News on Potato Cultivation from the Netherlands

Dutch Potato Starch cooperative Royal Avebe has been awarded a gold medal by Ecovadis, a global collaborative platform that helps companies assess sustainability performance throughout the supply chain.

APH Group appointed Albertus Kloosterman as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), and Bart van Doorn as Chief Financial Officer. To keep up with its growth the company is taking large steps and is looking forward to further shape the future of APH Group together with Albertus and Bart.

The ware potato activities of Agrico and Nedato, along with Leo de Kock, shall be hived off to form a new independent cooperative of ware potato growers. The new organization will start its activities this autumn. Further integration will then take place in stages.

The government of the Netherlands wants farmers growing potatoes on sandy soil to harvest potatoes by October 1 and grow intermediary plants that catch nitrogen in the soil so nitrates can not leach out and contaminate groundwater.

Potato breeder HZPC expects turnover to grow 11% from last year (then EUR 352 million (USD 386 million)) with a gross margin of EUR 66,5 million (USD 73 million) (last financial year EUR 63.9 million (USD 70 million).

Potato cooperative Agrico announced to its members an average price indication of EUR 35.50 (USD 39.20) per 100 kg for all supplied kilos of 28 mm upwards for seed potatoes from the 2022 harvest.

Growers learn best from other growers. This has been proven by the future-proof seed potato cultivation project, an initiative to examine upcoming changes in potato cultivation with a group of growers.

The Netherlands is committed to developing a sustainable and highly productive food system, with less use of fertilisers, water and pesticides, and more biodiversity and crop diversity.

In Northwestern Europe (EU-04; NL, DE, BE, FR) the potato sector is facing a range of issues in the upcoming months. The million dollar question: How will the potato market respond? An analysis by the NEPG.

Solynta – hybrid potato breeding technology company from The Netherlands and FreshCrop Limited, Kenya’s largest producer of seed tubers, have signed an agreement to collaborate on the development of hybrid true potato innovation in Kenya.

Due to the current scarcity of fertilizers, the 'red areas' and the increasing production costs, efficient nitrogen fertilization is becoming increasingly important.

Potato Starch manufacturer Royal Avebe has started the campaign at production location Gasselternijveen. Growing conditions were excellent until early July, but heat and lack of precipitation in recent weeks is cause for concern.

The price paid to HZPC Holland’s seed potato growers for the 2021 harvest is EUR 33,70 (about USD 35) per 100 kilo. This is slightly above the forecast price of EUR 33,10 (about USD 34.7) published last spring.

Potato growers are facing rising prices for all inputs in recent months, not just for from energy and fertilizers, but also for plant protection products, construction prices, agricultural machinery and spare parts...

At the request of the Dutch Potato Organisation (NAO), the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has investigated the possibilities for exporting Dutch seed potatoes to the United Kingdom (UK).

APH Group, a distributor of farm equipment, has acquired Agri 2.0 CIS B.V. including its activities in Russia and Ukraine as of January 1, 2022.

The NEPG has ended the 2021 campaign with a production of 22.7 million tons, which represents a decrease of 3.4% in relation to the previous one, although it remains 2.7% above the average of the last five years.

The Potato Days of HZPC are dedicated to the future of the potato. A future in which the potato provides an important contribution to the food security in the world and helps to combat climate change.