TRADE AND MARKETING Complete cropping marketing programmes provide the Italian market with new élan Nathaline Simone emphasises that there’s now a new market for his potatoes that earns more money than when he cultivated Spunta for the free market overall acreage in Puglia, which was still 10,000 hectares during the nineties and has dwindled to only 3,000 hectares today. The population is aging rapidly and the young people rarely go for small-scale and labour-intensive cultivation. It’s still relatively new to try and convince growers to grow new varieties in a programme. There’s still a lot of uncertainty among growers who were always used to only growing for the free market.’ One of the bigger growers in the region who elected to grow for the market and who now grows 23 hectares of Actrice this year is Nathaline Simone. His very stony plots are close to the Adriatic Sea. In order to spread the marketing risk, part of his harvest goes to Marmocchi and another part to the local trader Fli Focciolla. This company also exports potatoes to Germany, the UK and France. Simone used to grow only Spunta, without a cropping or marketing programme. He emphasises that he’s glad that there’s now a new market for his potatoes that earns more money than when he cultivated Spunta for the free market. ‘This provides a wonderful future for my business’, he explains enthusiastically in the field. Share information The person who is happily listening to Simone’s explanation is Jan Darwinkel, the breeder of Actrice. He explains that the variety is a cross between Denise and Agata. ‘The Denise variety provides taste and yield and while Agata provides presentation and yield. You see all those characteristics of Actrice here in Italy’, Darwinkel smiles. ’Because the Denise also has Agria-blood, the variety is also suitable for home-made chips’, he reveals. As is often the case with new varieties, the Actrice has a few cultivation aspects which need extra attention from the grower. ‘You don’t need much nitrogen to grow a good-quality Actrice. We recommend giving at least 20 percent less than the average recommendation for table potatoes. Because the variety is slow in haulm development, growers tend to add nitrogen to “get the crop going”. That’s not good, because when growers apply more, the tuber can sometimes be easily damaged when lifted mechanically’, product manager Kamal Smid of Agroplant explains. To limit harvesting damage, Smid has done a lot of research. In addition to a low nitrogen application, he’s currently studing the SELENELLA A group of fourteen companies, among which Marmocchi, are united in the ´Consorzio patata Italiana qualità�. The aim of this consortium is to promote and market potatoes from the Bologna region. The organisation is also owner of the Selenella brand. Under this brand, the fourteen companies are allowed to supply various potato varieties from the Bologna region. Potatoes from the early Italian areas are only allowed to be marketed under this brand in the spring, and only if there are few potatoes from the Bologna region available. Since last year, Marmocchi has ensured that, in addition to the Agata, Colomba, Vivaldi and Primura varieties, the Actrice is also on the official list of the Selenella brand. Roncagli says that the brand distinguishes itself in the market by a minimum use of chemicals and artificial fertiliser and the fact that the potatoes are extra rich in selenium. This gives the product an extra health claim for the consumer. In addition to fresh table potatoes, the consortium also markets crisps and gnocchi under this brand. Actrice travelled via France to Italy, Giuseppe Panza (l), Marten Jukema and Alberto Roncagli explain. 26 Potato World 2016 • number 1 Pagina 25
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