Potato News from Belgium

Starch Europe Welcomes Lantmännen-Reppe and Viresol as members.

The potato cannot be burned from the news. This week it turned out that Belgian growers are settling in northern France because the Belgian area is almost exhausted.

Based upon a provisional estimation of the NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) the area in the 5 largest potato countries increased to 609.000 ha of consumption potatoes, a 2.4% increase.

Key Technology announces the promotion of Karel Van Velthoven to Advanced Inspection Systems Product Marketing Manager.

Starch Europe, the trade association representing the European starch industry, has launched a new website on starch in food as the organisation celebrates its 60th anniversary campaign.

Since the humble precursor to modern potato first domesticated in Peru 10,000 years ago, the tuber has branched off into thousands of different varieties.

Supermarkets of the near-future will have their business models radically re-shaped by innovations instore, online, and in the food industry supply chain.

The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) have estimated that the upcoming area for
consumption potatoes in 2019 will increase between 1 and 2 % towards almost 604.000 ha in the 5
main production countries.

Dewulf, full-liner in agricultural machines for potatoes and carrots, receives a capital injection by family shareholders Hendrik Decramer and Thomas Decan, in collaboration with investor Jan Clarebout.

The potato processing industry in Belgium registered record growth and processed over 5 million tonnes of potatoes in 2018. However, in 2019 the sector faces major challenges as a result of the poor harvest in 2018

Three Belgian organisations, Boerenbond, Belgapom and VITO are teaming up to strengthen the future of the Belgian potato chain by jointly investing in the online data platform WatchITgrow.

Last Friday, the European Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed, mostly referred to as ScoPAFF voted an a proposal to ban Chlorpropham (or CIPC), widely used in the potato industry as sprout inhibitor during potato storage.

El curso es organizado por el Instituto de Divulgación de Biotecnología Vegetal (IPBO). Va dirigido a estudiantes, investigadores y profesionales del sector público e privado, que estén involucrados en programas locales de mejoramiento de cultivos (papa)

The European Commission has set an EU-wide objective for all packaging to be recyclable or reusable by 2030. However there is no easy packaging solution (yet) for manufacturers of potato chips.

Late last month, the entire potato sector once again gathered en masse at INTERPOM | PRIMEURS at Kortrijk Xpo.

De voorbije dagen was de volledige aardappelsector massaal verzameld op INTERPOM PRIMEURS in Kortrijk Xpo. Niet minder dan 19.508 bezoekers de beurs...

RMA Techniek has combined their capabilities in robotics, smart engineering and experience in the potato processing industry in a unique way: the company has specialized in the automated quality assessment of potatoes and shows its progress at Interpom.

Food businesses will have to change to stay competitive – online, in-store, and at sorting and processing plants too. Bjorn Thumas, Director Business Development Food at TOMRA Food, looks at what we can expect.