Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW JANUARY 2022 19 SEED to feeding the world. We realise that food production will take place more and more locally. Local connection is essential to this.” During one of the table talks, Peter Berghuis (LTO), Romain Cools (World Potato Congress), Jasper Spikker (Agriterra) and Gerard Backx talked about how growing food locally requires knowledge of the climate, the soil and people. Jasper said: “There is no winter in Rwanda. This causes more diseases in crops. Also, not all of the growers are working with motorised farm machinery yet and they don’t have all the knowledge.” The majority of the participants at the event describe the role of HZPC in this area as a facilitator. Here the emphasis is on knowledge sharing. However, HZPC is also working on solutions that offer local arable farmers new opportunities such as hybrid potatoes, grown using seeds. Contributing to food security is harder in places that are logistically challenging to reach, such as parts of Africa and Asia. Moreover, the potato is a vulnerable crop and a journey from, for instance, the Netherlands to Africa is long and intensive. Project Leader at HZPC Ad Vrolijk said the outcome, regardless of whether a potato variety yields well elsewhere, is not always certain hence why HZPC invests in hybrid potato breeding. “Hybrid potato breeding is a method that goes further than crossing two varieties. When crossing, the outcome is uncertain: Which good characteristics have been adopted in the new variety and which not?” he said. “With hybrid potato breeding you don’t have to guess, you go to the core, the DNA. And thanks to big data, we know everything about the DNA and which genetics to combine in new varieties.” During the second table talk, Niels Louwaars, CEO of Plantum, the trade association for the seed and young plant sector, said: “One of the big advantages of hybrid breeding is that you get more uniform crops, but the biggest gain is in speed. For example, it is possible to get a variety resistant to diseases much faster.” Michiel ten Duis, Senior Head of Marketing at HZPC, discussed the merits of Even Greener, a selection of sustainable potato varieties with a particularly low environmental “One of the big advantages of hybrid breeding is that you get more uniform crops, but the biggest gain is in speed. For example, it is possible to get a variety resistant to diseases much faster.” Niels Louwaars, CEO, Plantum impact. “Each variety from this selection scores above average on five characteristics: Limited water consumption, less fertilizer required, high disease protection, long storage period and a high yield,” he said, adding that buyers decide which traits they consider most important using the Even Greener calculator. With this, they select the sustainable potatoes that meet their requirements. To watch Potato Days 2021 visit www.hzpc.com/pd21 Ad Vrolijk, Niels Louwaars and Gerard Backx at the table talks. Keynote speaker Martin Kropff (CGIAR) sees potatoes as one of the solutions to fight hunger. Gerard Backx & chef cook Elise Calkoen, tasting hybrid potatoes. Ad Vrolijk explaining hybrid breeding.