TRADE AND MARKET I NG Agrico invests in variety development the field and over several years. That’s why we carry on with the final stages for three years. Also, if you look at the figures from NAK (General Inspection Service for Agricultural Seed and Seed Potatoes), it turns out that only a quarter of the variety introductions are successful. Three-quarters turn out to be disappointing after about eight years. And every time there are different characteristics that determine this. On the successful side, too, you have characteristics that you didn’t suspect would do well at the time of introduction. The Fontane variety turns out to be doing very well on light soil, but we hadn’t tested specifically for this. But we also hadn’t expected the growth cracks as in the previous harvest year.‘ We learned our lesson in the past ‘For us, making crossings is the basis for developing varieties. Our policy is to take it slowly when embracing new techniques and we no longer anticipate a favourable outcome as regards regulatory developments. Together with BASF, we learned our lesson in the past. We believe that the regulations should first be clear and only then should we start using modern breeding techniques. After all, you need to be sure that you can go to market and know under what conditions. In addition, both GMO and modern breeding techniques are rather limited in their possibilities for the potato. It’s very easy to talk about new techniques. It’s not easy to get the potato through a cellular stage, which is the basis of new techniques such as CRISPRCas9’, says Allefs. ● Jaap Delleman Mayor Aucke van der Werff of the municipality of Noordoostpolder opened Agrico’s new and hyper-modern greenhouse complex in early April. Potato World 2018 • number 3 17 Pagina 16
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