Dr. Jochen Köckler, Managing Director of the DLG Exhibitions Department, Frankfurt am Main

(DLG). The entire European potato industry will be coming together in Germany on 8 and 9 September 2010 for the second time after 2006. The top event for international potato experts, PotatoEurope 2010, is being staged at the Bockerode Estate in Springe-Mittelrode near Hanover, organised by the DLG (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft – German Agricultural Society) and UNIKA (Union der Deutschen Kartoffelwirtschaft– the potato industry association ) as patrons in cooperation with K+S KALI GmbH (Kassel). With over 150 exhibitors from twelve countries, the number of stand bookings is twenty percent up on the comparable level for 2006. All the leading companies from the areas of breeding, fertilising, plant protection and machinery and equipment for potato production and processing, as well as from the trade sector, will be offering a unique programme of information covering all aspects of the potato on an area of altogether 23 ha. The resounding international participation in PotatoEurope 2010 is encouraging. More than 50 exhibitors – and thus about one third of the total – come from outside Germany, with the largest contingent hailing from the Netherlands (32). In addition companies from Belgium, China, Denmark, Finland, France, the United Kingdom, Norway, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic will also be represented. The outstanding level of stand bookings underpins the aim of this special event to be the international forum for the entire potato industry this year. PotatoEurope 2010 will plot the future for modern potato production and processing.

Ideas, impulses and innovations – Forum for the international potato experts

PotatoEurope 2010 will be the international information forum for the “potato” value chain, including potato breeders, producers of farm inputs, farmers, consultants and extension officers, and the trade. Under the leitmotif “Ideas, Impulses and Innovations”, potato growers will find new and state-of-the-art information on creating high-grade products at first hand. They will also be able to gather ideas for actively boosting the standing of the potato among consumers and for developing new market potentials. Potato cropping is characterised by a high level of intensity in production, processing and marketing. The producers of table and processing potatoes move in virtually free markets, so that supply and demand alone determine competitiveness.

Concept “Outdoor exhibition with trial plots, machinery demonstrations and discussion forums”

Through an outdoor exhibition with trial plots, exhibition stands on grass and in the tent, machinery demonstrations and discussion forums, the concept of PotatoEurope 2010 as a special event makes it possible to focus on the full diversity of the potato sector. Current varieties as well as a number of different fertilising and plant protection strategies will be shown on trial plots. This will provide farmers with key recommendations for future potato cropping. The programme will be rounded off by stands on the grass and in a large tent hall in the Campus area. Here the exhibitors will be presenting the entire spectrum of the exhibition programme, from breeding, via production and processing, right through to marketing. Industry, academia, research, agricultural organisations and associations will be represented there and provide information on varieties, cropping methods, cropping advisory services, potato conditioning and storage, and about questions of management, marketing and services.

Machinery demonstrations to focus on planting, lifting and loading

The machinery demonstrations always attract great interest among suppliers of potato machinery and equipment. Eight machines from five manufacturers will take part in the planting demonstrations. Two-row, four-row and eight-row planters have been registered. Furthermore, eight manufacturers will be presenting altogether 17 potato lifters in action, including single-row, two-row and four-row lifters, both hopper-type and transfer harvesters, as well as self-propelled machines. Five companies will be showing loading lines. PotatoEurope 2010 will thus be presenting considerably more demonstrations of machinery and equipment than the event in 2006. Dr. Rolf Peters from the Dethlingen Experimental Station in Munster will be providing a running commentary on all the machines and implements registered for the demonstrations, which will be held on both days of the event between 10.00 h and 12.00 noon. PotatoEurope 2010 will also be displaying a new feature. In the afternoons the exhibitors will be presenting their machinery and equipment to their customers on separate demonstration areas between 14.00 h and 16.30 h. Manufacturers will have technical advisors available at the site for an intensive exchange of opinions and experience and for product-specific information.

Topical issues “All about the Potato” at Forum events

The visitors to PotatoEurope 2010 can gather additional impartial information at the compact discussion events in the Forum Tent at PotatoEurope. Topical issues will be presented and discussed at the Forum on the hour on both days. Farmers and experts from the worlds of consultancy, industry, academia and research will be presenting the latest findings and developments in the areas of potato breeding, quality production, site-appropriate applications and use, as well as machinery and equipment for planting, harvesting, cleaning and grading. Sufficient time is planned at these events for discussions with the PotatoEurope visitors too.

Kartoffelherbstbörse (potato industry forum) at PotatoEurope again

The annual meeting place of the potato trading sector, the Kartoffelherbstbörse, is being integrated in PotatoEurope once again. The traditionally eagerly awaited market outlook for the beginning season with medium-early-maturing and late-maturing potatoes will be the focus of interest for the trade on Wednesday, 8 September 2010, at 13.00 h. It will include a comprehensive discussion on price developments. The organiser of the Kartoffelherbstbörse, the German Potato Trading Association (Deutscher Kartoffelhandelsverband e.V.), will have its own exhibition stand at PotatoEurope 2010 and thus set up a contact centre for its members.

Event cycle for PotatoEurope up to 2013

There will only be one top potato event a year in Europe in the years 2011 to 2013 too. This was agreed by the organisers of PotatoEurope, the DLG and UNIKA for Germany, the DLG BENELUX for the Netherlands, ARVALIS - Institut du Végétal for France and FEDAGRIM for Belgium. This design that has been applied now since 2006 best addresses the interests of the exhibitors and the potato industry as a coordinated concept. Since the premiere of PotatoEurope in 2006, international exhibitor participation has been between 25 and 45 percent and the share of international visitors between 22 and 35 percent, with a remarkably high quota from outside Europe. The coordinated approach of the organisers for this special event in the European potato industry has thus become very successfully established.

Event host

The Bockerode Estate, which hosted PotatoEurope already in 2006, is located near Springe and is about 30 km south-west of Hanover’s city centre. Hanover-Langenhagen international airport and Hanover-Central Station for ICE trains offer swift transport links – for international visitors too. The host farm cultivates potatoes for industrial use on loess soils.

Lively interest

The Bockerode Estate will be the international meeting place of the entire potato industry this September. The DLG has registered lively interest from all over Germany and the rest of Europe. Some 10,000 visitors are expected at the two-day event.