Application Of Ethylene Greatest Breakthrough In The Seed Potato Sector
Emmeloord, 8 September 2009
At the end of the first PotatoEurope 2009 congress day the PotatoEurope 2009 Innovation Award was handed out this evening to the company Restrain Company Ltd for its product titled Restrain Generator. This product has been chosen by a qualified jury out of 17 nominees. Mr Dirk Garos, Dutch representative of this company received this prestigious award from the hands of the Director-General for Enterprise and Innovation of the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs, Mrs Rene Bergkamp. This ceremony took place in the congresss venue t Voorhuys in the Dutch city of Emmeloord. The selection criteria based on which the jury came to their decision were innovativeness, inventiveness and market potential. In addition the jury has also judged the entries for their degree of sustainability.
The jury needed a long time today to carefully weigh the applications but in the end decided to proclaim Restrain Generator as the indisputable winner. Restrain Generator produces low levels of the natural ethylene gas to prevent potatoes from sprouting. Ethylene gives zero residue on the tuber.This product is the winner, according to the jury, because it truly is a breakthrough. It is very innovative and something the entire potato sector has waited for for many years. Mainly for countries that store their ware and seed potatoes for a long time a natural and environmentally friendly anti sprouting control is very necessary and welcome. The product was tested by the Dutch Board for the Autorisation of Plant Protection Products and Biocides. This institute has approved the use of ethylene as a safe means so it can also be used in biological potato growing. And last but not least, Restrain Generator has a comparable cost price compared to chemical anti sprouting control. In summary, it has a very positive influence on the export and processing of potatoes.
Given the high-quality of all applications, the jury did not only choose a winner but also rewarded a second and third place. The second prize is for the NAK, the Dutch General Inspection Service for agricultural seeds and seed potatoes for their Direct Tuber Testing (DTT). This is a breakthrough in multiplex molecular testing of seed potatoes, with which results are available up to 6 weeks earlier compared to conventional tests. The reason for appointing DTT with the second prize is that it scores very high on the level of innovativeness as well as market potential. It is a very good tool for the competitive advantage of the seed potato sector. The rapid availability of reliable information offers trading companies excellent opportunities in the early export of seed potatoes.
The last company in the top three is Dacom B.V. with their Dacom Watersave Sensor System. This is a unique advanced technology concept that optimizes crop production for food security and leads to potential savings of huge amounts of precious water. The Dacom Watersave Sensor Ssytem gains a well deserved third place, according to the jury, because it scores very high in terms of sustainability. The potential water savings are of course very important given the worldwide increasing scarcity of water.
The jury members who came to these conclusions were Mr Th.A.M. Meijer, chairman of the Main Board Arable Products from the Netherlands and chairman of this jury. The other members were:
Mr R. van Diepen, managing director of NAO (Dutch Potato Organisation), Mr J. Delleman, chief editor of Potato World Magazine and Mr J. Hak, chairman of the association of Dutch manufacturers of machinery for food processing and packaging as well as managing director of Hak & Partners B.V.
The winning product as well as the numbers two and three and the other nominees are being on show until this Thursday, 20.00 hrs., during the PotatoEurope 2009 exhibtion, at the Urkerweg in Emmeloord, the Netherlands.