TRADE AND MARKETING Eye-catching presentations at Fruit Logistica Agrico signs contract with Bartlett Jan van Hoogen of Agrico (r) and Tim Hammond of Bartlett sign an exclusivity agreement for the Gourmandine variety for the British market. ’Say choice, say Agrico’, is the marketing pay-off, Agrico has chosen this year. ‘This means that we have a long list of varieties our customers can choose from. For example, we have seed, consumption and organic potatoes and, naturally, we’ve got varieties’, managing director Jan van Hoogen explains. One of the varieties that Agrico is placing in the limelight at Fruit Logistica is the Gourmandine. ‘For three years running, the Gourmandine has won the “Saveur de l’Année” (taste of the year) in France. The French cuisine and varieties are known all over the world and the French are mad about the variety. We’re proud that the British company Albert Bartlett, well-known for its TV spots with potatoes, has decided to add the Gourmandine to its range. The variety is growing fast in France and Italy, and an increasing number of consumers are finding the Gourmandine on the supermarket shelves in the Netherlands, too. Together with Tim Hammond of Bartlett, Van Hoogen has signed an exclusivity agreement for the British market. Agrico is growing 30 hectares of this successful variety in the Netherlands this year, and 150 hectares of seed in France. According to Gilles Fontaine, director of Agrico subsidiary Desmazières, this means that in total 1,500 hectares of consumption potatoes of this variety are being grown. In Great Britain, Agrico grows only the higher categories at the moment and it imports user seed from the Netherlands and France. Den Hartigh goes international Bernard Krijger of Den Hartigh is manning the stand of the parent organisation, Solana, to test the market. ‘We’re in the last phase of the consumption trade. What’s happening? Will the market remain stable? Where is there still demand? That’s what you want answers to, especially now the import of the early consumption potatoes is getting up to steam. In a tactical sense, this show is exactly at the right time. As Solana, we are very active in Russia and we’re looking anxiously at what is happening with the border closure. That will give problems with our export. What’s more, the Russian growers didn’t receive any money from the government to buy fertiliser and planting stock this year. That money is always paid in December and they haven’t received anything yet this season. And even if we have farmland in Russia ourselves, you can’t start growing seed potatoes large-scale for the local market. You need an awful lot of planting stock for that, which they don’t have there. This means that there’s going to be a shortfall’, Krijger explains. As far as varieties are concerned, Krijger indicates that he has picked up on a demand from the Russians for early and preferably red-skinned varieties. ‘That’s why we supply the Rosara, Relox and Secura varieties. Moreover, the Russian processing industry is also investing in new varieties. In 2015, Farm Frites is going to open a factory in Liepetsk where our Ludmilla will probably be grown as well’, Krijger expects. ‘Strategically, Fruit Logistica is at the right time to determine our position in the market’, says Bernhard Krijger of Den Hartigh. 28 Potato World 2013 • number 4 Pagina 27
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