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Seed potato production in Europe in 2015: more hectares, normal yield

Seed potato production in Europe in 2015: more hectares, normal yield

Based on inscriptions to official certification published by official control services, the seed potato area increased again in 2015: by 3.9% in the Netherlands, 3.4% in France, and 4.3% in Belgium, but decreased slightly, by 1.2%, in Germany. The total area for these four countries reached 78,087 ha, up 2,486 ha on 2014.

Seed export markets

Spunta is still present in the four countries, though with a sharply increased area in 2015. The number of hectares has fallen in recent years for Desiree and Kennebec and multiplication took place in just 3 of the 4 countries.

European fresh market

Table potatoes can be divided into ‘firm flesh potatoes’ and ‘floury’ varieties for boiling, making mashed potato and so on. 
In the ‘floury’ category, the main varieties are Agata (1,631 ha, up again), Monalisa (1,170 ha, id), Marabel (down to only 503 ha), Melody (762 ha, id) and Milva (416 ha).
In the ‘firm flesh’ category, there was a marked drop in planted area for all the main varieties, sometimes by as much as 19-35%: Nicola -35%, Lady Christl -22%, Charlotte and Cilena -19%, Allians -9%. Their place was taken by quite a high number of new varieties, such as Amandine and Jazzy.

Processing varieties almost unchanged

The total planted area for the 12 top French fry varieties was down by 0.5% due to the high decrease recorded for Ramos, Markies and Victoria. Other main varieties, such as Challenger, Bintje and Agria, showed higher figures than last year. Agria returned to its 2013 level. Despite an increase in 2015, Bintje is considered on a downward trend over the longer term. The area for Fontane was almost unchanged but will probably start to rise again in coming years.
In the crisps market, Lady Claire accounts for 50% of the total area covered by the 4 main varieties and increased for the 4th year in a row. Lady Rosetta went down for the 5th successive season, while Hermes maintained its level. The combined area for these 3 varieties was 2,478 ha, down from 2,518 ha in 2014.
For the 5th consecutive year, there was a decrease in earlies and second earlies (mainly) for the processing market: -37% for Miranda, -15% for Première and -11% for Berber.

Variable yield, good sizes and good quality

After a quite hot and dry growth period in the summer, seed potato crops in North-West Europe reached on average a normal yield, but 10-20% lower than last year. Overly dry weather in June affected the number of tubers per plant, the average size was also smaller than in 2014, and the growth took place quite late. However, the variations between varieties, regions and fields were considerable depending on the rain received in July. Defoliation and harvest occurred later than usual. The quality was acceptable and the skin finish quite good, with less soft rot problems than last year but more virus problems due to intense aphid flights, leading to more rejections or downgrades in class.

Markets

Due to a late harvest, some early export market opportunities were missed, leaving some very specific varieties without a sales outlet.The global price level was difficult to hold. Export possibilities for this season would be limited by the currency devaluation in Algeria, troubles in several Middle East countries, and other geopolitical events. In some cases, the large sizes of seed potato had already been sold on the ware potato market due to attractive prices at the start of the season. Some changes happening in variety choice on the domestic markets were also expected to influence seed potato prices, such as lower demand for Bintje; strong demand for Fontane, Challenger and Innovator; and good demand for new firm flesh varieties.

PL

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Gulfood 2016 promises more tastes, trends and trade

Its 1st Russian pavilion and the 3rd Halal World Food, an upscaled visitor experience and three new indoor halls will be among the features of Gulfood 2016, taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from Sunday February 21 to Thursday February 25.

Its 1st Russian pavilion and the 3rd Halal World Food, an upscaled visitor experience and three new indoor halls will be among the features of Gulfood 2016, taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from Sunday February 21 to Thursday February 25.

Billed as the world’s largest annual food and hospitality trade show, Gulfood is expected to draw more than 5,000 international companies from 120 countries, cementing its standing as a leading global food trading platform. And among the 85,000-plus visitors from more than 170 countries expected, it will host international heads of state, ministers, government officials and national trade associations from five continents.

‘More Tastes, More Trends and More Trade’ are promised for the 2016 edition of this specialist event, which will welcome tens of thousands of finished food suppliers, bulk commodity wholesalers and exporters. Its first Russian national pavilion will be one of 114 national pavilions. Another highlight will be the prize ceremony for the 2016 Gulfood awards – designed to celebrate excellence and innovation across every category of the global food industry – taking place at a gala dinner on the first day of the show.

