TRADE AND MARKET I NG In 25 years, EUROPLANT has developed from a regional player to a multinational company ‘So we must provide varieties that can be grown in every region of the world’, Jörg Eggers (right) and Jörg Renatus believe. Challenges for breeding As far as challenges in cultivation are concerned, Böhm first of all considers the greening of crop protection in Europe. ‘The use of chemical crop protection is under pressure in Europe. Apart from the fact that I’m worried about the continuity of arable farming, resistance genes, as with Phytophthora, for example. Böhm also follows developments relating to new technologies in the market. ‘A new technique such as CRISPR/Cas-9 is inexpensive and very suitable for us as a smaller global player. This application will allow us to take enormous steps forward. However, as ‘We work with subsidiaries that are responsible for the locally-grown crop areas.’ this means that it is becoming increasingly important for us to develop new resistances. This is an important response to the development of greening in the market’, Böhm explains. For this purpose, BNA uses genetic markers to quickly detect the resistances in the new hybrids. Markers mainly benefit those programs where we combine several long as the European Commission does not clarify the position of CRISPR/Cas-9, we can’t do anything with it,’ says Böhm. Global market vision Europlant does serious business in 60 countries and is active in 80 countries worldwide, according to Eggers. ‘We follow the market with our potato varieties and we don’t want a “take it or leave it” approach. That’s why we offer a broad package with something for everyone’, Renatus adds. ‘So we want to grow the potatoes where they’re needed. This means that we don’t necessarily want to produce seed potatoes in our home market and export them, but rather set up seed potato cultivation areas locally and export them only where necessary. To do this, we work with subsidiaries that are responsible for the locally-grown crop areas. They know the local market, the varieties, the techniques and the consumers. This gives us a good network with potato flows all over the world. We meet this need with only our own varieties’, Renatus explains. ‘The subsidiaries have their own crops, which are sold via a pool in which we market the potatoes during the season. Because we grow in various countries, we can achieve a good joint sales result. If there’s a shortfall in 30 Potato World 2017 • number 4 Pagina 29
Pagina 31Heeft u een onderwijs catalogus, z-mags of digi-tijdschriften? Gebruik Online Touch: magazine online maken.
Potatoworld 2017/4 Lees publicatie 46Home