Heero Gramsma, Nedato: 'It was a fine potato year with good export possibilities'

This season was a good year for potatoes, according to Heero Gramsma of Nedato. "We had good prices and there were good export possibilities."Despite the wet weather in the autumn the quality could have been a lot worse. This season really was a market of demand.

At the top the price even reached 30 cents. In comparison: in the three previous years the price varied from 9 to 12 cents.

An 'advantage' this season for the Dutch potato trade was the failure of the Russian harvest. "We received extra demand from Russia and this was to our advantage. About 40% was exported. Other important destinations are Belgium and Germany. The basic activities of Nedato are processing and supply of ware potatoes (40%) and potatoes for the processing industry (60%). "The market for processed product is growing"Heero mentions. "Demand for processed product comes mainly from North-Western Europe."

Sustainability trend

The quality demands for potatoes are becoming higher and higher. "Nedato have invested a lot in quality"Heero says. "By way of the correct storage techniques the quality of the potatoes remains good. In addition we also develop new cultivation techniques all the time. Nedato takes cognizance of the durability trend. "This is to be observed in all company divisions. Examples are packing, transport and use of circulating spring water. When packing we use less plastic and more bio-degradable material because of the sustainability. When cleaning potatoes originally tap water was used and now we use circulating spring water."

Heero has worked for 25 years at Nedato and he mentions that much has changed over these years. "One of the highlights is the fact of their enormous growth in volume. In addition there is a large improvement in cultivation techniques, market development and varieties. During those years increase in scale also took place as a result of mergers. Less and less is done by hand in the company. "It is striking that all the time more is done by automation. The difference per variety, as far as taste and properties are concerned, remain. A variety which remains good when stored is the Melody. This variety increases in popularity and has experienced a real revival over the last years. As we are getting varieties which can be stored better and longer, we can compete well with the imported products."

Pure Taste campaign

The development of the Pure Taste campaign is in full swing. "It is slow, but it is going in the right direction."With this we want to show that we produce, store and pack potatoes in a pure and honest way."According to Heero the potato market is a competing market. "We find it most important to have good contacts with growers. In addition quality and building of good contacts and maintaining these with growers is of major importance to Nedato."We establish what the customer requires and we act on that."Heero stresses that Nedato is one of the few companies working in this way. The number is still growing. "The number of growers in the branch decreases, but as a result of take-overs the others become bigger."Members are mainly in the south and southwest of the country."