‘There are no boundaries for us where growth is concerned’ CU LTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY most now is water to be able to harvest the delicate potatoes with as little damage as possible. The only thing left now is to irrigate or wait for sufficient natural rainwater. In the case of limiting mechanical damage, I dare say that we’re already well advanced with our state-of-the-art lifting machinery. Think of low drop heights for the transfer of the digging webs, the bypass-cleaning system and so on. As regards the use of these options by the users, I regularly wonder why we’re doing all these things. I recently visited a grower who was harvesting in dry soil. I asked him whether he knew the underwater weight of the potatoes he was about to harvest. “I didn’t take samples”, he told me. How on earth do you know how to handle your product, I wondered. It means that we still have a long way to go before we can really start implementing all the technology in our harvesting machinery. Only when the end users are as good as ready, can we start quickly up-scaling the process.’ ‘From a distance, the new machine seems only an evolution, but for those working with them it’s really a revolution,’ the AVR Director points out. for larger potato harvesters to be on public roads, and so they can’t travel from field to field. Besides, I don’t think that potato growers really want bigger and heavier harvesters because of retaining good soil quality.’ Growing Through Precision Technology is the theme of the coming Interpom in Kortrijk in November where you’ll have a stand again. What progress with the development of this technology has been made at AVR? ‘In the area of precision technology we still have to take some big steps, that’s for certain. We also know very well in which direction we’ll need to go. Our development department is already working hard at this. A good example would be the processing of soil and yield data of the plots. Unfortunately, availability is still limited. Developing technology costs money and those costs must be recovered again. It’ll be a waste of money if we make something that hardly anybody uses. If you look at the bigger potato growers, you see that they often lease three-quarters of their plots from third parties. And they usually have too little or no information at all. That should really improve first. Only if that information is available can we make a concrete contribution to the cultivation of potatoes with new precision technology and help it move forward. For example, you might think of the possibility of the optimal, remote adjustment of a lifter to product, soil and lifting conditions if the driver isn’t able to do this himself. Which would be really welcome for example during a very dry season such as we have now? ‘The situation this season is very extreme, obviously. Many fields here in Belgium are bone dry at the moment. When you have hard clods in the ridges combined with potatoes with a very high underwater weight, you can forget about lifting, whichever machine you have. I’ve never seen a situation before like we have now. There are no suitable lifting techniques for the current conditions and there never will be. What you need Talking about up-scaling, what do you expect your own scale to be in around ten years’ time, or do the manufacturers of farm machinery also see an end to scale enlargement just like the growers do. ‘No, there are no boundaries for us where growth is concerned’ We’ve promised our shareholders to adopt a growth strategy with an innovative character for the coming years. And how far will this go? I won’t make any predictions about the size of our company or give figures about our market position in 2026. I’d prefer to keep that to myself. I’d like to say that I’m ‘I’d like to say that I’m hopeful about growth because I expect that the cultivation of potatoes in North-West Europe and in other parts of the world will increase further and become more professional’ hopeful about growth because I expect that the cultivation of potatoes in North-West Europe and in other parts of the world will increase further and become more professional. In recent years, I’ve spoken with many sector colleagues who are rather pessimistic about the sector. I don’t think that’s justified. Potato growers, traders and people in the industry should be pleased with this crop because it’s one of the very few with which you can make a good living. I think that the processing industry is a major driving force which has shown enormous growth potential in recent years. The only thing I’m a little concerned about is that, over time, the supply of potatoes will exceed the demand. But, we won’t need to worry about that this year, I expect.’ ● Leo Hanse Potato World 2017 • number 2 7 Pagina 6
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