Last week we were visiting some of our German growers. In the above picture you can see how Verdi looks in the field, you can see that they are 14 days further ahead in Germany.
Verdi is a relatively popular crisping variety in Germany because of the high drymatter and low sugar content.
The image below shows when they are sorting Verdi from the 2017 harvest in Germany.
Wednesday to Friday in week 45 Erik, Jannie and Torben were in Holland for the annual variety exhibition. This is the time of the year when all people in the potato industry are gathered in the area around Emmeloord. Variety owners and breeders open their doors and invite people in. Those who do not live in this area around Emmeloord travel and set up an exhibition to show their particular varieties.
Our agenda was mainly to visit the variety owners that we feel does the most in the crisps segment. We also looked at new upcoming varieties to our trial next year. We found a few varieties that we hope can be an option for future breeding.
Wednesday 28. September we harvested our trialfield. Again this year HenrikJakobsen offered us to use some of his manpower and machinery, so we could harvest the potatoes in good conditions.
Now we got started with the new crop from the southern Germany. This means a busy time in the production after a quiet period. We started last Friday, which is 6 days earlier than last year. The quality is quite good, although they have some big challenges with a lot of rain in this area.
The Danish Energy Agency have made a short movie about the good things that have happened since we got our fast internet connection. It´s only available in danish.
They have also made an article, but again in danish.
Today we planted our trial field. There are 16 varieties in the trial. Now it will be interesting to follow the potatoes during the summer, and get them harvested, weighed and measured. Then we will store them, and during the winter and spring we will test their storage characteristics and frying color.
We are anxiously waiting for the first car to arrive with organic potatoes for storing.
All the machinery is made ready, and the potatoes are being harvested right now.
From Wednesday the 5th to Friday the 7th November, Erik, Jesper and I were in Holland to the variety exhibition. This is an annual event where almost all the breeder companies and breeders are involved, it also means that there are many people from the whole industry present these days.
We should first and foremost around to the breeder companies, which we feel makes the most in the crisps segment. It is also those who have had varieties in our trials. We could tell about our experiences during the season about how the different varieties had behaved under the Danish conditions, and of course on yields and quality. We also looked at possible new varieties to our trial for next year. There was not some revolutionary news in the crisps segment, but we saw some that we hope have the potential for future breeding.
Above, you can see how Meijer profiles Lady Britta as a potato suitable for sandy soils. Below is a picture from Agrico’s exhibition, there is always many people here at lunch time, because they serve potatoes prepared in different ways with gravy and meatballs.
Friday 25th April, we were placing our trial. This year we have 22 varieties, 5 of the varieties, are the ones we currently use in the production. 4 of the varieties, we have in larger trials out among growers. While the rest of the varieties usually are so new, that they do not even have a name yet. All the varieties are also located in KMC’s trial field, so they are tested in different soil and growing conditions.
The last potatoes was stored Tuesday, October 8. It has been the most intense inlay season we have experienced in many years.The first 10 days we worked 24 hours a day. but later when it was too cold in the night and the morning, it gave a little more humane working hours. Overall a season with good quality and yield.
It has been a year with perfect wheather for harvesting potatoes. As mentioned previously, the quality has been good apart from a few water damaged areas and more internal rust spot than normal.
However nothing comes easy. Again this year we where in for a surprise, especially in the variety Verdi. It has apparently not been stock ripe.
Despite completely scorched top and a ferm skin, there has been some lack of durability in some batches. But we have noticed, if the batch is harvested in to steps with 5-6 days interval, there is fine durability on the last harvest.This despite the fact, that the harvest started more than 3 weeks after desiccation.
So it is with potatoes, even if you have many years of experience, you can learn something new each year.
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