PotatoEurope 2009 Very professional and very international PotatoEurope 2009, the big potato event, was held in Emmeloord in the first week of September. It was a professional, commercial, informative and well-visited trade show. In total, the organisation of the event welcomed 11,000 visitors, a third of whom came from abroad, and the number of different nationalities was no fewer than fifty. The exhibitors, both in the hall and in the showground outside were extremely happy with this enormous turnout. MonsterQuad attract attention An army-green quad attracts the attention of everyone at a potato show. Especially when it is also equipped with a variety of spectacular technologies. The powerful vehicle attracted a great deal of attention, especially from the foreign visitors, observed NAK staff member Jan Luimes. The reason was that the quad is fitted out with equipment that can rapidly take samples in the field for nematode testing. Many inspection services abroad are interested in such a machine. The only thing is that using the quad is not very simple, explained Luimes. ‘In the Netherlands we usually take samples straight after lifting. The soil is then loose and smooth, so that you can drive fast and take samples from the soil without a problem. In foreign countries, soil samples are mostly taken in the stubble fields or before sowing or planting of a preceding crop. The reason is that cropping plans are more generous abroad. In addition, they also often grow potatoes in stoney soils. In most cases, therefore, they are not able to use the techniques that we do in this country. They will therefore have to think of something different and we will brainstorm with them’, says the enthusiastic Luimes. In search of devoted customers In the informal and welcoming Stet Holland stand, visitors were the centre of attention. ‘We are busy here rolling out our plans for the future,’ says the enthusiastic managing director Peter Ton. ‘We informed out customers of this already before the start of the potato show and we are doing it here as well for others. As Stet Holland, we would like to specialise more and stop supplying everything for everybody. We are going to focus particularly on the breeding and marketing of table potatoes for our customers in the countries around the Mediterranean, Cuba and Pakistan. What this means is that we want to invest more in the relationships with our customers. We would like to work more towards partnerships with devoted clients. This means collaborating together with commitment and confidence. The purpose is to gain a better understanding of the market of our customers. That’s why we have tried to create an intimate atmosphere in our stand and, as you can see, we’ve been rather successful. Potato World 2009 • number 4 19 Pagina 18

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