The right potato variety with the robustness index

The potato is the third largest food crop in the world and therefore an important part of our diet. Meijer Potato believes that everybody deserves to enjoy food. Robust potato varieties are necessary to provide a growing world population with healthy food, even in the face of climate change. Meijer Potato is now launching a digital robustness index with 7 items, made up of different variety characteristics, to objectively compare the robustness of varieties:

1. Marketable yield includes washability and scab tolerance. Thanks to a high marketable yield per hectare, a variety uses scarce agricultural land efficiently.
2. Climate adaptation is based on, among other things, the dry matter content and the yield in different climates. The more stable the variety scores under different climate conditions, the higher the score in the index.
3. Soil adaptation is about a stable high yield and the right dry matter content on different soil types.
4. Crop protection efficiency concerns e.g. late blight and virus resistant varieties that require less crop protection products. These varieties are therefore especially useful for both organic and conventional producers.
5. Fertilizer efficiency provides insight into how efficiently varieties use e.g. nitrogen and can therefore be grown with respect for nature.
6. Water efficiency concerns e.g. salt-tolerant varieties, but also varieties that deal with a scarce (fresh) water supply more efficiently.
7. Storability refers to varieties with e.g. a long dormancy period and varieties with a good frying colour throughout the storage season, resulting in a higher value and higher net output.

The potato variety characteristics used are based on data that has been collected for years in Meijer Potato's breeding program. By varying the importance of the 7 robustness items in the digital tool, the customer can select the most suitable variety in a more targeted manner together with Meijer Potato. The right variety choice is becoming increasingly important because cultivation is becoming more expensive, legislation stricter and the market more demanding.