News Potatoes
Seed potato acreage is shrinking sharply, especially chips varieties
The seed potato area has shrunk sharply this season by no less than 6%. The fries varieties have a large share in this. Innovator is even down 11% compared to a year earlier. That while the hunger for fries is greater than ever. Another striking fact is that the PB/S class has again grown strongly. This class therefore accounts for almost half of the acreage.
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Choose the subscription that suits youThere was previously speculation that the seed potato area was under pressure, but the NAK declaration figures now confirm this. This season there are 38.776 hectares of seed potatoes in the Netherlands, a decrease of 2.506 hectares or 6% compared to last season. Last year this area fell by more than 1%. The largest variety is again Fontane with over 5.166 hectares, but it is smaller compared to 2022 when a record of 5.446 hectares was planted. Spunta follows with 3.722 and then Agria with 2.600 hectares. The top 5 is completed by Innovator and Arizona with 1.998 and 1.777 hectares respectively.
Chip varieties are shrinking sharply
The significant decline in seed potatoes this season is largely due to the chip varieties. The large varieties are all shrinking: Fontane by 5%, Agria by 8% and Innovator by even 11%, or a decrease of 261 hectares. It doesn't stop there, because other varieties intended for fries are also declining, including Markies, Première, Sinora and Melody. The area shrinkage of these varieties is mainly explained by the lower price per kilo for chip seed potatoes compared to some export varieties. A large part of the seed potatoes intended for fries has already been committed to multi-year contracts, which means that the price per kilo is now somewhat lower than the export varieties.
Jan van Hoogen, Director at seed potato trading house Agrico, previously said that seed potato growers are less interested in chip varieties. "In recent years, we have paid more for export varieties to Africa, for example, than for chip varieties. Seed potato growers prefer to supply some Fontane and prefer to grow an export variety such as Arizona." This is also evident from the NAK figures. The Arizona area increased by more than 12% to 1.777 hectares. The area also increased in 2021. Another example is the red export variety Rudolph, which increased by 34% to 698 hectares. However, an increase in area does not apply to every export variety and seed potato cultivation is also under pressure due to increased costs. Cultivation is becoming increasingly challenging due to, among other things, legislation and regulations.
Trend visible
The area of PB/S has increased to almost half of the total area at 19.113 hectares. This is a trend in recent years and is probably related to the increased virus pressure since the 2018 season. More batches have been reduced in classes in recent years, which has increased the demand for PB/S quality seed potatoes. The SE and E classes decreased and amounted to 9.764 and 7.476 hectares respectively, which fits in with the above trend. The other classes have remained virtually the same.
In addition to these figures, the NAK also indicates that the largest decrease in seed potato area is in Overijssel and South Holland with 20%. Friesland, Groningen and Flevoland follow, but there the decline has been limited with an average of 5%.
