PW-ACTUA Agrofood Cluster Northeast Polder wants to strengthen potato sector In order to strengthen the agrofood sector in the Dutch region of Emmeloord, JanNico Appelman, Member of the Provincial Executive of the Province of Flevoland, together with Hans Wijnants, alderman of the Municipality of Northeast Polder presented a cheque for 442,000 euros to Gerard van Tilburg, Chairman of the new Agrofood Cluster Northeast Polder Foundation. With that money, the Foundation wants to stimulate the exchange of knowledge and innovation, promote alignment between education and the labour market, and enhance the name recognition of the region, both on a national and an international level. ‘The Foundation can be compared to an umbrella under which we plan to develop various types of businesses, Cor van Veldhuijsen, Managing Director of Agrofood Cluster Northeast Polder explains. He tells us that he wants to focus specifically on innovation, knowledge and ultimately on promoting business for the affiliated members. ‘Just compare it to an area with a street of car showrooms. Together you create traffic, but the various businesses have to do the work themselves. On the one hand, this is business but on the other it’s also developing knowledge.’ With the money, Van Veldhuijsen first wants to draw up and implement an innovation and knowledge agenda. At the same time, he wants to address the national and international positioning and acquisition of the members. In addition to the over 400,000 euros subsidy, the members of the Foundation pay a subscription that is profit-related. This is a minimum of 500 and a maximum of 10,000 euros per annum, whereby the companies commit themselves for 4 years. The first initiative of the Foundation is World Potato City Emmeloord. The purpose of the initiative is to emphasise the worldwide potato image of Emmeloord. Both locally and internationally One of the very first initiators is Jan van Hoogen of Agrico. He emphasises that this joint participation in the promotion of potatoes has a positive effect for all the companies in Emmeloord. ‘The objective is that, wherever in the world people think of potatoes, they should also think of Emmeloord. Emmeloord should be a One Stop Shop. That’s possible, because in the domain of potatoes, Emmeloord has a great deal to offer. We’ve set up the Cluster from a local and a worldwide need. For example, a local discussion is farm expansion. If our farmers want to develop, it should be easy to expand. If you put that on the cluster agenda, you’re in a stronger position than if you address the problem on your own’, Van Hoogen explains. Potato lectorate In the domain of knowledge development, Van Veldhuijsen mentions the Potato Business School Emmeloord. ’A number of the members of the Agrofood Cluster also participate in the Potato Business School Emmeloord. It goes without saying that we’re on the look-out for collaboration. The aim is to stimulate the development of knowledge and bring it to an even higher level. Also, together with CAH Vilentum (training centre for higher agricultural education), we’ve appointed Dr Peter Kooman as lector on Potato Chain and Sector Innovation. Within the lectorate, Kooman will cover the entire potato chain with the focus on breeding, seed potato production, storage technology, cultivation, product development and big data analysis. He’ll focus on the bringing together of data from the entire chain in order to improve every-day practice’, Van Veldhuijsen explains. In five years’ time, Van Veldhuijsen wants to have a knowledge centre in the domain of potatoes based on the needs of the businesses. He emphasises that the Foundation not only wants to offer a platform for businesses in Flevoland but in the whole country. ● Jan-Nico Appelman (r), Member of the Provincial Executive of the Province of Flevoland, and Hans Wijnants (c), alderman of the Municipality of Northeast Polder, present a cheque for 442,000 euros to Gerard van Tilburg, Chairman of the new Agrofood Cluster Northeast Polder Foundation. Potato World 2014 • number 4 11 Pagina 10
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