“Gulfood is internationally renowned for providing a trusted and accessible platform for the world’s food industry to meet, transact and trade out of Dubai – one of the world’s most diverse, energetic and vibrant trading hubs,” said Trixie LohMirmand, DWTC’s senior vice president of exhibitions and events management.

“As global food producers and traders establish new supply routes to reach customers and monetise opportunities in emerging markets, the heightened visitor experience will enable industry heavyweights to make strategic purchasing decisions with trusted suppliers, all while consolidating the UAE’s key role as a major transshipment destination for food products and hospitality equipment,” she said.

Meanwhile, the 3rd Halal World Food, the world’s biggest annual Halal food sourcing trade event, will leverage Dubai’s mounting credentials as a global Islamic Economy capital and increase the emirate’s share of year-round trading in halal foods.

“This is now an essential prerequisite for any supplier looking to establish a foothold in the world’s fastest growing food industry sectors with the global Halal market expected to reach US$10 trillion by 2030,” LohMirmand said.

From specialty and fine food, to the widest range of organic food and drink, Gulfood is an opportunity to discover unique products from hundreds of specialist producers and over 110 international pavilions. Specialty areas covered are artisanal products, children’s products, ethnic food, fair trade, gift packs/hampers, gourmet & fine food, Halal products, health/wellness products, organic products, private label, ready meals and special diet products.

Image source: Gulfood

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Patent sought for orchard climate control system

Inventors Anibal Schurter and John Warmerdam say their orchard climate control system is especially useful for growing kiwifruit and similarly delicate crops.

Kiwifruit can be grown in most moderate temperature marine type climates with adequate summer heat but growing them away from coastal environments can be challenging. Indeed, efforts to grow some of the most popular varieties of kiwifruit in warmer and drier climates have failed, almost universally, says a patent application recently published by the Word Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Thus comes the invention of a humidity and temperature control system for use in the outdoor cultivation of kiwifruit that features an angled sunshade and various fogging type nozzles.

Inventors Anibal Schurter and John Warmerdam say in the application that their climate control system provides for the efficient and controlled introduction of water vapor into an outdoor orchard. “The system is especially useful when employed in the cultivation of kiwifruit and similarly delicate crops, and serves to substantially reduce stresses from heat and low humidity or arid growing conditions.”

“The coupling of shade control and climate control in an outdoor orchard setting is a development of critical importance to the viable cultivation of delicate, humidity and temperature sensitive fruits, such as the kiwifruit,” they say in the application. They also mention its suitability for other fruit susceptible to damage or stress from temperature and humidity variance outside its nominal growing conditions, such as many varieties of apples and pome fruits in general, and most varieties of cherries and stone fruits.

source: WO2015179566) ORCHARD CLIMATE CONTROL SYSTEM

In a preferred embodiment of the orchard climate control system, as employed in a kiwifruit orchard and shown in Figure 1, kiwifruit vines are planted in a row and supported on a trellis with laterals (as seen in figure 2) which train and support the kiwifruit vines. The trellis helps support the shade structure, the water supply pipe and foggers, the application says.

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Carrefour to acquire Billa supermarkets in Romania

Carrefour says its planned acquisition of the Billa network in Romania would see it become the leading supermarket operator in the country.

Carrefour has announced an agreement to acquire the network of 86 Billa supermarkets in Romania from the Rewe group.

In a press release, Carrefour said the stores are spread throughout Romania, with a total sales area of 83,000 m2.

“Through this acquisition, Carrefour would become the leading supermarket operator in Romania, strengthening its multiformat offer to better serve its clients. The completion of this transaction remains subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities,” it said.

Image source: http://www.billa.ro/Footer_Navigation/Magazine/Stores/dd_bi_subpage.aspx

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How information technology is changing the horticulture sector

During the 2nd EU Fresh Info Forum & Roundtable which took place in Rotterdam December 1-2, there was much focus on the role of data in today’s and tomorrow’s horticultural enterprises.

