Potato News from Europe

Industry association Starch Europe announced earlier this month that Andreas Delvaux joined the organisation as Communication Manager.

Dutch Potato Packer and Processor Quik's recently completed its new building. The company offers fresh potatoes (Quik's Fresh Potatoes) and chilled potato products and specialities (Quik's Potato Products). Both building and products were on display earlier this month.

Potato Processor Lamb Weston / Meijer and Wiskerke Onions are working hard on the construction of a residual heat connection between the two adjacent companies - a unique way to save energy.

Processing and packaging equipment manufacturer tna has officially opened a brand new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in the Netherlands, further reinforcing its position as a leading supplier to the potato and vegetable processing industries.

Key Technology, a member of the Duravant family of operating companies, announces the completion of its facility expansion in Beusichem, the Netherlands. The upgrade increases Key’s production capacity at this location by 50 percent.

Se trata de Habemus Papa, un pequeño local de la capital española, fruto del esfuerzo y el empeño de un grupo de emprendedores liderados por Priscilla Cano.

Organisations representing potato farmers in Belgium and France, have started a project (interreg-GEPOS) to look for alternative destinations for potatoes in Belgium and the North of France in seasons marked by large surpluses.

United Kingdom potato trade saw strong performance from its processed potato sectors in the first seven months of the 2017/18 marketing season. Trade of frozen potato has seen strong growth both leaving and entering the UK, although imports still outweigh exports by ten-fold.

The EuroBlight project is examining the ongoing evolution of the potato late blight pathogen (Phytophthora infestans). In 2017, almost 1500 samples from 16 countries in Europe were genotyped. The results indicate that new clones continue to spread.

The Irish Potato Chip manufacturer Keogh’s Crisps has secured a major contract with Emirates, which will see an estimated one million bags of chips being served on their planes each year.

Potato Cooperative Agrico inaugurated its new greenhouse complex at the Agrico Research breeding station last Friday. This was followed by an Open Day on Saturday April 7 at the research station.

How can we feed 9.8 billion world citizens in 2050? And provide them with nutrient-rich food that is produced with minimal environmental impact? That's a daily question for seed potato company HZPC. The progress made can be found in its latest CSR Report

The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 172.8 points in March 2018, up 1.1 percent (1.8 points) from February, marking the second month of consecutive increase.

This year has seen the latest ever planting of early potatoes in Northern Ireland as farmers battle poor weather conditions, according to industry leaders.

Over a decade, Potato Exports from Malta fell from 7,200 tonnes in 2004 crop to just 3,100 tonnes in 2014, a massive 56% drop.

Earlier this year, there was a change in the position of the President and CEO of Farm Frites Poland SA. Ernst Christoph Lehmann-Bärenklau was replaced by Adam Klasa.

Late Blight control strategies in the United Kingdom will have to change this season if potato growers are to combat the spread of a new aggressive, fungicide-insensitive/ resistant strain of the disease, leading agronomy firm Hutchinsons says.

By analysing potato production data, information systems specialist Professor Wolfgang Maaß and his team want to help farmers and food companies identify potential benefits and optimize their processes.