News on Research from Belgium

Starting from the 2016 – 2017 season, the Belgapom quotation will be made up of three parts, each supplemented by their own market sentiment: Bintje, Challenger and Fontane.

Potatoes are the second largest cultivated crop in Belgium and a key ingredient in Belgian cuisine. It's the base of the world-famous French fries, and is considered by Belgians as part of their national pride.

Interpom | Primeurs 2016 promises to be the biggest edition of this potato event ever and the 2016 theme is: 'Growing through precision technology'.

Stories about large losses in harvest in the Belgian sector due to the heavy rainfall are circulating in various media. But Romain Cools of Belgapom says it is too early to come up with a percentage.

Europatat appoints a new board, including Jos Muyshondt as President, Domenico Citterio as vice-president and Gilles Fontaine as treasurer.

Europatat and Freshfel Europe will jointly celebrate their first common annual meeting on 2 June 2016 in Brussels.

The remarkable growth of the Belgian potato-processing sector in the past few decades has continued in 2015.

The Europatat Congress 2016 will take place in Brussels (Belgium) on 1 & 2 June 2016, under the slogan “Not business as usual!”

EU and US negotiators were meeting this week in Miami, USA for the 11th round of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. Negotiations on tariffs and quotas could have serious implications – either positive or negative - for the agricultural and primary food transformation sector as markets would open up.

Scientific results of the potato field trials in Flanders and the Netherlands demonstrate that gene stacking is necessary for a strong and lasting resistance to late blight (Phytophthora infestans).

Researchers from Ghent University and the International Potato Center have discovered that sweet potatoes naturally contain genes from a bacterium. Because of the presence of this 'foreign' DNA, sweet potato can be seen as a 'natural gmo'.

Romain Cools, secretary of the Belgian Potato Processors Association Belgapom expresses his views on the free potato market.

Starch Europe (formerly AAF, Association des Amidonniers et Féculiers) announced its support for the European Commission’s Communication for a European Industrial Renaissance at an event held in Brussels October 15.

Europatat, the European Potato Trade Association, announces the appointment of Raquel Izquierdo de Santiago as the new Secretary General of the association.

With two months still to go before the opening of INTERPOM | PRIMEURS 2014, the event is already bigger than last time – and virtually fully booked.

Belgapom is partnering with research institutions to developed a platform to increase the efficiency of potato production, combining data from drones and satellites.

Europatat, the European Potato Trade Association, is pleased to announce the final programme of the annual Europatat Congress, in Brussels (Belgium) on 22-23 May 2014.

Based upon grower surveys in the 5 main potato countries in Northwestern Europe, the NEPG (North-western European Potato Growers) calculates with an area growth for consumption potatoes between 3,5 and 4% more.