During the 2nd EU Fresh Info Forum & Roundtable which took place in Rotterdam December 1-2, there was much focus on the role of data in today’s and tomorrow’s horticultural enterprises. This year’s event attracted more than 320 participants and speakers. “The international fresh produce world is represented with participants from 16 different countries, from all six continents,” organisers said. The organisers are all firmly established in the field of information management. Frug-i-Com is a Dutch framework of cooperation in the chain of fruit and vegetables which set itself the ultimate goal of facilitating the electronic exchange of information among participants from the fresh produce sector by means of uniform labelling and electronic messages. They organised the event together with their partners, GS1 in Europe, who work on harmonised standards and solutions for European business, and IFPS, the International Federation for Produce Standards, which has the objective of improving the efficiency of the fresh produce supply chain through international standards. The overarching title of the gathering, Horticulture 4.0, was chosen to refer to the fourth industrial or digital revolution made possible by the combination of the internet and new technology such as robots and drones. The theme of the conference was that the integration of ICT (information and communications technology) in the design, production and distribution process of the fresh produce industry is inevitable.

Open data and cultural issues

This digital revolution is not only a thing of the future – it is already happening today. “Without realising we are very much influenced by the internet and data,” said Mario Campolargo, director of the NET Futures European Commission. He thinks that big data and open data are important to digital development and complete ecosystems, including in fields such as logistics, agrifood, e-learning, and media and content, and should be innovated around these open data in order to create new business models. “It’s not just about technology, it is about the ability to develop new business models,” Campolargo said. The sharing of data is not yet a natural thing to all parties involved since it raises concerns about privacy. Campolargo explained that – though a topic the EC is working on – legislation in the area of ICT is very difficult since developments are moving very fast. Legislation is not the only issue surrounding this topic. “There is a big cultural issue about adopting IT solutions,” said Ben Horsbrugh, director of quality management at Univeg – a Belgian based worldwide supplier of fresh produce. “Moving from paper-based processes to data-driven processes is complicated.” It calls for a different approach to the use of the data generated. “You have to change from a batch-by-batch approach to really using your data for improvement,” Horsbrugh said. Starting with simple solutions is helpful in the adopting process. Data from Excel files can be read in more sophisticated ERP systems and can also be used to assess exactly what data is needed. For Horsbrugh, quality is key when it comes to data management. “Data quality should be the sum of the quality improvement strategy,” Horsbrugh said. For the future, he foresees a movement into the direction of using data at the growers’ fields. “But it depends on the sophistication of the process.”

Transparency and chain cooperation

Christoph Waltert, business excellence manager with SanLucar, would even go as far as to say that trade information is a strategic asset. At SanLucar, information management is geared towards creating business excellence. “There are four requirements for information in order to drive excellence,” Waltert said. He mentioned quality, completeness, the real time factor and people, acknowledging that the latter adds complexity to the process. But that’s not to say that improvement cannot be achieved with simple measures as well. “It can be a sophisticated solution but a standardised Excel sheet can do the job as well,” Waltert said. In the end, information management needs to be a continuous and joint effort. “The whole fruit and vegetable sector needs to work on information management and standards, in order to drive business excellence together and individually,” he said. Retailers appear to be focusing on chain cooperation too. “Information sharing is of crucial importance in supply chains,” said Ruud Limmen, vice president of value chain development at Ahold Europe, the group to which Albert Heijn belongs and the Netherlands’ largest retailer. Albert Heijn operates according to the motto Better Every Day. To achieve that, the retailer has a focus on the centralisation of information based on real-time connections with check-outs and suppliers. Jumbo, the Netherlands’ fastest growing grocer, calls for transparency in the fresh supply chain in order to establish consumer trust. “This is particularly important for the 8,000 private label products that Jumbo carries and is responsible for,” said Johan Hulleman quality manager at Jumbo Supermarkets. Data management plays a large role in Jumbo’s supplier management for private label products. A database is built to connect suppliers and other data in order to plot supplier risk in a matrix based on product hazard and supplier impact. In this process the sharing of responsibilities and partnerships with suppliers – particularly where it concerns sharing data – are key to building consumer trust.

Field robotics

The importance of data sharing was also stressed by Professor Salah Sukkarieh from the University of Sydney, who is an international expert in the research, development and commercialisation of field robotic systems. “Farms need to open up and combine data,” he said. In the area of precision agriculture and field robotics, standardisation will become very important and so will the availability of data, too. And there is no doubt that robotics will play a role in the future of farming. “Robots will come, that is a reality,” Sukkarieh said. Robotics in agriculture is all about data collection – to a very specified level; this may even be at the level of individual flowers on a tree – by drones or other specially designed devices. Algorithms are then applied to the collected data and the results can help make a determination about the crop that is analysed. For instance, it is possible for a device to determine whether the plant analysed is a crop or a weed and following that a robotic arm can then spray the plant with either nutrients or a herbicide. This opens up far-reaching opportunities. For instance, selective harvesting could be a possibility. “This is about how you fuse statistical information to build a picture of the total supply chain which will lead to more standardisation of crop architecture,” Sukkarieh said.

