Netherlands: Potato industry must significantly increase contract prices

Published 2024년 12월 23일

Tridge summary

The article highlights the increased costs and reduced yields faced by potato growers due to climate change. The WCA is adjusting its calculation methods to account for lower yields, leading to higher cost prices for potatoes. These costs are expected to rise further due to increased expenses in seed potatoes, crop protection, labour, land, and energy for storage. The proposed margin of 15% on bare cost price is necessary for arable farmers to continue potato cultivation. However, contract prices proposed by the French fries industry are insufficient to cover these costs, and the impending nitrogen discount for farmers in nutrient-polluted areas is expected to further reduce yields.

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Original content

Potato growers have already had to deal with a significant increase in costs in recent years. As climate change is starting to take its toll, average yields over the past five years have been significantly lower. The WCA has therefore decided to reduce the yields in the calculation by 1.5 tonnes per hectare. Since 2010, the NAV working group has calculated the cost price of consumption potatoes for an example company on sandy soil and on clay soil every year. By always performing the calculations in the same way, they can be compared well with each other over the years. The calculated cost price excludes VAT and irrigation costs. For irrigation, the WCA charges 270 euros per hectare per session with a gift of 25 millimetres. According to the WCA calculations for the 2025 harvest, the delivery of potatoes from clay soil to the field will be 23.2 cents per kilo and for delivery from the shed in week 12 it will be 29.4 cents per kilo. For sandy soil, this is 19 cents per kilo and ...

Source: Nieuwe Oogst