Every year in the first full week of November, the European potato breeding and seed trading companies operating in the Netherlands present their new varieties and latest breeding results to their global customer base.

Many of these new varieties are intended to be used some day for the production of French Fries. All participants at what we here at PotatoPro call the 'Potato Variety Presentations in the Netherlands' (of doodgewoon rassenpresentaties in het Nederlands) have one or more contenders in this segment.

This raises the question:
 

“Is there room for all those new French-fry varieties?”

That is the question Aardappelwereld (World Potato Magazine) asked the participating companies last year. And thanks to our brand new partnership agreement with them, we can report you the answers they got in this series of articles!
   

Germicopa, Quimper (F)

Harry van de Vijver, Germicopa, Quimper (F):
 

“We're busy developing new French-fry varieties every day, simply because there's a demand. So, yes, there's room. A frequently-heard wish from growers and manufacturers is: give us yellow-fleshed French-fry varieties with broad nematode resistance, for both Globodera Rostochiensis and Pallida.”

“And that's what we're working hard on. We don't have such a variety yet, but we do have one with a 2011 crossing that's doing very well and has a good chance of being successful.”

“We also receive requests for varieties with greater length, a slightly longer Fontane would be welcome, according to the industry. This also applies to the early segment. The Premiere could also be a bit longer and that's another challenge for us.”

“Last year, the Fasty was added to the Varieties List. This is an early variety with more length than the already existing varieties and, possibly, it has a chance to expand in this market segment.”

Harry van de Vijver:
 

“Cost reduction for the grower is a breeding argument that isn't much mentioned, but we're working on that too in our breeding programme. For example, we have the new Kelly variety here with good resistance to Phytophthora and Globodera Rostochiensis, which means that the grower needs to spend less on disease control.”

“At the same time, this variety requires less than the average quantity of seed. So you're talking about 1,800 instead of 2,300 kilograms per hectare. You can easily plant this variety at a distance of 42 to 43 centimetres in the row and in ridges of 75 centimetres.”