CU LTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY Mostly dry weather, lots of interest and plenty of novelties Hind conquers Europe also as a potato Naturally, there are also various European seed potato trading companies present at PotatoEurope. Most exhibitors are there to maintain contacts with existing customers and to meet new ones. The presentation of varieties is not the main objective. For most exhibitors this happens in November when the variety presentation days take place in the Netherlands. That is, unless you happen to bump into a certain over-enthusiastic grower who claims that his variety is the most wonderful of the show. This man’s name is Jeroen Metz and, in the stand of the De Nijs trading house, he points to a box full of large tubers that have been given the name Hind. The name is a reference to the famous Dutch singer Hind Laroussi Tahiri. The name not only refers to her, but also to her country of origin, Morocco. That’s the country where Metz’s new variety has emerged in trial fields as a real winner. And not only there. The Egyptians also raved about the variety in their trial fields, says representative Jan-Paul Bandsma. He lists a whole series of characteristics that various customers in North Africa are enthusiastic about. ‘Hind retains its shape, is stress resistant, produces large tubers, grows in all continental climates, the taste is a topper, it’s a table and French-fry potato with excellent cooking and frying qualities, it’s not sensitive to pests and diseases and the yields are very high. And last but not least, the variety needs Morocco is the country where Jeroen Metz’s (r) new variety has emerged in trial fields as a real winner, says sales representative Jan-Paul Bandsma. very little nitrogen’, Metz responds optimistically. In the meantime – it was first “discovered” in 2015 – the variety hasn’t gone unnoticed by customers in various European countries, Bandsma adds. ‘So now the tug-of-war for the planting stock has begun’, he notes with satisfaction. New AVR digging unit can be changed within six minutes AVR didn’t yet have one, a quick-change digging unit for the two-row, towed lifters such as the popular Spirit 9200 bunker harvester and the Lynx carrier harAVR has recently introduced a quick-change digging unit for the two-row towed lifters such as the popular Spirit 9200, which is in action here on the lifting demonstration field. vester. Finally, however, it recently became available. Stefaan Diericks, the sales and marketing manager, proudly explains that it also has a super-fast changing system. ‘We’ve timed it a few times with customers in practice. On a hard surface, they managed to swap the potato digging unit for the onions version and vice versa within 6 minutes, on average. Previously, this used to take at least a few hours.’ The only actions required on the harvester in the new system are the loosening or tightening of 2 nuts and the coupling or disconnection of a few hydraulic quick-connectors, according to the manager. New harvesters are equipped as standard with a quick-change system for potatoes and onions; existing harvesters are easy to adapt, if desired. Depending on the version, a quick-change digging unit costs between 2,500 to 5,500 euros excluding VAT. Potato World 2019 • number 4 29 Pagina 28

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