“We expect that winning this prestigious award will give a boost to the introduction of our patented system in Europe”, says Epi Postma, Director EGG Business Development Europe.
"This is a very special innovation that means a lot in different domains, from health and speed to broad applicability. We see the EGG Microtubers as a leap forward in the towards innovation of varieties and believe that the innovation will soon be widely applicable. We expect that the industry will recognize EGG Microtubers as a fundamental but also applicable breakthrough," said jury member Dirk Duijzer, figurehead of the Dutch Top Sector Agri & Food, when handing out the prize.
Based on three criteria, namely innovativeness, potential impact in the potato market and applicability in the potato sector, the jury came to the decision to declare EGG Microtubers as the winner of the Golden Innovation Award. The South-Korean company EGG has developed a technology to produce virus-free and vigorous microtuber seed potatoes through mass production in bio-secured plant factories. EGG Microtubers are harvested every day, throughout the entire year and can be machine planted directly in the open field. The award was presented during a small gathering at the location of Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Field crops in Lelystad, The Netherlands.
Over thirty participants recognized the PotatoEurope Innovation Award as the perfect opportunity to put their innovations for the potato industry in the spotlight. Out of this large number of applications, the expert jury initially selected a top three of innovations. Eventually, the Silver Innovation Award was awarded to Crop.zone's Nucrop, while HZPC's Smart Bigbag received the Bronze Innovation Award.
After the general public was invited via various platforms to vote for the public's favorite, an online battle between the top three participants commenced. On September 1st, it was announced that the voters from all over the world decided Crop.zone's Nucrop deserves the Audience Award. Over 200 votes were cast online, and using the voting form, the potato professionals casting their vote could also indicate why they chose a specific innovation. A selection of the reasons why voters believe Nucrop deserves the PotatoEurope Innovation Award:
“More and more constraints on pesticides, so to desiccate potatoes without any pesticides will ease the ability to reach certification.”
“A real game changer in potato desiccation!”
"Technology towards sustainability and in line with the goals set by the Green Deal & Farm to Fork strategy."
“The general public awarding our innovation with the Audience Award indicates that alternative methods of haulm killing are an important issue in the potato supply chain,” said Dirk Vandenhirtz, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Crop.zone.
“Amazingly interesting innovations, practically all meaningful and completely different in focus: speed of reproduction, strengthening freshness and quality of the final product, less use of harmful substances, better tracking and tracing, less disease susceptibility, optimization of the producer's income and so on. Many specialisms are involved in these innovations: electronics, mechanical technology, digital technology, marketing, DNAtechnology and logistics, all highly specialized. This broad range of different directions and specializations shows that entrepreneurs in the potato chain have to work on the cutting edge to stay competitive”, Duijzer concluded.
