mean? And will it change the sector for good? HZPC weighs in.

The Dutch Association of Arable Farmers of (VTA) finds an average yield of 53.622 kg/ha, 8% below last year and on par with the 5-year average. Although tubers are large this season, the VTA predicts low factory yields as a result of a host of quality issues, resulting in an increased demand for potatoes per ton finished product.

Fifty percent of the trucks used for the transport of potatoes to Avebe now meet the Euro 6 emission standards.

Dutch start-up Caenator, in collaboration with StartLife and Wageningen University & Research Centre, presented a new fully automatic french fry vending machine.

Research shows that crops with stacks of two or more resistance genes from closely related species, introduced into the crop via for instance genetic engineering, combined with the simultaneous introduction of resistance management, can ensure the long-term resistance of these plants to economically significant and aggressive diseases.

In the annual VTA sampling of the development of the Dutch potato crop development, mid August a yield was found 16% lower than last year and 7.1 below the 5 year average.

A small field on an island off the Netherlands' northern coast promises one answer to the problem of how to feed the world's ever-growing population: potatoes and other crops that grow in saltwater.