TRADE AND MARKETING Starch potato cultivation: make it a contest! have to aim for yields of 100 tons per hectare. This is the challenge which Ton van Scheppingen presented his Audience. They thought it a bit of a joke, but the director of PPO (Applied Research, Plant & Environment) was serious. He made this challenging statement at the opening of the Starch Potato Days, organised by Avebe and PPO at the PPO location ‘t Kompas. ‘In recent years, the starch potato sector has focused on cost reduction but should aim now for optimisation. Dare to think of higher yields. Make it a contest’, Van Scheppingen continued with passion. The PPO director also had a message for Henk Bleker, State Secretary of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation. He asked Bleker to give consideration to the cultivation of starch potatoes when discussing the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). ‘Potato starch can play an important role in sustainability and a greener environment. But the sector still needs another five to ten years to become competitive with other raw materials. It is particularly important for this sector to look at maintaining perspective.’ I Administrative ideas Bleker, however, was quite optimistic about the opportunities of the sector. ‘After all, it is not the first time that the sector’s perspectives look bad’, he said in his speech. The State Secretary is striving first and foremost to keep the Dutch share of the agricultural budget as substantial as possible. ‘Our share is now 40 to 44 billion. We may have to lose a little and we must fight to keep the losses to a minimum.’ According to Bleker, leaked proposals suggest that the Dutch portion of the agricultural budget has been cut too drastically. ‘We are still talking about proposals and perhaps they are just administrative ideas, but it is going to be hard for the West European countries to keep their share unaffected’. The second battle is the preservation of a reasonable hectare allowance, according to Bleker, with the possibility of additional allowances for matters such as sustainability, biodiversity and energy production. ‘But how cuts are going to be divided over the various countries is not quite clear.’ It is at least positive, in Bleker’s view, that Prime minister Mark Rutte and the Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, Maxime Verhagen, want to keep the agricultural budget unchanged at the 2013-2014 level. ‘That is already a very important milestone.’ No soft landing For the starch potato growers, abandoning the linked allowances – which are considerable – will have enormous consequences.‘We must be realistic; for starch potato growers the allowances will be cut’, says Bleker. He is no advocate of a gradual phasing out until 2020, the socalled soft landing.‘It sounds sympathetic, but I doubt whether that is the right thing to do. Bert Jansen, Director Avebe: ‘100 tons per hectare is still far away. According to the regulations of the Commodity Board for Arable Farming, growers are currently allowed to contract a maximum of 60 tons of potatoes per hectare.’ n order to continue to grow starch potatoes, growers will ‘We have to fight for the preservation of the Dutch part of the agricultural budget,’ says Henk Bleker, State Secretary of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation. Ton van Scheppingen, director Applied Research, Plant & Environment (PPO): ‘Make it a contest! Go for 100 tons per hectare of starch potatoes.’ 24 Potato World 2011 • number 4 Pagina 23
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