Emmeloord, 9 February 2018 – Agrico was exhibiting at Fruit Logistica in Berlin from Wednesday 7 to Friday 9 February 2018. During this leading international trade fair, Agrico, together with its subsidiaries, showed its future orientated growth power.
Many years of intensive breeding efforts have resulted in Agrico being the first company to offer a complete package of phytophthora resistant varieties. In addition to their extremely high resistance to late blight (Phytophthora Infestans) – the major disease affecting potatoes worldwide – these varieties offer outstanding consumption traits and good yields. This package allows Agrico to offer its customers a sustainable and diverse range with a variety of flavours, appearances and processing options.
The package of varieties with high phytophthora resistance consists of Carolus, Alouette, Twinner, Twister, the recently introduced variety Levante and the new starch variety Nofy. The already familiar predecessor Carolus is quite floury and highly versatile. It can be used in the kitchen but also for processing into organic French fries and crisps. Alouette is rather firm cooking and has a specific subtle flavour: the culinary favourite. Twinner is an early variety and like Twister has a nice yellow skin and is quite firm cooking. Levante has a good dry matter content, good dormancy and is a potential star in the kitchen. For customers looking for a starch variety, Nofy offers a solution for sustainable growth.
The varieties have different resistance genes, which spreads the risk of spoiled harvests for growers. Agrico expects to introduce a number of promising, new phytophthora resistant varieties in the coming five years. Agrico’s new generation of high resistance varieties represents huge advances in limiting the risks of phytophthora infection but does not yet offer a definitive solution. Agrico’s research centre is already working on breeding a more sustainable, multigene resistance.
To celebrate the introduction of the extensive package of phytophthora resistant varieties, Agrico organised a festive reception at its stand on the first day of the fair. Managing director Jan van Hoogen explained the significance of Agrico’s new generation of varieties to guests during the reception. He emphasised the eminent role these varieties can play in solving the problem of food shortages caused by a growing world population and climate changes. These varieties can also contribute to maintain potato growing all over the world and make it more sustainable.