All in all, the digital revolution is offering the horticultural sector many developments and plenty of food for thought. What is clear is that open data, chain cooperation and standardisation will be key to this process. Are we headed for a future in which the fresh produce supply chain becomes predictable?

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Ongoing growth in UK berry sales

International Strawberry Symposium 2020: programme for the IX edition published

There’s been strong growth in retail sales of berries in the UK in the past year.

Driven predominantly by shoppers buying berries more often, along with a slight increase in the number of shoppers buying berries, and price inflation, the berries and currants market was worth just over £1 billion from 170,220 tons for the 52 weeks to December 6, 2015, having grown 16.8% in value and 12.8% in volume on the previous year, according to Kantar Worldpanel. The frequency of berry purchasing among berry shoppers rose 10.4% to an average of 18.1 trips with an average of 400g per trip.

Kantar Worlpanel data on berries & currants market

The strawberry market

Strawberries accounted for nearly 71% of all the berries sold in the UK.

The strawberry marked gained 10.9% in value and 8.2% in volume for respective totals of £546.7 million and 119,792 tons. According to Kantar Worldpanel, this growth was predominantly driven by shoppers buying strawberries more often, along with new shoppers and price inflation.

Kantar Worlpanel data on strawberries market

Strong growth in sales of blueberries, raspberries, blackberries

Blueberries, with 28,140 tons sold, accounted for 16.6% of berries sold, with sales worth £257.5 million, value growth of 26.9% and volume growth of 30.5%. This was predominantly driven by more shoppers buying blueberries, along with shoppers buying them more frequently and more per trip, Kantar Worldpanel said.

Worth £197.9 million from 18,358 tons sold, the raspberry market clocked 21.5% in value growth and 23.2% in volume growth. This growth was attributed to new shoppers and shoppers buying raspberries more often.

The blackberry market remains the smallest of the four, with a spend of £30.6 million from 2,786 tons, but enjoyed 20.3% value growth and 6.7% volume growth. “New shoppers and price inflation were key to growth, whilst there was a decline in trip volume,” Kantar Worldpanel said.

I, Prathyush Thomas [GFDL 1.2 (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html) or FAL], via Wikimedia Commons

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Fresh produce prices on the rise in United States

FairPrice_Supermarket,_Nex,_Singapore_-_20140216

Retail prices for fresh fruit in the United States should rise by 2.5-3.5% in 2016, according to the latest USDA Food Price Outlook.

And those for fresh vegetables are forecast to rise 2-3%, it says.

The expected rises come after estimated deflation of 0.75% to 0.25% in 2015 for fresh fruit and vegetables overall.

Historical data indicate that fresh fruits and vegetables and egg prices are the most volatile food prices that ERS tracks.

“Prices for fresh fruits fell 0.3 percent from October to November but are 1.1 percent higher than in November 2014. Despite being higher year-over-year due, fresh fruit prices are still expected to deflate overall in 201. ERS expects fresh fruit prices to decrease 2.25 to 1.25 percent in 2015 due, in part, to the supply and price of imports.

“Fresh vegetable prices increased in November, rising 1.1 percent over October levels. Fresh vegetable prices are up 1.8 percent since November 2014, resulting in an expectation for prices to increase 0.75 to 1.75 percent in 2015. This does not say that the drought had no impact on fresh produce prices—other factors, such as the strength of the U.S. dollar and low oil prices, have placed downward pressure on retail fruit and vegetable prices,” the ERS said.

Supermarket image: By ProjectManhattan. (Own work.) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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Sweet green still top selling pepper in US

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Retail sales of peppers in the United States grew 4.9% in value, to $1.3 billion, and 3.2% in volume, to 603.5 million pounds, year-over-year in the 52 weeks to September 26, 2015, Nielsen data shows.

