News PotatoEurope
Potato Europe from Emmeloord to Lelystad
The traveling worldwide potato fair Potato Europe will not visit Emmeloord but Lelystad in September 2021. It has found a new location at Wageningen University & Research. Organizer DLG Benelux announced this.
The past 2 editions in Emmeloord (2017 and 2013) were far from flawless. It became painfully clear that another location had to be sought. Severe weather threw a spanner in the works twice. In 2017 even 1 day became cancelled due to storm. Then there was an extreme amount of precipitation, which turned the outside area into a battlefield. The fair continued in 2013, but even then there was a lot of rain, so no demonstrations took place.
Transport
In short, many dissatisfied exhibitors and visitors. More and more they come from all over the world to taste the Dutch and European potato sector. Accessibility in Emmeloord was another point of concern. During the last edition, waiting times increased to 1,5 hours because visitors could not park their car.
The potato event should have taken place this year in Villers Saint Christophe, France. This is canceled due to the corona crisis. DLG and WUR hope to be able to hold a regular fair in 2021 on 1 and 2 September. In their own words, the new exhibition location can withstand all weather extremes. The WUR Open Cultivation company covers 700 hectares of arable land. 20 hectares have been reserved by DLG for the fair. The majority of this is reserved for (grubbing) demonstrations and trial fields.
Not for the first time
The organizer is counting on 16.000 visitors and 250 exhibitors for the 2 days. Lelystad is easily accessible from all over the Netherlands and Amsterdam. This is not the first time that the fair has been held here. For the Emmeloord location, the fair also took place in Lelystad and last year Grimme organized a harvest event (the Hutspotdag) at the WUR at the same location. For the municipality of Emmeloord, which calls itself the potato capital, it is a loss of face. The municipality of Dronten previously indicated that it was interested (Walibi site), but in the end it became a different municipality of Flevoland.
This year the AgroTechniekHolland (ATH) fair was planned for September. This fair always missed the potato sector (due to the presence of the Potato Demo Day in that year) and therefore organized demonstrations itself. Due to the corona crisis, this event is also canceled and the fair will be moved to September 2022. In addition, Fedecom is integrating the ATH with the green technology trade fair GTH. Both fairs were always held in Biddinghuizen. The potato demo day will take place online this year on August 19. The only physical potato fair this year is planned for November 23, 24 and 25. Then Interpom will take place in Kortrijk. It still holds onto that data.
Niels van der Boom
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