TRADE AND MARKETING Potato sector keenly anticipates growth of Polish supermarkets enormously. If you’re not financially sound enough, it’s not easy to survive in the Polish market’, Jaroszuk knows. The remainder of the potatoes he needs for his business are imported. ‘The potatoes imported in the spring are of better quality than the Polish storage potatoes and most are from the more expensive market segment. Some of the supermarkets only want the very best quality potatoes, which we’re not yet able to provide from our own storehouses. All our Polish growers are Global Gap certified. We also import seed potatoes of various varieties for them. We only want good quality, definitely where storage varieties are concerned.’ Contracts for continuous supply ‘We only start contracting in the course of the growing season’, Jaroszuk says. ‘Consequently, prices are more geared to the acreage at the start of the growing season. With that, we’re better able to guarantee an adequate supply. This year, we made prices of 15 to 25 eurocents per kilogram. The better the quality, the higher the price. Fortunately, this season is better than last year, when the price barely reached 3 eurocents. Furthermore, we prefer working with large growers, because that’s a guarantee for constant quality. That’s also a reason for Hedro Farms aims for storage It’s been eighteen years since Herbert Bos, Ronnie Luteijn and Ed van Cleef left for Poland to try their luck. In the meantime, the trio has built up a crop farm with a total of 2,800 hectares of agricultural land At their farm, Hedro Farms Polska in Sadków, they predominantly grow cereals. So far, with 200 hectares, only a small section is still destined for potatoes, but the acreage is increasing, also because of the influence of the political situation, the entrepreneurs tell us. ‘This year was difficult for potatoes’, Herbert Bos intimates during the tour around the farm. Bos is the cultivation expert of the trio. Every year, he works out a cropping plan for the large farm plots. ‘It was very wet and late initially, and later it was hot and dry’, he continues. ‘We had days this year of around 36 degrees Celsius. Like in Holland, the cropping season started late here. Normally, we start in mid-April, but this Business details Hedro Farms Oogst Seed onions Consumption potatoes Carrots Rape seed Winter wheat Summer barley 350 200 80 650 1430 90 year, it was almost May when the first seed was planted. We’re planting with two machines with ridging hoods. We think it important to start ridging straightaway to avoid loss of moisture. We’ve been doing that for the past eight years. Before emergence, we always spray against weeds with Sencor. This didn’t happen on one of the plots this year, because it kept on raining after planting and it was also much too cold. All in all, this meant a bad start of the growing season. Fortunately, there wasn’t a lot of Phytophthora. There’s much less here than in the Netherlands anyway and that saves a lot of money. To arrive at the right spraying moment, we use Dacom equipment and programs. Early blight is a much bigger problem here than Phytophthora. We use Amistar as a preventive fungicide. We use Curzate, Infinito, Revus and Ranman Top to control Phytophthora. At the beginning of September, we start harvesting for the local market. We market these first-lifted lots in 10 or 25 kilogram net bags in the 40-70 mm sizes. The varieties that Hedro Farms grows are 80 hectares of Gala, 45 hectares of Dali, 24 hectares of Melody, 50 hectares of Jelly and a few experimental varieties. Gala is the variety we harvest first and sell to the bazaars.’ Rapid crop development in the spring ‘Because of the later, slow start and the drought in the summer, the average yield is 40 tons per hectare’, Bos says. ‘That’s 20 percent less than normal. Normally, the crop development until the beginning of June is always earlier than in the Netherlands. Although we’ve had more problems with extreme investing in modern storehouses. This will create a buffer in a quality product, which makes us flexible in respect of market developments. Real potato eaters The potato varieties that Jaroszuk farms out are Gala, Lord, Carrera, Volumia and Colomba. ‘Supermarkets usually have wish-lists of their own and we gear to them. New in that respect is a division into types such as boiling, frying and salads. Until recently, all the potatoes were the same: a floury potato suitable for boiling. These different types take a bit of getting used to, especially for the supermarkets. The potatoes destined for boiling were all gone, while chips and salad potatoes remained unsold. It’s quite clear that the Polish consumers have yet to learn what else you can do with a potato apart from boiling’, Jaroszuk tells us. Fortunately, the Polish people are real potato eaters, so that the change-over to more variety is merely a matter of time, the logistics manager expects. 36 Potato World 2014 • number 2 Pagina 41
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