Edition: 01-2026

Between Pampas and Polder

Sometimes you must take a step back to see more clearly where you stand. My recent journey through Argentina allowed me to do just that. I visited the country ten years ago, shortly after the completion of the Gitah Papa project. At the time, Dutch knowledge helped Argentine growers to progress in cultivation techniques and supply chain…

“Now is the time to act”

“It’s code red! Now is the time to act,” warned chair Harm Edens during the ‘Day of the Organic Breakthrough’ symposium. After the extreme scarcity in the 2024 season as a result of late blight, and now a year of abundance, the organic potato chain feels the urgency for change. This also drives a growing…

Lead the way or be overtaken in potato cultivation

What will the average potato farm in the Netherlands look like ten years from now? There will, of course, still be a grower who knows the soil, reads the crop, and instinctively senses risk. But it will also be defined by a way of working in which real-time monitoring, models, and digital crop data are…

World Potato Congress brings global potato Industry together in Kenya

Preparations for the 13th World Potato Congress are now in full swing. From 26 to 30 October 2026, the international potato sector will meet in Naivasha, in Kenya’s Rift Valley. The organization expects more than a thousand participants from more than sixty countries. This will make the congress not only a meeting place for the…

Breeders Trust intensifies monitoring of online trade in seed potatoes

Breeders Trust has taken a close look at the online world to map what is being offered through digital channels in terms of seed potatoes. In doing so, the organisation encountered various practices that affect plant breeders’ rights and the phytosanitary safeguarding within the potato sector. “I also receive signals about the sale of batches of…

Sprout-free export requires new precision

At Kouters Potato Trade in Dinteloord, a fully loaded container is ready to leave for shipment to the Caribbean. The pallets are tightly packed, but one door remains open. In front of it is a striking unit: the Halofog. With excited anticipation, exporter Mark Kouters, machine constructor Rob Veugen, and Henning Bergmann of DormFresh stand…

Dossier Argentina: Argentina in a changing globalpotato market

Anyone traveling through Argentina’s potato regions today will encounter a sector that is in full motion as opposed to one standing still. This momentum is not driven by a spectacular expansion of acreage, but by professionalisation that drives progress. Potato cultivation is shifting from a focus on volume to a focus on optimisation, from local…

PotatoEurope 2026 gets underway in the fields of Gestorf

On a crisp April day at Rittergut Gestorf in Germany, near Hannover, preparations for PotatoEurope 2026 get underway. There is no ribbon cutting or speech, just the steady hum of machinery rolling into action in the fields. Planting the trial fields marks the start of months of preparation, bringing together technology, varieties, and strategy ahead…

RUCIP 2025: New rules for fair and fast potato trade in Europe

Since 1 October 2025, revised RUCIP trading conditions apply within the potato trade. These ‘Rules and Practices of the Inter-European Trade in Potatoes’ have formed the backbone of the international potato supply chain for almost seventy years. In the 2025 edition, the system has been fully modernised; the rules and practices can now be applied…

Kenya World Potato Congress, Maximising the potato’s potential

A growing population, increased export demand, adoption of technologies, and increased breeding of improved varieties provide opportunities for the Kenyan potato industry, according to Severino Manene, Kenya’s Assistant Director for Agriculture, Horticulture Division, Ministry of Agriculture & Livestock Development, when he spoke to World Potato Markets ahead of the World Potato Congress in October this…