‘Europatat must remain accessible’ TRADE AND MARKETING Europatat argues in favour of allowing EU Member States to agree on higher quality standards than the European statutory standards. Congress of Europatat new-style. Thanks to the new articles of association, which were adopted last year, businesses were also able to participate in the committee meetings straightaway. The first committees to meet early on Thursday morning were the seed and consumption potato committees. The presence of the companies at the Seed Potato Committee meeting had an impact on the detailed discussions on important dossiers such as the revision of the European Traffic Directive. This directive regulates the traffic in planting stock such as seed potatoes. The Dutch Potato Organisation (Nederlandse Aardappel Organisatie (NAO) has made an important first move on behalf of Europatat by filling out an EU questionnaire, and presenting this to the Seed Potato Committee through the Europatat secretariat. The Committee accepted this first move. O Attention for certified seed Through this questionnaire, the European seed potato sector calls for attention for the use of certified seed, for Farm Saved Seed can, in fact, have a harmful effect on overall plant health. At the same time, Europatat argues in favour of allowing EU Member States to agree on higher quality standards than the European statutory standards. The climatic conditions among Member States vary a great deal. Countries with a good climate for growing seed potatoes are better equipped to meet the higher quality standards then countries with a climate that is less suitable. Moreover, higher national quality standards are likely to improve the quality of seed potatoes. In turn, this leads to a lesser chance of diseases in the subsequent crop. The European seed potato trade criticises the tendency of the European legislator to drag the notion of sustainability into just about everything. The European Commission, for example, has proposed including sustainability in the commercial value survey as well. The European seed potato sector is of the opinion that the commercial value survey should remain limited to a minimum. In this day and age, it is the market that determines the economic value of a variety, which means the commercial value survey has lost much of its importance. Revision of Phyto directive The fact that Brussels is very active at the moment is also shown by the current revision of the Phyto directive. Partly because of the pressure on government budgets, there is a tendency to shift more tasks towards trade and industry as far as the Phyto directive is concerned. This is an idea that the German seed potato representatives really liked. Slightly jealous, they compared their inspection service with what they saw as the more flexible NAK which is guided by the business sector. When considering a shift of tasks from the public to the private sector, it is important for the seed potato sector to be aware of how third countries, the countries outside the EU, will react to this. A large number of third countries are much more government-minded than the Netherlands. These countries are very much committed to government inspections; moreover, there are international agreements which determine that government authorities issue Phyto guarantees to each other. n 9 and 10 June, sunny Sicily was the location of the first Investing in early potatoes The early consumption potato committee had the European Early Potato Project on their agenda. This is a research project that aims to revive the unique selling points of early potatoes on the European market. Chairman Giulio Romagnoli pointed out that every Member State is growing early potatoes. The difference lies only in the moment at which the early potatoes are brought onto the market. The proposal is to have a number of European universities do research into both the qualitative and the quantitative elements. One of the subjects being considered is a study into the wishes of the consumer in respect of early potatoes and what price tag these should have. Getting the universities interested in writing a research proposal would involve a financial outlay. Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands were prepared to reach into their pockets. But that would not be enough to get the necessary amount of EUR 100,000 together. It will need another three countries. Without that money, the EU will not pay their share, and the desired promotion and communication campaigns will never get off the ground. As chairman Romagnoli said, ‘The EU will not listen to us if we are not prepared to invest in this project ourselves.’ Europatat chairman Kees van Arendonk leads the meeting. 16 Potato World 2011 • number 3 Pagina 15
Pagina 17Scoor meer met een online shop in uw PDF-en. Velen gingen u voor en publiceerden mailings online.
Potatoworld 2011/3 Lees publicatie 21Home