Bayer CropScience and Farm Frites recently started a Food Chain Partnership initiative designed to implement sustainable agricultural practices in potato cultivation in the Netherlands and Belgium. The goal of the partnership is to support a bottom-up approach with potato farmers addressing value-adding sustainable potato-growing practices at individual farm level. This is intended to minimize the environmental impacts of agricultural production in order to keep potato farming attractive in the long term.
“Potato is a valuable crop for farmers in western Europe and a key raw material for the potato processing industry, for example for flakes, mash and French fries,” said Leon Boer, Director Potato Procurement, Farm Frites.
“Therefore, the implementation of sustainable practices is a must for local farmers. With this collaboration we want to enable our contract growers to consistently meet our high-quality standards and stay competititve.”
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| Working together for sustainable potato cultivation: Simon Jensma, Technical Advisor at Bayer CropScience, provides tailored advice to a Dutch potato grower. |
“Bayer CropScience’s contribution to sustainable agriculture is at the core of our business supporting our customers with innovative solutions, proactive stewardship and partnerships,” explained Silke Friebe, Head of Food Chain Management at Bayer CropScience.
“Our core competencies lie in developing and supplying integrated crop solutions that are locally adapted and tailored to the individual needs of our customers. The common goal is to help drive a sustainable productivity increase and to improve crop quality.”
Set-up of pilot farms to put theory into practice
In a first step, a set of measures to
improve sustainability in potato cultivation and the associated in-field
activities have been jointly compiled and shared. This toolbox of available
measures covers a broad range of topics: biodiversity, erosion, soil
fertilization, stewardship, energy, product quality, pest and disease
monitoring as well as advice on the efficient and safe use of crop protection
products.
Five pilot farms, three in Belgium and two in the Netherlands, which supply their harvests to Farm Frites have been selected for the coming potato season. The two Dutch farms are also members of the Skylark foundation, a cooperation between arable farmers and food processors aimed at promoting greater sustainability in agricultural production. All partners are striving to align this Food Chain Partnership initiative closely with the Skylark foundation methodology.
Involved farmers were interviewed individually to identify the sustainable measures best suited to optimizing their own farm operations and meeting individual farm needs. All pilot farms will use the Skylark methodology to assess their last five year developments on sustainability measures.
Based on the individual selection and priorisation of
activities at the pilot farms, action plans were defined in a bottom-up
approach together with Farm Frites and Bayer to jointly implement and follow up
on specific activities throughout this coming potato-growing season. Following
analysis of the results achieved in the first season, recommendations and
refinements will be made for follow-up in the next season.
To encourage interaction and provide a platform for sharing experiences and knowledge among farmers Bayer and Farm Frites will organize a ‘Tour de Farm’, a set of open field days at the pilot farms, at the end of May.
Bayer Food Chain Partnership fosters stronger links along the supply chain and promotes sustainable agriculture
In its Food Chain Partnership business
model, Bayer CropScience brings together growers, traders, processors and
retailers. Building on the company’s profound knowledge of crops, the common
goal of the Food Chain Partnership initiatives is to improve yields and quality
of the harvested produce, helping to drive a productivity and efficiency
increase based on sustainable agricultural principles for the benefit of all
partners involved. Bayer CropScience can build on ten years of experience in
Food Chain Partnerships in 30 countries spanning 40 crops, primarily fruit and
vegetables.
This successful model is currently being extended to broad-acre crops such as oilseed rape, wheat and rice.
About Bayer CropScience
The company offers an outstanding range of products including high value seeds, innovative crop protection solutions based on chemical and biological modes of action as well as an extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture. In the area of non-agricultural applications, Bayer CropScience has a broad portfolio of products and services to control pests from home and garden to forestry applications. The company has a global workforce of 23,100 and is represented in more than 120 countries. This and further news is available at: www.press.bayercropscience.com.
About Farm Frites
Visit the Bayer CropScience website HERE.
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