TRADE AND MARKET I NG Italy: ideal testing ground for Dutch potato breeding Italy is an excellent trial basis for potato breeding activities, as a top delegation of Dutch breeders was able to observe recently with their own eyes. O n a Tuesday afternoon in the second half of May a select group of Dutch potato breeders literally and figuratively land on the southwest coast of Italy, in Bari. This city is known, among other things, for the crypt of Saint Nicholas, - Father Christmas [for non-Dutch readers], and lies just above the heel of the boot that forms this Mediterranean country. The purpose of their visit is to get an impression of the local potato cultivation and, of course, the promising potato varieties that they themselves have bred, or, at least, this is what they hope and expect. Many of the breeders’ hearts are beating faster as they get further from Bari and closer to the trial field, which is located near the coastal village of Polignano a Mare. But before they finally get the eagerly awaited answers to their questions, at the edge of the potato field – laid out by the Dutch Agroplant trading company, based in Medemblik – Alberto Roncagli asks them to be patient a little bit longer. Significant decline in Italian acreage First, the representative of the potato trading company Angelino Marmocchi from Bologna gives an extensive picture of the potato cultivation in the elongated coastal region of Apulia, which is located on the Adriatic Sea. At the heart of this area lies the Puglia region, ‘the new Tuscany’ for holidaymakers and sun worshippers, bordering on the south side of the city of Bari. It is one of the roughly four important potato cultivation regions of Italy: the north around Bologna to Venice, below that the Il Funico agricultural polder and the area around it near Rome, in the centre/south Naples and Bari, and at the very bottom of the boot Sicily. Between the many picturesque villages in Puglia, with waving palm trees in the streets, lies a patchwork of agricultural and horticultural fields with fertile, but also very stony sand/loess-like soils. The biggest stones that have ‘floated’ to the surface of the fields over many years, have been used by farmers to build walls around their properties. They grow a variety of typically Mediterranean crops on their farms. Many olive groves, interspersed with grapes, figs, walnuts, hazelnuts, some citrus fruits and, in between, fields with various vegetables such as tomatoes and potatoes. The plots vary in size from just a few acres to a maximum of a few hectIf you add up the thousands of potato fields here, according to Alberto Roncagli (front left), you then arrive at a total of 3,000 hectares. This is considerably less than 30 years ago, because at that time the area was still 10,000 hectares. 26 Potato World 2018 • number 3 Pagina 29
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