October 08, 2024 | Articles

McDonald’s is seeking to build bridges with the Dutch potato sector, what’s going on?

Fast food chain McDonald’s is an important French fries retailer in the world and is therefore of great value to the potato growers in the Netherlands. So far, the group has rarely turned directly to the cultivation sector in the Netherlands. However, that changed this year. For example, talks were recently started with some leading…

October 08, 2024 | Articles

Flemish research centresare digitising trial observationsto keep up with the times

Research centres in the potato sector must move with the times when it comes to digitising data. Customers want ever-faster results, and are demanding more – and also more accurate – trial observations. And labour is also a bottleneck, which is why the Flemish research institute Inagro from Roeselare invested heavily in an automated assessment…

October 08, 2024 | Articles

Propagation fromgermination to Pb1 fully conditioned

Unique – the approach of the Westland area in the province of South Holland cannot be more aptly described. It is here that ultra-modern potato propagation takes place, from germination to the cultivation of the Pb1 generation, and all of this under fully conditioned circumstances. Under roof and under glass with only one goal: to…

August 29, 2024 | Articles

‘Go on the offensive’

Professor Ruud Huirne is director of the renowned Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI) of the Wageningen University and Research Center (WUR). At the end of 2009, at the Potato Demonstration Day Conference, he spoke in his capacity of an agricultural economist on the subject of ‘crisis phenomena in the potato sector.’ Today, one year later,…

August 29, 2024 | Articles

Speedy plant monitoring with new camera technology

Researchers Henk Jalink and Rob van der Schoor of Wageningen University and Research Center (WUR) have developed an innovative MIPS-LED camera, with which fellow researchers of the university can quickly record photosynthesis in plants. Vivianne Vleeshouwers, who works at the WUR Plant Breeding department, is one of the researchers testing the camera. She hopes that…

June 18, 2024 | Articles

Aphids caughtearlier thanks to AI-controlledcamera technology

‘Prevention is better than cure’ also applies to virus control. The sooner you detect aphids, the sooner you can take preventive measures. What may soon contribute to this is AI-controlled camera/insect detection. In the Netherlands, an enthusiastic consortium from the province of Friesland, consisting of NHL Stenden University Leeuwarden, AnaVita Beheer B.V., Fokkema Farming and…

June 18, 2024 | Articles

HIP now and later: The development of resilient cultivation systems with less input is central

It is now ten years since the idea arose in the potato sector to start a joint multi-year research project. The industry, interest groups including NAO (Dutch Potato Organisations), VAVI (Dutch Association of Potato Processors) and the government put their heads together for this. A few years later, Holland Innovative Potato, HIP for short, was…

June 17, 2024 | Articles

More growth volume with convex ridgers

Machinery manufacturer Struik supplies slightly convex ridgers, resulting in a considerableincrease in growth volume for the nest of tubers of a potato plant. In addition, the convex ridge isless erosion prone.

June 17, 2024 | Articles

Organic sector struggles with cultivation and marketing

You can try and find all kinds of different descriptions: ‘Organic sector struggles with cultivation and marketing’ or ‘Cultivation and marketing of organic potatoes reaches impasse’. The reality is that the organic potato growers are not happy about current events. This dissatisfaction was dis­cussed at great length during the ‘From Problem to Solution’ debate at…

April 29, 2024 | Articles

Export plus knowledge is trade

The first course of the Potato Business School Emmeloord (PBSE) was held in the last week of September. Harry Goos, initiator and director at Tolsma, was proud that his wish of many years had finally come true. Particularly when abroad, he had discovered a growing hunger for expert knowl­edge about the potato. In his view,…