The sweet green pepper was the biggest seller – accounting for 28.5% of the total spend in the category and nearly 40% of the volume sold – with total sales of $386.9 million (+1.2%) from 235 million pounds (+2.4%).

Next in volume came the sweet red pepper,  up 3.1% on the same period a year before to 118.7 million pounds, followed by the ‘other sweet’ category then hot jalapeno, sweet yellow and sweet orange peppers.

Among the top 10 varieties, the biggest growth YOY was for hot dried peppers, sales of which rose 22.9% in volume to 2.4 million lb while the spend was up nearly 35% to $14.1 million. There was also double digit growth in either the volume, spend or both for hot chilli, hot poblano, sweet yellow and sweet orange peppers.

Though off a much smaller base, sales of the hot ancho pepper shot up 74% in volume (to 25,588 lb) and 140.1% in value (to $205,569) and ‘other hot’ peppers climbed 8.6% in volume (to 116,971 lb) and 16.9% in value (to $8 million).

While sales of the hot habanero pepper fell 10.3% in volume, to 4.8 million lb, they gained 13.1% in value, for a total of $8.6 million. Similarly, sales of the hot Anaheim pepper slid 4.8% to 5.4 million but for a total spend up 4% to $8.6 million.

Down in both value and volume were the hot mixed, hot Scotch bonnet, hot cubanelle, hot habanero, sweet white and sweet purple peppers.

 

source: Nielsen

 

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Mandarins outperform oranges for value in US

640px-Citrus_fruits

It used to be oranges, but these days mandarins are driving growth in the value of the citrus category in the United States as consumers continue their love affair with this more compact, often seedless, and easy to peel fruit.

Though just 9.9% of the citrus volume sold, mandarins represented 36.4% of dollar sales in the US retail market for the 52 weeks to September 26, 2015, according to Nielsen data. In comparison, oranges, which form 30% of the category volume, represented a lesser share – 29.2% – of the overall spend.

Relative to the 52 weeks to September 27, 2014, the citrus category grew 8.9% in sales value (to $2.8 billion) and 8.2% in retail sales volume (to 2.2 billion eaches/units of fruit sold). Again, mandarins, with sales of $1 billion, contributed to that growth with a 22% jump in spend, outperforming oranges, which slipped 0.3% in value, to $801.4 million. There was growth of 20.3% in the number of mandarins sold, to 219.1 million, while for oranges it was a more modest rise of 5.6%, though to 666.8 million).

The only other citrus types to log much growth in retail spend apart from mandarins were lemons (+13.5%) and, to a lesser extent, grapefruit (+0.5%), and, in volume, lemons with 5.2%. Limes also grew in volume sales, by 12.4%, overtaking oranges to reach a total sold of 667.4 million, but in value dropped 2.8% to $261 million.


 

Both tangerines and specialty fruits took a tumble in value and volume, of the order of 7.3% and 8.9% relatively for tangerines and over 15% in both cases for specialty fruits.

Source of all data: Nielsen
‘Citrus fruits’ image by Scott Bauer, USDA. Image released by the Agricultural Research Service. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons

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Growth in Spanish fruit & veg exports

pepper

Spanish exports of fresh fruit and vegetables for January to October 2015 were up 7% in volume and 14% in value relative to the same period in 2014 – reaching 10 million tons and €9.47 billion – according to Fepex.

Exports of vegetables were up 4.5% to 4 million tons, for a value of €3.77 billion (+14%) and those of fruit totalled 6 million tons (+ 9%) for a value of €5.7 billion (+14%), according to Spanish government data analysed by Fepex.

The most recent figures, for the month of October, show Spanish exports of fruits and vegetables stood at 804,644 tons, practically equal in volume to the same month in 2014, while the value was 11% higher, at €804 million.

In October, a 4% drop in fruit exports, to 470,040 tons, largely offset the 7% growth in vegetable exports, to 334,604 tons. But the value went up 20% in the case of vegetables, to €306 million, and 6% for fruit, to €498 million.

The main vegetables exported in October were cucumbers, peppers, lettuce and tomatoes. Relative to October 2014, there was 15% volume growth in cucumber exports, to 68,584 tons. Zucchini exports were up 25% to 31,272 tons and those of potato up 61% to 28,066 tons.

In fruit, tangerine exports declined 6% and oranges 2%, to 41,744 tons, while there was a strong increase – 39% – in persimmon exports, to 43,294 tons.

source: Fepex