News on The Potato Supply Chain from Belgium

DOWNS has extended its range of optical potato sorters with the arrival of the I-CropVision®: a modular version of the CropVision®, it incorporates the same technology and numerous benefits.

In keeping with the four-yearly tradition, one of the potato sector's most important trade fairs, Potato Europe, will soon again be held in Kain (Doornik), Belgium. Among a range of innovations Dewulf will present at Potato Europe 2023, the main eye catcher will be an entirely new cup planter, named Certa 40 Integral.

The North-western European Potato Growers (NEPG) estimate the area of ware potatoes has increased by 2 to 3%. This is slightly higher than the record in 2020, when it was 522.000 ha for the EU-4 (NL, BE, DE, FR).

To actively take charge of its products on the used market, AVR is launching a dedicated team and accompanying brand for its used agricultural machinery: AVR Green Select.

Europatat is proud to become an active partner of a new EU Horizon Europe project called PATAFEST that aims at protecting potato plants by means of pest spreading and resistance characterisation, preharvest treatments, and post-harvest solutions.

The sector-wide preference for potato planting and ridging in one working pass has never been greater. Dewulf has been responding to this demand for several years with the Smart-Float principle.

Following the success of the promotion campaign Potatoes, prepare to be surprised – Europe’s favourite since 1536 that was launched in 2020 and finished at the end of last year

In Belgium, Industriële Koeltechniek Roose (IKR) recently installed a new cooling and freezing system at potato specialist De Aardappelhoeve.

A recent report by the Global Coalition of Fresh Produce (GCFP) analyses the global trading environment for fresh fruits and vegetables and concludes a number of challenges threatening the long-term economic viability of the fresh produce sector worldwide.

Copa-Cogeca, Freshfel Europe, the European Fresh Produce Association, and Europatat, the European Potato Trade Association, have taken note of the European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste that was published on 30 November 2022

With the Puma 4.0, the world leader in the segment of 4-row self-propelled harvesters, AVR introduced the world to a robust, high-tech harvester. On their journey to further perfect the Puma 4.0, they have provided the following updates for the 2023 Pumas.

Potato trade association Europatat will participate in EU project WASTELESS, which aims to develop tools for measuring food loss and waste in the EU food supply chain, currently estimated at 88 million tonnes every year.

The North-western European Potato Growers (NEPG) report on the potato market in the NEPG zone (France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany)

Arbitrators have in substance ruled in favour of the EU in the first WTO appeal dealt with under the ‘Multi-party interim appeal arbitration arrangement', known as the ‘MPIA'.

Since 2016, the current generation of Dewulf's 4-row potato harvester Kwatro Xtreme has been known for, among other things, its constriction-free sieving path and having the largest bunker in its market segment.

Over the past few days, a large number of people involved in the potato sector attended this record-breaking edition of Interpom held in Kortrijk Xpo (B).

KLIM’TOP Controls manufactures, sells and installs cooling units and ventilation systems for the farm industry, and more precisely for long-term storage root vegetables such as potatoes.

During its last meeting on November 9, 2022, the NEPG estimated that the total potato production 2022 in the NEPG zone (EU-04) will be down by 6 % compared to last year.