Royal Avebe today starts its potato campaign in the Netherlands. The first starch potatoes are being delivered to the production location in Gasselternijveen. The production location in Ter Apelkanaal is due to start in the week of 30 August. With the expansion of the production capacity for Solanic potato protein, the cooperative is producing even more vegetable protein during this campaign to meet increasing demand.
The relatively low temperatures in May set back the crop growth compared to previous years. Arjan de Rooij, director Agro of Royal Avebe: “Despite this setback and various types of damage caused by heavy rainfall during the growing season, many crops are now looking good. The current moderate temperatures combined with sufficient rainfall in most regions are favourable for crop growth. We expect that the stunted growth will be compensated to some extent in the weeks to come.”
Over the past few months, maintenance has been carried out at the production locations in the Netherlands and Germany, and significant investments have been made. At the Gasselternijveen site, for example, the production capacity for potato protein Solanic has been expanded. Solanic is potato protein for human consumption and is mainly sold in growing markets for plant-based foods, such as meat and dairy substitutes. A production facility for extracting protein for animal feed has been built at the German location in Dallmin. Both new production lines will start running as of this campaign.
In Germany, the Dallmin location started processing potatoes last week. The location in Lüchow will follow in the week of August 23. During the campaign, which is planned up to mid-May 2022, the starch potatoes of the approximately 2,300 Dutch and German members will be processed into potato starch and potato protein. Our customers further process these ingredients into foodstuffs, applications in building products, the paper products and animal feed.
