The 6th Potato Congress of Spain, organized in Seville by Asociafruit and Fepex in partnership with the Andalusian Council of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development and its quality food brand, Gusto del Sur, brought together about 150 professionals from the potato sector with the purpose of analyzing the start of the season and discussing the current situation and the sector's future.
Daniel Slegers, Álvaro Barrera, Benjamín Brull, from Agrico; Jaume Sabé, from Carpe Vitam S.L.; Juanjo Santamaría and María Jesús Mollá, from Agrico; José Luis Benítez, Javier Boceta, from Meijer Ibérica, and Marco Martín, from Pamaral.
Magdalena Iturmendi, Sandra Cabrera and José Luis Guardiola, from Meijer, and Rodrigo de Bethaencourt, from Hijolusa.
Roberto Cadierno, from Solis Produce, and Antonio Curado, from Dagrisur.
Rafael López de Arbina, from Udapa; Andrés Márquez Carrasco, from Patatas Los Carrasco, and Miguel García, from Udapa.
The event was opened by Marco Román, president of the Potato sector at Asociafruit, and José María Pozancos, director of FEPEX, who highlighted the importance of Seville as the place in Europe where potatoes were first introduced as a food item. Afterwards, Alejandro Lorca Ruiz, Deputy Director General of Fruits, Vegetables and Viticulture at MAPA, analyzed the evolution of potato cultivation and consumption in Spain and Europe.
Marco Román and José María Pozancos at the opening of the 6th Potato Congress of Spain.
Carlos Rosado and Ángel Ruiz, from FMC, alongside Marco Román, from Asociafruit, and José María Pozancos, from FEPEX.
After delving into the characteristics of potato insurance with Juan Francisco Delgado, territorial director of Agroseguro in Andalusia, and Pedro Vicente Martín, from MAPFRE, David Rubio, from Certis Belchim presented a new fungicide that can help control soil diseases in potatoes.
Antonio Martín, from Geotropic, David Rubio and José Bono, from Certis Belchim; Ángel Torres, from Yara, and Ignacio Olmedo, from Syngenta.
Juan Antonio Jiménez, from Primaflor, and José Luis Esposo.
Marco Antonio Delgado, from Finca El Gordillo; José María Romero, from Abonos Viaguado; Antonio Martínez, from Geotropic, and Ángel Torres, from Yara.
During the meeting, the attending experts agreed on their concern about the current scarcity of authorized phytosanitary products in the sector, but also about the notable increase in Spanish imports of potatoes from Egypt. The figures provided by Customs reveal that in 2023 these imports reached around 50,500 tons, which represents an increase of more than 600% compared to 2021 and 2022, when they amounted to around 8,000 tons. Moreover, the upward trend is expected to continue in 2024.
Manuel León Ariza, Juan Francisco Delgado and Juan Antonio Molina, from Agroseguro.
Juan Carlos Rodríguez, from C+C Eanalítica; Carlos Rodríguez, from Asociafruit, and Isidro Naranjo and Pedro Vicente, from MAPFRE.
Fernando Rodríguez, from Agrocontrol, and Francisco Manuel Maestre, from Proyecta.
María José Sánchez, director of Fruit Attraction.
The 6th Potato Congress of Spain also served as a stage for the presentation of the next edition of Fruit Attraction 2024. María José Sánchez, director of the fair, gave a presentation to provide more details.
The program continued with a presentation about precision irrigation in potato cultivation given by Helena Cuartero Abengózar, from Nelson Irrigation Corporation. Later, José María Pozancos made an in-depth analysis of the challenges of the horticultural and potato sector in the face of the current regulatory framework.
José María Pozancos.
Two round tables were also held. The first one focused on the prominence of new potatoes in supermarket shelves and featured Isabel Amo, manager of the Supermarkets Association of Castile-León; Rubén López, RREE director for Fruit and Vegetables at Mercadona, and Víctor Yuste, general director of the Foro Interalimentario, who acted as moderator.
In the second round table, sustainability and the future of potato cultivation were analyzed in the face of the lack of options to fight against pests and diseases, addressing the specific case of seeds. It featured José María Cobos, Deputy Director General of Plant and Forest Health and Hygiene of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; Rafael Sánchez, head of the Plant Health Service of the Council of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development; Marco Román, president of the Potato sector at Asociafruit; Javier Boceta, general director of Meijer Ibérica; Yolanda Medina, vice president of the Interprofessional Potato Association of Castile-León, and Victoria de la Haza, head of Regulatory Affairs at AEPLA.
The congress was closed by the Secretary General of Agriculture, Livestock and Food of the Council of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development of Andalusia, Manuel Gómez Galera, who described the event as a "highly suited meeting point for the sector, growers, governments, associations, organizations and retailers."