News on The Potato Supply Chain from Belgium

Europatat, the European Potato Trade Association, is pleased to announce the opening of registrations for the upcoming annual Europatat Congress that will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on 11 and 12 June 2020 at the beautiful Amigo Hotel.

On January 20, the foundation deed of Belpotato.be was officially signed in Huldenberg. The composition of the Executive Board ensures that there are balances between growers, traders and processors, and between Dutch and French speakers.

Entering a new era in potato storage: Belgapom has formulated its position on how to handle chlorpropham as of the 2020 harvest.

Nicolai Prytz, sustainability and strategy director at TOMRA, has looked at how businesses, consumers and policymakers can help make the future of food sustainable.

By using the TOMRA 3A high-performance sorting machine Duchemin (Caen, France) are able to ensure their potatoes are a premium product.

The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) have released a new potato production estimate for consumption potatoes in the leading 5 North-Western potato countries. If all potatoes will be lifted totally about 26.9 million tons will be harvested.

AVR is introducing its new Puma 4.0 at the upcoming Agritechnica fair. The four-row potato harvester is the successor of the popular Puma 3 and is now fully cloud connected.

Aunque todavía se tiene que empezar a recolectar, en la empresa belga De Aardappelhoeve tienen bastante claro que el rendimiento de las patatas no llegará a niveles récord este año.

Dutch-based company Aviko, one of Europe’s biggest producers of fresh, frozen, dried and specialty potato products, has announced a major investment in its production capacity in Poperinge, Belgium.

Growers, suppliers, grubbing demonstrations - everything to do with potatoes. That is what the latest edition of Potato Europe was all about. This year, this trade show was held in Doornik/Tournai, Belgium on 4 and 5 September.

The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) estimates the
forecasted potato harvest 2019 between 27 and 27,3 million tons for the
5 leading potato countries. This is 3% more than the 5 years average and
12% more than last year.

TOMRA Sorting Food has introduced the TOMRA 3A sensor-based sorting machine for freshly harvested root crops, offering potato growers unrivalled sorting capabilities, dependability, and affordability.

On 4 and 5 September the international potato fair PotatoEurope 2019 will take place in
Tournai. That the fair continues to grow is demonstrated by the fact that there are almost
20% more exhibitors from 17 different countries.

At the upcoming Potato Europe in Kain, Belgium, agricultural machinery manufacturer AVR is presenting its new quick-change digging unit. As of 2020, this option will be available on all 2-row trailed AVR harvesters.

Dewulf, full-liner in machines for the cultivation of potatoes and root crops, will place particular focus on haulm processing, sieving capacity and roller cleaning during Potato Europe ’19.

The last potatoes were planted at the end of April at PotatoEurope’s demo site and until the end of May the participation demands continued to come in. With less than three weeks to go, time for an update!

Sensor-based sorter manufacturer TOMRA offers their insights on the impact of sorting technology on food safety in the Potato Processing Industry

ILVO, HOGENT and TRIAS in Belgium are hosting a Peruvian delegation to the Food Pilot (ILVO, Melle, Belgium) to get the production of so-called “tuntas” (freeze dried potatoes) in a small cooperative factory in the Andes.