Well Bred! Potato varieties with potential
By Terry Jones; Meijer UK Sales Manager
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hen we develop a new variety at Meijer Potato, it’s vital to see the vision of what it can deliver to the market and the essential added value it can create. Here in the midst of record-breaking temperatures in the UK and across the rest of Europe, it becomes more important than ever that varieties can handle extreme conditions to ensure a quality crop at the end of the season. It was a pleasure to show Austen Dack, and Andrew Crook from the NFFF, what we are doing to meet the challenge that a changing climate gives us. Our breeding station in the Netherlands is continually evolving, with the latest technology available used to breed the best varieties for you. Meijer’s director of R&D, Guus Heselmans, has over 40 years’ experience of plant breeding - and his industry knowledge was clear to Austen and Andrew as he took them through the process of breeding a successful variety. We saw the cross-pollination of plants, which eventually leads to seeds from the plant berries being planted to grow unique individual plants. Hundreds of thousands of plants are grown annually, and then tested to analyse their DNA. Using the latest science we throw out 95% of the plants at this stage – only those with good potential survive. These candidates are planted in the trial field the next year, and we toured this year’s field to
Chippy Chat Chat & Fast Food Magaz Magazine ine • • August August 2022 2022
see the new plants. The earliest ones were already being prepared for harvest, at which point they are assessed – and once more 95% are rejected with the ‘winners’ retained for further testing the next year. In total a 7-8 year process will eventually select maybe only one commercial variety from those hundreds of thousands. We also looked at our varieties that are already established, alongside some of the newest introductions. It is key that these add value over and above the existing ones, and all feedback from end users in chip shops is vital to what we do. New introductions to the trade like Lady Anna and Lady Terra have been receiving good reviews, and hopefully our next generation varieties Lady Jane and Lady Forte will bring you an even better result in the years ahead. For growers and producers, we have introduced a new tool to assist in variety selection to best suit their climate, and product specification. The Robustness Index was presented, and we were given a demonstration at the Meijer Growing the Future conference the following day where industry leaders gathered to hear about current and future developments that we are working on. The Meijer Potato team look forward to seeing you at the Isle of Ely Open day on 11th September where we can show you more about what our varieties can offer your business. Chippy Chat & Fast Food Magazine • August 2022
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