Corona is forcing the potato trading houses to think about a different set-up of the traditional variety shows this year. A number of companies opt for an event online, others have decided to postpone the shows for a year. In this series on Akkerwijzer, the trading houses talk about their showpieces and the challenges. Today in Part 3: TPC. “A variety that is resistant today may just be more susceptible tomorrow.”
Handelshuis TPC sees a good future for the new Salvador variety for both seed potato cultivation and the fresh market. This potato mainly finds its way to customers around the Mediterranean and is characterized by a high hectare yield and tolerance to drought and heat.
The Salvador is of the Arizona and Fabula type, says director Gaby Stet of The Potato Company (TPC) from Emmeloord. The company will sell the potato worldwide, he says. “There is a lot of interest in this variety from the seed potato cultivation, because it has a high hectare yield with our customers and also with our seed potato growers. The potato also produces high yields for the fresh market. ”
Late blight
Although this is a common variety, the Salvador can also be grown organically due to its favorable phytophthora properties, according to Stet. Due to the stricter European regulations in the field of crop protection products, these properties are also becoming increasingly important for conventional cultivation, he says. “However, we have seen in recent years that phytophthora regularly mutates. A variety that is resistant today may just be more susceptible tomorrow. That makes Phytophthora a complicated story in general. ”
Lack of currency and containers
TPC sees the 2020-2021 season as a difficult season for the potato sector due to the corona crisis. “For a variety like Spunta, for example, there is about a third less demand from the export market,” says Stet. “This has to do with low local consumer prices, the lack of hard currency in exporting countries, but also with a shortage of containers to transport the potatoes.” In addition, the seed potatoes in the Netherlands suffered a lot from virus this year, as a result of which large batches of seed potatoes have been declassified or even rejected, he says. The negative mood in the processing industry is also drastically affecting the sector.
Gaby Stet is already looking forward to the 2021-2022 season. How that will work out depends on the developments of the corona virus, he says. “If corona disappears or there is a vaccine against the virus, the market will immediately look a lot friendlier. For now it is all about doing everything possible to serve the entire sector as well as possible with all the challenges we have.
