Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW JULY/AUGUST 2021 49 INTERNATIONAL Potato data developer acquired SOLENTUM B.V. which develops smart (digital) products to collect real- time data in the potato lifecycle, and is based in Joure, Netherlands, has been acquired by the Austrian company Pessl Instruments GmbH. The two companies have already been working together for two years. CEO/Founder Gottfried Pessl: “The SolGrader and SolAntenna from Solentum B.V. will fit perfectly into the existing hard- and software product lines because we oer our clients, worldwide, a comprehensive solution from the fields to the storage rooms. The SolGrader app will be used in combination with our weather stations, disease models, satellite images, portable nutrition and soil moisture sensors to estimate the calibration and yield in the fields. The SolAntenna is a very innovative and useful device to monitor temperature, relative humidity and CO2 in the storage rooms without electric infrastructure and alert the farmer when there is a problem in a particular area of the storage, in real time.” Solentum’s current Managing Director Egbert Bakker will make the switch to Pessl Instruments through this acquisition as Product-Sales Manager BeNeLux and Northern Europe and product specialist of Solentum’s products. Early campaign creates frost risks THE 2021 potato campaign in Castile and Leon north-west Spain began early this year, with a slightly lower area than originally foreseen and a slight increase in planting of washing varieties. President of the Association of Potato Producers of Castile and Leon, Eduardo Arroyo, said almost 75% of the potatoes had already been planted before the end of April. Producers planted early to avoid competing with potatoes arriving from France in September. However, this could still create a risk of them being aected by frost. President of Castile and Leon’s Potato Interprofessional, Yolanda Medina, said frost mainly aected leaves rather than roots so plants would recover, meaning minimal impact on quality and production. This year the potato sector will face problems to preserve the tubers, after the change in European regulations on permitted substances. “Producers from Castile and Leon sell their potatoes between July and October. A good part of the production is preserved to be released weeks or months after the start of the season. Now, we are going to have a serious problem storing the production. We still don’t know how we’ll manage to do it,” Yolanda said. Portuguese potato campaign PORBATATA (the Potato Association of Portugal), which represents the interests of the potato sector in Portugal, has launched a campaign to promote Portuguese potatoes, reaching the market for the first time with the Miss Tata brand. At harvest time in Portugal, the producer- members of Porbatata will use the Miss Tata brand on packaging, so consumers an more easily identify the product’s origin. It is the first time the brand has been visible on the packaging. The organisation will also run a Miss Tata marketing initiative in Europe, focusing particularly on Spain, the Netherlands and France. Soil testing imperativeas oods make key impact on growers GROWERS in New South Wales and south-east Queensland, major potato growing regions in Australia, have lost millions of pounds in crops and infrastructure after the area experienced the worst flooding seen in decades, earlier this year. Potatoes are a key horticultural crop grown in the south-east region. The Limestone Coast produces 45% of the state’s potatoes and NSW grows one tenth of the Australian potato crop. VegNET, an organisation set up by Hort Innovation and the vegetable industry to communicate research-based information to Australian growers, is helping growers by providing information and advice on flood recovery, soil testing and more. Biological contaminants in the flood waters is a real risk, and the organisation says soil testing is imperative.