Climate change mitigation

The potato sector has undertaken actions to avoid and reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses. These include the climate optimalisation of storage space to minimise the need for cooling, heat recovery to reduce energy consumption, investments in green energy and using alternatives for road transport.

Climate change adaptation

Investments are being made in research and the introduction of new varieties with better yields and less susceptibility to diseases. An example is the development of more robust potatoes that are resistant to the potato plague.

Biodiversity conservation

Farmers are maintaining small landscape elements on their farms, such as ditch sides, woodland edges and wildflower meadows. On their production sites, the processing companies increasingly pay attention to biodiversity. They place for example bee colonies and plant trees and forestry.

Sustainable water management

Via smart farming, farmers receive up-to-date soil information. They receive a notification when the potatoes need water and how much, so not a drop is sprayed too much. Furthermore, the potato sector uses as much collected and stored rainwater as possible. Companies install their own wastewater treatment installation, so the purified water can be re-used.

Sustainable soil management

Producers take measures both to retain the soil structure and to curb erosion. Furthermore, they strive to reduce the use of crop protection by applying innovative cultivation techniques like smart and precision farming. These innovations allow farmers to plant, fertilise and treat the parcels accurately.

Reduction of food loss and food waste

The Belgian potato sector works under the zero-waste food principle: no waste of potatoes, water or energy from the field to the client. This is applied through the value retention cascade to find alternative use for the potato products. For example, fries that are too small for consumption are first processed into potato flakes.

Organic production

A lot of producers are engaged in organic potato farming and companies are putting effort in helping producers to make the shift to organic farming. They allocate budget to scientific and applied research and actively support producers in organic farming.