CULTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY Crisis or not, without breeding there are no solutions Wouter Mutsaers, Q-Potato: ‘Spunta has been crisis-proof for many years’ ‘We don’t have any protected varieties in our programme. We only trade in free seed potato varieties and consumption potatoes. So, a new variety in answer to the crisis is not in our package’, is the reaction of Wouter Mutsaers, co-owner of the new company Q-Potato in Lemmer. What he has on offer, though, is the old crisis-proof variety which is in great demand also this year: the Spunta. ‘Where the other big, free varieties are not doing too well this year, and I’m thinking of Bintje, Désirée and Nicola, the Spunta is not at all crisis-sensitive. It’s even the seventh successful year in a row that there’s been a healthy demand for this variety from all over the world. I can already promise you now that 95 percent of the volume cultivated in the Netherlands will find a buyer. And I’ve got the feeling that the variety will continue to be successful in the coming seven years. The countries where the variety is mostly sold, Northern Africa for example, are very traditional. Traders, growers and consumers, they don’t really want change. They know the cultivation characteristics of the variety, the yields are always consistently high, the tubers are big and they sell well at the local markets, and the taste and preparation methods are known and trusted.’ Harry van de Vijver, Germicopa: ‘Considerable demand for Gwenne’ It’s aiming a bit too high to say that the potato breeder is going to help the growers out of the malaise, thinks representative Harry van de Vijver of the French trading company Germicopa from Quimper Cedex. After all, the current situation requires an effort from all the participants in the chain. Yes, it also means the right choice of varieties, naturally. In the table potato segment, Germicopa has a crisis-proof variety that is nearly ready for the market. ‘It’s the Gwenne. In the Netherlands, there’s already a yield currently available from 10 hectares of seed. And there’s a considerable demand, because the Gwenne is a popular potato for the fresh market because of its excellent presentation, good taste, regular grading and relatively-high yield. Last year, the consumption harvest of this new variety was even 60 tons per hectare. Furthermore, it’s a firm potato that can already be found on the shelves of the Jumbo supermarkets. Because it’s grown in the Netherlands, Malta, Cyprus, Italy and Israel, it’s available all-year-round’, according to Van de Vijver. Jan-Eric Geersing, Caithness Potatoes: ‘Celine is a red-skinned Annabelle’; ‘Whether you have a good or a bad year very much depends on the segment you’re active in. As a consumption grower, you’re better off right now with varieties suitable for export, in other years that may be first-early potatoes. In our sector, it‘s important that you’re well prepared for a period of crisis. You can do that by growing varieties that have added value’, is the opinion of Jan-Eric Geersing, representative of Caithness Potatoes from the Scottish town of Perth. ‘Suppose you’re a table potato grower in the Netherlands. You’ll then need a variety that can compete in the highest segment and is freely available in times of low supply. And here’s a variety like that, the Celine. This variety has a striking dark-red skin and is also yellow-fleshed. In view of its shape, yield, taste and user characteristics, you can compare it with a well-known variety such as Annabelle. A special characteristic which makes the variety a niche product is early maturity. It already has a firm skin by the first week of August and can therefore be lifted. During that August month, the supply is usually slightly lower and the price a little higher. With an early, red-skinned potato that has a good presentation, you have a particularly eye-catching product on the shop shelves and therefore added value. In addition, the Celine also has excellent cultivation characteristics. It’s an offspring of the Santé and Celine owes its low susceptibility to Phytophthora from that variety. That makes the Celine suitable for organic cultivation too. A few trading and packaging companies that already have some experience with the variety are Kleinjan, Landjuweel, Select Potato, Loogman and CêlaVíta.” Potato World 2015 • number 2 21 Pagina 20

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