UNPT Advises French Potato Producers Regarding the Lack of Seedlings

Union Nationale des Producteurs de Pommes de Terre – UNPT (French Association of Potato Producers) mentions that it received plenty of questions from potato producers regarding the availability of seed potatoes.

UNPT has already specified that there was a problem related to the availability of seedlings caused by lower yields in 2016, significantly higher refusal rates on the certification side (mainly due to "black leg" disease) and a significant increase in demand for potatoes for processing.

The consequences of these plant volume problems are:

- Imports of seedlings

Any introduction of potato seed potatoes from countries other than Switzerland shall be prohibited in all member states of the European Union.

Operators are obliged to declare batches of seed potatoes and potatoes for consumption introduced into French territory, when they come from the four countries still classified as at risk.

UNPT strongly advises producers to ask their plant supplier for a certificate to show negative controls on quarantine diseases carried out by a laboratory during the introduction of seedlings into France.

- Cutting plant

Given the difficulty many growers face in planting this year, some are forced to buy large certified seedlings and then cut them. If this is done regularly for certain varieties, it does not come without risk (technical, sanitary, ..). The producer who cuts the plant will have no recourse in case of dispute, except in case of a negotiated agreement with its supplier, even if the batch was previously certified.

- Self-produced plant UNPT advices the producers to defer to the inter-professional framework when produces their own plants.

UNPT approves certified plants, especially of French origin, or the production of theirs own plants, if they have the technical and material capacities.

Within the framework of the FMSE, production from uncontrolled farms under quarantine are not compensated.