TRADE AND MARKETING Sustainability in 2016 is all about balance Francis Binst, BBS and Henk Offereins, Norika: ‘With the Agila, the grower has a sustainable variety that is also interesting in an agricultural sense’ Francis Binst from BBS in the Belgian village of Grimbergen, attending together with the German breeding station Norika from Groß Lüsewitz, says that a sustainable variety has to suit the organic as well as the conventional market. ‘In France, for example, there’s a lobby towards the reduced usage of Phytophthora chemicals. You force an organically-grown crop on to everyone, thereby limiting growers in their choice of varieties. So we automatically arrive at the Agila in our variety package. It’s an 80-day variety from Norika which we sell. This variety grows well in the various regions and produces reliable yields in both the conventional and the organic market. It doesn’t have the disadvantages you so often see in varieties grown for the organic market, namely that the yields are disappointing, With the Agila, the grower has a sustainable variety that is also interesting in an agricultural sense. The grower also has to live and there need to be sufficient potatoes available for the consumer. This year, we already have 65 hectares of seed potatoes in Germany, Michel de Nijs, De Nijs Potatoes: ‘With Focus, our buyers can supply two markets’ ‘We’re looking for early potatoes that need less crop protection and less water. I think that late varieties will eventually have to go. The reason is that, in many countries water is very expensive’, explains Michel de Nijs of seed potato trading company De Nijs Potatoes in Warmenhuizen. He is a seed supplier in North Africa and the Middle East. ‘They’re no longer interested in the late material. They want early varieties. So sustainable means early for us. With early varieties, a grower only needs to irrigate two or three times. On the one hand, it saves money, and on the other, early varieties are welcome in countries that apply water restrictions for farmland. In addition, our sustainable new varieties should also use less nitrogen. Personally, I hate nitrogen fertilising. It only produces kilos without quality. And the underwater weight drops which interferes with the shape. A variety that really fits the bill is the Focus. This variety is an Agria type and produces good chips. It hardly needs any nitrogen fertilisation and is a suitable replacement for the Spunta, a variety that does very well the Middle East. It always grows well and earns a premium in this country. For now, you still need Spunta to open the door for other varieties. Because the Focus makes good chips, our buyers can supply two markets, which is interesting for my customers who are placing increasingly high demands on processing.’ Belgium and the Netherlands. It’s then up to the retailers to sell them in a sustainable way. Together with the retailers, we’ve developed an environmentallyfriendly packaging. This cardboard box can be fully recycled. I see this type of development as the responsibility of the chain. It allows us to combine the wishes of the politicians, who go for sustainability, and the economic aspects of the grower, as a fundamental part of sustainability. After all, we’re all in a very price-sensitive market, which means that the cost price must be appropriate for the market. A grower who grows Agila pays less on crop protection and can use his time and land in a better way. The variety also produces a high yield’, Binst explains. ‘So a variety that can be grown both organically and nonorganically is more sustainable and more profitable for the breeder, Henk Offereins of Norika adds. Colin McDonnell, IPM: can be used in more t Colin McDonnell of the Irish trading company IPM, at the Dutch branch in the Frisian village of Deinum, explains that it is sustainable to develop a variety that can be used in more than one market. ‘We’ve learnt from our big variety, Cara, that we need to develop varieties that suit different climate zones. The variety was doing well in the UK and was a success in Egypt. We want to repeat this in our breeding programme. That makes cultivation sustainable for us as a company and for our seed potato and consumption potato growers. It’s also an important sales argument. So it’s important that there is a geographic distribution of the growing areas. A fine example is the Electra. This variety grows well in the UK, but also in the Middle East and Northern Africa. It does well in the various climates and soil types. Just compare it to the Spunta, which is always a success in the countries around the 20 Potato World 2016 • number 1 Pagina 19
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