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Our gaze is always focussed on the future. Where we can make improvements, find new opportunities, push boundaries, and so on. We strive to realise innovations and acceleration within breeding. We regularly lead the field and are the first to realise success. Over the past few years, we have always looked to the outside world and to how we can do things better for our customers and growers. How we can make our collaborations with partners even more valuable. This gaze has now turned inwards: how can we ensure that collaboration within the HZPC channels runs better and more effectively?

The relationship and the collaboration with our customers is of vital importance. The fact that we have often been working together for years means we know one another quite well. In order to serve our customers even better, we conducted research into customer experiences and satisfaction. No fewer than 312 customers took part in the research and gave HZPC an average of 4 out of 5. The results of the survey will be used to further refine our goals and improve the services we provide. The research will be repeated among our customers in financial year 2022-2023.

The world's food supply is under increasing pressure. The coronavirus pandemic, natural disasters, extreme drought in Africa and armed conflicts and wars, as in Ukraine, have a huge impact. The world's population is growing incredibly fast and the demand for food is developing accordingly. Simultaneously, the United Nations (UN) has made ‘zero hunger’ one of the most important development goals for 2030. In parts of the world where food supplies are facing less pressure, the call for sustainably produced food is growing louder. Food is preferably produced locally while taking care of the environment.

Our most important driver is contributing towards supply high quality, sustainable food for the world's population. ‘Feeding the world’ is what drives us. Every day, and in all that we do. We produce initial material for healthy and affordable food. Thanks to good genetics, high-tech solutions and growing expertise, we are expanding food production per m2 of land, while constantly reducing our carbon footprint.

We are convinced that, with our seed potatoes, we can make a significant contribution towards the following Sustainable Development Goals as set by the UN in 2015:

HZPC has translated these into a sustainability strategy in which we take on the challenges relating to climate change, food security and responsible food (obesity versus malnutrition). Our approach is based on three pillars:

Care for the environment

• Developing sustainable potato varieties 
• Taking responsibility in the chain
• Reducing the negative impact of seed potato distribution

Food security

• Feeding more people worldwide by developing sustainable potato varieties. 
• Taking care of genetic resources

Social impact

• Contribution to healthy food
• Investing in human capital
• Dialogue and transparency

In 2021, we asked a wide variety of stakeholders for their opinions on HZPC’s sustainability policy. Growers, breeders, customers, the customers of customers, social organisations, employees and management completed a digital questionnaire. On the basis of what our stakeholders believe to be important and where we, as HZPC, can make a genuine difference, we have converted the three pillars into concrete actions. The most important subjects have been fixed within a materiality matrix.

Read more about what HZPC has realised over the last two years with respect to sustainability in our CSR report.

It has been said many times before: the demand for healthy, nutritious food such as the potato will continue to increase, irrespective of the instability and uncertainty in the world. In every corner of the globe, HZPC has built a good position. There are excellent opportunities for hybrid potatoes in the regions where populations are growing fast and transport can be quite challenging, such as Africa and Asia. The introduction of these may well require new partnerships and smart collaborations in order to get a foot in the door. We are seeing the market in North and South America grow and HZPC has also established its position in Australia and New Zealand. And, in emerging economies such as China, we can take further, huge strides. Even in countries where there are financial problems, the demand for sufficient food for the population remains. Nevertheless, the operating result during the coronavirus years was behind our long term forecasts. Despite this, however, we are positive about the expected longer term market for ware potatoes in Northwest Europe. A good price for ware potatoes translates into a better price for seed potatoes. In short, HZPC has all it needs to realise further expansion together with customers, growers, employees and partners.

Call me an old-fashioned romantic, but I really think it’s magical: rooting around in the soil with your bare hands and finding potatoes. It’s like digging up treasure. This love for potatoes lies deep in my DNA. Together with my brothers Guido and Emiliano, I took over the family company from my father six years ago. He was a genuine authority on potatoes: he developed the seed potato market in Uruguay, and did business with Brazil, Canada and the Caribbean region. He also founded HZPC in Latin America, in Argentina.

So, it goes without saying that my father taught me all I know, right from a young age. I always used to climb on the harvester to help pull the potatoes from the ground and in our back garden in Montevideo, I grew potatoes with my dad. I also used to accompany him on his visits to growers in Argentina. When I was 18, I worked for HZPC in Metslawier in the Netherlands for four months. While there (as well as learning how to cycle into the wind) I also got to know the ins-and-outs of the potato trade.

Our company organises everything for HZPC in Uruguay, from documentation, imports and testing and introducing new potato varieties, to sales and marketing. We have, of course, divided the work between us but, because we are just a small company, I am involved in all the various facets. This complex dynamic is amazing. I tend to focus on contacts with HZPC Holland and ensure that the distribution of seed potatoes runs smoothly from A to Z. I have a great deal of contact with our important customers, the seed potato growers in Uruguay. I am outdoors a great deal of the time and that’s something I enjoy. I also feel as if I am part of something that is much bigger than me; growing food to nourish the country.

The potato market in South America is very diverse. There is one big common-denominator though: the consumers often know very little about the various potato varieties and how to use them. In Uruguay there was just one variety for a very long time but now the market has become much more competitive and new varieties are introduced almost every year. Competition among traders is expanding and growers are improving in terms of growing the potatoes, while the consumer market price has stayed relatively stable. They also use less land to produce the same yield.

So, it is very it is important that we create new opportunities in the market and continue to develop new potato products. As ‘potato people’, we have an extremely important role in feeding consumers more efficiently. We can explain in great detail how nutritious potatoes are and that they offer a highly efficient crop. By expanding expertise among consumers, we can market our varieties much more effectively. This presents us with great opportunities!