Technical day on potatoes with McCain
On Thursday 20 December, a technical day on potatoes was organised by the Nord-Pas de Calais agricultural council. 300 people took part in the event, including technicians, regional distributors and about 250 potato producers.
The Centre Mondial de l’Innovation Roullier (CMI) was invited to attend this technical meeting to share its expertise in plant nutrition and, in particular, on issues regarding phosphorus nutrition in potatoes.
The day began with Loic Piat, the agricultural manager for McCain France and Belgium, presenting the good results obtained using Top Phos on potatoes. Then, two CMI Development Managers, Nicolas Juignet and Pierre-Grégoire Vimon, informed the audience about the issues related to phosphate fertilisation and then more specifically about its impact on tuberisation and potato production.
Our collaboration with this agribusiness company on the issue of phosphorus began in 2011 and has made it possible to conduct field experiments over the course of the last six years on the Innovator potato variety in northern France. The significant involvement of local TIMAC AGRO teams throughout this time and in preparation for this event has been a contributing factor to its success (Regional directors: Thomas Château, Pierre Démolin, Ana Claudia Tamba).
This was a very fruitful event and has increased potato producers’ confidence in our field experts, our TSAs and TIMAC AGRO solutions. Furthermore, it also helps to highlight the CMI’s expertise in Plant Nutrition.
McCain Foods Limited, founded in 1957, is a Canadian business specialising in processing and distributing food products. It is known primarily as a producer of frozen chips. The company McCain Foods, whose head office is located in Toronto in Canada, employs about 20,000 people in 55 factories worldwide. It processes, on average, 12 million tonnes of potatoes per day for different markets. With regard to chips, the company represents a third of all production worldwide.
Founded in 1957 by two brothers, Harrison and Wallace McCain, who invented the process for freezing fried potatoes. The company is not listed on the stock exchange; all shares belong to the founding family.