CULTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY Danish starch industry invests in cutting chain costs European financial support will also cease for the Danish starch industry in 2013. To be able to continue to grow and process starch potatoes, the chain costs will have to drop, is their view. A visit to the AKV cooperative association in Aalborg, in the northern part of Jutland, shows us that the Danes have already made a start with this. Growers try to harvest more quickly and more efficiently with the American Double L lifters, and the factory invests in the modern washing and cleaning technology developed by the Dutch company Tummers. ‘Potatoes on top’ is to give a new stimulus to the Danish starch industry, says AKV chairman Jørgen Skeel. ‘‘Potatoes in top.’ This is the latest programme that the Danish cooperative starch manufacturer AKV Langholt has developed to combat the loss of the sector’s support after 2013. AKV Langholt has 140 active members who cultivate a total of 4,200 ha of starch potatoes and process annually around 160,000 tons, as chairman of the cooperative, Jørgen Skeel, a starch potato grower himself (Aabybro), explains the Danish situation. He has been on the Board for many years and knows the ropes. The programme roughly includes three objectives. First: costs must be cut. As price support is ending, the potatoes will have to be marketed for a lower price in three years’ time. This is necessary to remain competitive in the worldwide starch potato market. Second: labour must be reduced and third: the starch potato area in Denmark must be expanded. Because the starch bulk discount is also ending, AKV wants to process more potatoes, because more processing means reduced costs per kilogram of processed product. New technology essential To be able to realise the specified objectives, it is Skeel’s view that one must use as much new technology as possible. And it does not stop with mechanisation alone. Genetic modification is also a technology that must be given a place in the starch sector, says the potato grower. Phytophthora, for example, is a problem in Denmark. ‘If we were able to control this disease with modern GMO technology, I would personally regard that as being sustainable for both the environment and for the potato growers’farm management. Especially if you think about the difficult years the starch potato growers are now facing. The abolition of Potato World 2011 • number 1 17 Pagina 16
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