LTO Nederland and the Association for the Potato Processing Industry (VAVI) have reviewed the General Purchasing Conditions for Potatoes Link Industry / Cultivation and revised a number of points. The changes make it clearer for both growers and buyers where both parties stand, says Hendrik Jan ten Cate of the LTO working group on ware potatoes.
The immediate reason for the revision of the Potatoes Purchasing Conditions was the extreme drought during the 2018-2019 harvest and the disappointing yields throughout Europe as a result. During the completion of the 2018-2019 harvest, both buyers and suppliers of ware potatoes experienced that the applicable General Purchasing Conditions 2012 led to confusion on various points.
Tons of contracts with disappointing harvests
An example of this were the hundred-dollar contracts in times of disappointing harvests. “A grower who has made agreements in terms of tonnage for one variety with several buyers cannot meet his delivery conditions in the event of disappointing harvests. Now we have included in the conditions how we deal with each other in such cases, ”says Ten Cate.
In concrete terms, this means, among other things, that both parties have an obligation to provide information. “If you have contracts for the same variety with several buyers, you have to inform those parties about this.” In the event of calamities surrounding the size of the harvest, contracts concluded before April 1 take precedence over contracts entered into after this date. If several contracts have been concluded before April 1, the harvest will be divided proportionally. Multi-year contracts always go for separate contracts.
Quarantine diseases
It is now also stipulated in the contracts that buyers may no longer refuse potato batches that are infected with quarantine diseases. “These potatoes may be processed according to the NVWA. That has now been specifically mentioned in the conditions. ”
According to Ten Cate, it is important that LTO and Vavi have revised the conditions on certain points. “We want to grow potatoes under the best possible conditions that generate as little discussion as possible. It is important that the contracts remain valid even in difficult market situations, such as now with the corona pandemic. It would be very bad for growers if a contract could be put off at the slightest thing. ” According to Ten Cate, the outbreak of Covid-19 is therefore no reason to terminate a contract. “All contracted potatoes from the 2019 harvest have been properly settled.”
