TENTS are up, paths have been laid and the 25-hectare harvesting field is in perfect shape, ready to be demonstrated at PotatoEurope 2025 on Wednesday and Thursday.
Organiser Kuno Jacobs says that more than 300 exhibitors will present themselves at the event and that visitors from 119 countries have already registered.
Trial harvesting confirms high yield
Prior to the event, Jacob de Jong, Fieldmanager at WUR in Lelystad, carried out a trial harvesting with the Alegria variety. The results are promising: A yield of 60 tonnes per hectare with a favourable size distribution. The majority of the harvest consists of marketable tubers, with 34.9% in the 65-70 mm size and 26.2% in the above 70 mm size. The harvested potatoes find their way to Schaap Holland in Biddinghuizen.
International conferences
On Wednesday, WUR is organising the international conference on Integrated Crop Management (ICM). Experts deal with themes such as crop diversity, suitable varieties and cultivation strategies, innovative soil and nutrient management, targeted crop protection and monitoring and evaluation. A must for those who strive for sustainable and profitable potato cultivation. On the second day, a market- and business-oriented conference will take place, organized by PotatoEurope, Europatat and World Potato Markets with the title: Europe’s Position in a Changing Potato World.
Demonstrations from harvesting to sorting
PotatoEurope is known for its large-scale demonstrations in practice. All major brands of harvesters will be present to show their latest techniques in action. Visitors see how the potatoes are harvested, stored, filled into boxes and optically sorted. In addition, haulm killing demonstrations take place, in which different methods are presented side by side. All transport takes place with tractors of the Case-IH brand. The harvesting takes place by: Agri-Poppe, AVR, Dewulf, Grimme and Ropa. The transport in trailers by: Beco, Brettmeister, Joskin, Van Ginkel Machines and Krampe. Storage lines of: AVR, Bijlsma Hercules, Dewulf, Grimme, Spinnekop and Visser. Boxes are filled by: AVR, Dewulf, Grimme, Mechatec, VHM Machinery and Wevano Machinery. Optical sorting: Flikweert Vision, MecSistem, TechNature, Tomra Food, Visar Sorting and Wevano Machinery. The demonstration haulm pulling is done by: Andela, Kloppenburg and Vegniek.
Test fields full of innovation
In addition to the harvesting field, various fields trials have been set up to give visitors an up-to-date picture of the challenges and innovations in potato cultivation: from variety development and fertilisation to crop protection and sustainable cultivation methods. Participating companies are: Soiltech, Certis Belchim, Solana, Nufarm, Kreglinger Europe, HZPC, BASF, Restrain, Agrico, Schaap Holland B.V., Corteva, Bayer CropScience, STET Holland, Averis and Bionext.
The complete PotatoEurope 2025 catalogue with participants, demonstrations and floor plans is now available online.
