The Belgian supermarket chain Colruyt and 9 Belgian potato growers have entered into a partnership for the direct supply of potatoes for the coming season. The growers are thus less dependent on price volatility.
The pilot project of 5.000 tons of potatoes will start in September 2017 in 78 Colruyt stores. The potatoes are supplied in 5 kilo packages of the own brands Everyday Soft Cooking and Boni Selection Fries. In March and April, 4 growers planted the early potatoes in sand/sand-loam soil in West Flanders (50 hectares). The storage potatoes are on slightly heavier soil (70 hectares) from 5 Walloon growers.
There are 5 varieties included in the project, namely: Fontane, Miranda, Alegria, Challenger and Lady Anna. One of the growers is cultivation and packaging company De Aardappelhoeve in Tielt. In addition to his own potatoes, he washes and packages those of his colleagues.
Surcharge for table potatoes
Colruyt expects that the collaboration will enable it to offer customers an even more stable quality of potatoes. Also, less imports are needed. The supermarket chain says it strives for a correct price for its growers. 'The benefits and risks are fairly distributed. It also makes growers less dependent on strongly fluctuating prices', reports the press release† Good quality for the fresh market is rewarded with a surcharge on top of the usual contract price for industrial potatoes. A fixed price per tonne of potatoes (washed and packed) has been agreed with each of the growers.
The pilot project will be evaluated in the spring of 2018. The local potato purchase is a follow-up to the collaboration with the Belgian fruit growers, which Colruyt recently announced.
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