Inno Potato Awards at Interpom | Primeurs
The Inno Potato Award, a competition rewarding innovations actually put into practice in an agricultural business, gives Belgian potato growers the opportunity to enter the competition and present an innovation they have recently introduced in their business.
The winners will not simply be chosen by their fellow potato growers, the organisers announced. The professional Inno Potato Award jury will allot 50 percent of the total marks and the visitors at Interpom | Primeurs 2014 will decide the other 50 percent. The awards will be presented on the last day of the fair. Besides public recognition, the winners will receive a cheque for EUR 1,500, respectively EUR 1,000 or EUR 750, provided by the Flemish and Walloon governments. Potato growers can register to enter the competition up to June 10.
Interpom is an initiative of Belgapom, the official trade association of the Belgian potato growers and processors.
Seminar on quality control systems
For more than a decade, the Belgian horticultural sector has been deploying its Vegaplan, a quality system for food and plant safety and environmental protection that is recognised by both the authorities and users. A unique feature is the ‘bottom-up’ approach whereby the primary sector works together with purchasers to develop the system further.
In 2014, the Vegaplan standard expanded to include sustainability and integrated pest management (IPM). Consequently, the Dutch Food Safety Certificate for Potatoes and Arable Farming, the German QS and the Belgian Vegaplan are all recognised as equivalent. Structural consultation has been launched between the partners to this end. An international seminar on how this international cooperation should evolve will be held on Monday 24 November 2014 at 9.30 am in the Kortrijk Meeting Centre adjacent to the exhibition premises.
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