Breeders Week in Holland 2004
The Group decided to visit �Breeders Week� in force in 2004 and a party of David Higgins, Stephen Uttridge, Stephen North and David Scott set off from UK for Holland on Tuesday 2nd November.
Due to fog in Holland flights from both Humberside and Aberdeen were delayed by several very tedious hours. Humberside was abandoned in favour of Leeds Bradford but nevertheless arriving 8 hours late meant that all arrangements/dinners
organised for that night were disrupted. Stephen and David Scott were staying at a different hotel and found themselves searching an unfamiliar Dutch village late at night for their accommodation. Frustration resulted in David stopping the hire car to ask local police for directions and was politely breathalysed after
receiving the information (yes, he did pass). Welcome to Holland!
The following days were spent travelling around Holland visiting the various Dutch companies and seeing their new varieties. The title �Breeders Week� is rather misleading as the Dutch take the opportunity to invite their customers to Holland for meetings and hospitality. The international potato trade was well represented during this week. It proved a very good opportunity to meet our own customers who were present. It is seldom possible to meet so many potato people at one event.
Breeders week is an ideal chance for pre season
discussions to take place. The exhibitions of new
cultivars are laid out very professionally and it
allows the actual breeders, many of whom are
farmers, to see the results of their efforts and to stand and discuss the merits of their varieties with potential buyers. They know that if they find a good one the royalties will make for a nice pension. The Dutch seed trade know very well that the reason for their past success was having protected varieties like Spunta and they are trying to find new replacements now that Spunta and others are �out of rights� or will be shortly.
Late nights and early mornings were the norm as was hurtling down unfamiliar roads wondering if those were windmills or speed cameras, so it was a tiring yet very successful week.