NEPG Faces Changes in 2021

The NEPG, which by the end of 2020 was a 5-country organization, announced that in the New Year, the British AHDB would leave the organization citing different factors.

At the same time, Victor Phaff from the Netherlands stepped down as NEPG secretary at end of December 2020 and is currently replaced by Daniel Ryckmans from Belgium.

Victor Phaff was the first secretary of the NEPG and it was under his leadership that the NEPG got its official name and logo, and later thanks to his input, got an official status as a foundation. Phaff progressively led the informal and loose structure into a better-organized and structured institution, making the NEPG into a reliable source of information, not only for growers but also for the whole supply chain.

"The going of Victor Phaff and the arrival of Daniel Ryckmans, who has been working for more than 25 years for the Fiwap in Belgium, coincides not only with a new decade, but also with a new period for potato growers and the potato industry as a whole. After more than 20 years of growth and development, 2020 saw the whole potato world shake due to Covid-19. For the first time in decades, potato area could significantly go down in 2021. Markets and prices could still take months to fully recover," said the NEPG press release.