Service21Potato will be introduced this afternoon (Wednesday, August 17) at 00:2 PM at the Potato Demonstration Day in Westmaas. That is an online trading platform for potatoes. According to the platform, growers and buyers can do business quickly, securely and transparently. Boerenbusiness spoke to Bart Leemans, director of Sevice2Potato and Wim van de Ree, director of Nedato about the new service.
The potato market can be more efficient, modern and transparent, according to Van de Ree. "At Nedato, we have taken the initiative to set up an online trading platform for potatoes." Nedato is the initiator, but Service2Potato is an independent company that all buyers and sellers of potatoes can contact, both emphasize.
The potato market is on the move
"The familiar patterns in the potato market seem to have been jettisoned," says Van de Ree. "We have not seen a normal potato year since corona. Growers are responding to the changing market and as Nedato we must continue to adapt our strategy accordingly. The table potato market, for example, is shrinking. To remain relevant, we had to grow. That is why we sought cooperation with Leo de Kock and Agrico and from this the new independent cooperative PotatoNext emerged."
"Nedato's focus has therefore shifted to potatoes for the processing industry. Approximately 60%, 70% of potatoes for that sector are sold via contracts and pools. This means that a significant part of the harvest is traded in a different way. and which therefore still has to be priced. How that price is determined is not clear to every grower and we see an opportunity there. A digital platform for trading potatoes did not yet exist, as Uber has broken up the taxi market we can do with Service2Potato at the potato market."
"Service2Potato works as a marketplace for potatoes," says Leemans. "Buyers and sellers create an account. Sellers provide details about the lot they want to auction, such as certification, photos, shipping date and a reserve price. Buyers can then bid on the lot offered. Sellers can accept, reject or make a counteroffer. All details of the auction are recorded in a file. Payments are made via a third-party account. After the auction, the buyer receives the invoice and once the payment has been received, the product can be delivered, just like with Marktplaats doing business is new, but with Service2Fruit we have already gained the necessary experience in top fruit. The system works satisfactorily in apples and pears," says Leemans.
Transparency
The results of all auctions including unsold lots are published anonymously. "We are making the market more transparent," says Van de Ree. "Not only growers but also the processing industry benefit from this. You can see that there is discussion within the PotatoNL quotation committee. Although this only happened after we were well advanced with Service2Potato, I think it is a sign that there is a need for price transparency. We work with a fixed commission on the potatoes traded and therefore have no interest in high or low prices," Leemans adds.
A digital platform where buyers do not take samples from a batch in advance is a change in thinking. It all depends on trust, says Van de Ree. It is customary for buyers to take a sample from each batch in advance to determine the quality. "That takes a lot of time. The buyer goes to each batch, collects a sample and tares it. If desired, we can have the quality of a batch independently determined before the auction. If there is any discussion about the quality of a batch of potatoes If the buyer and seller cannot reach an agreement, Service2Potato will engage an independent inspector as a referee."
The intention is that Service2Potato will not only trade fries potatoes between growers and processors. Seed potatoes, potatoes for flakes or starch, feed potatoes: all potatoes can be placed on the platform. And not unimportantly, growers can also trade among themselves.