Potato News from Belgium

The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) have released a new potato production estimate for consumption potatoes in the leading 5 North-Western potato countries. If all potatoes will be lifted totally about 26.9 million tons will be harvested.

AVR is introducing its new Puma 4.0 at the upcoming Agritechnica fair. The four-row potato harvester is the successor of the popular Puma 3 and is now fully cloud connected.

TOMRA exhibits the TOMRA 5A, its avant-garde model for potato sorting. Compac’s new UltraView inspection module maximizes Spectrim’s grading performance.

Aunque todavía se tiene que empezar a recolectar, en la empresa belga De Aardappelhoeve tienen bastante claro que el rendimiento de las patatas no llegará a niveles récord este año.

The Service Public de Wallonie has granted a building permit for 'Mydibel Fresh', a new plant in Mouscron for the production of chilled french fries. The construction of Mydibel Fresh is part of the company’s strategy of sustainable development.

The world is currently wasting 1.3 billion tonnes of the food produced
for human consumption every year, which amounts to a third of all food produced for that purpose.

Dutch-based company Aviko, one of Europe’s biggest producers of fresh, frozen, dried and specialty potato products, has announced a major investment in its production capacity in Poperinge, Belgium.

One of the three most cultivated and eaten food products in the world, the demand for potatoes continues to increase despite heightened uncertainty within the sector. Last year European potato production was hit by the worst drought in more than 40 years.

Growers, suppliers, grubbing demonstrations - everything to do with potatoes. That is what the latest edition of Potato Europe was all about. This year, this trade show was held in Doornik/Tournai, Belgium on 4 and 5 September.

The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) estimates the
forecasted potato harvest 2019 between 27 and 27,3 million tons for the
5 leading potato countries. This is 3% more than the 5 years average and
12% more than last year.

TOMRA Sorting Food has introduced the TOMRA 3A sensor-based sorting machine for freshly harvested root crops, offering potato growers unrivalled sorting capabilities, dependability, and affordability.

On 4 and 5 September the international potato fair PotatoEurope 2019 will take place in
Tournai. That the fair continues to grow is demonstrated by the fact that there are almost
20% more exhibitors from 17 different countries.

At the upcoming Potato Europe in Kain, Belgium, agricultural machinery manufacturer AVR is presenting its new quick-change digging unit. As of 2020, this option will be available on all 2-row trailed AVR harvesters.

Dewulf, full-liner in machines for the cultivation of potatoes and root crops, will place particular focus on haulm processing, sieving capacity and roller cleaning during Potato Europe ’19.

The last potatoes were planted at the end of April at PotatoEurope’s demo site and until the end of May the participation demands continued to come in. With less than three weeks to go, time for an update!

Waterleau Group NV has successfully executed an important capital increase which secures the ambitious plans of the company for the future.

Sensor-based sorter manufacturer TOMRA offers their insights on the impact of sorting technology on food safety in the Potato Processing Industry

ILVO, HOGENT and TRIAS in Belgium are hosting a Peruvian delegation to the Food Pilot (ILVO, Melle, Belgium) to get the production of so-called “tuntas” (freeze dried potatoes) in a small cooperative factory in the Andes.