Concretisations of the article “Potatoes in 2050: A vision for the future of the global potato industry”

He himself writes that he does not have a good crystal ball, but that lines of development are emerging. It will therefore help us all if every player in the potato business asks themselves whether and how they can fit into this vision. How can we perhaps specify and concretise it – or where can we achieve something? As we are ultimately all shaping the future together, we are also best able to work together on the many individual aspects and visions.

The following text is a contribution from crop.zone to the discussion on the ‘Vision Potato 2050’, which crop.zone, as a provider of electrophysical plant management, considers to be target-orientated. crop.zone works in the field of residue-free desiccation of potatoes, but has an impact far beyond this in the agricultural processes of plant management, from pre-sowing treatment and green manure to the siccation of other crops such as oats.

We take up the core theses of Lukie Pieterse and concretise them from our point of view.

Lukie Pieterse writes: „The year 2024 marks a critical juncture in this journey. With just 26 years until 2050, the potato industry must navigate a rapidly changing landscape characterized by climate change, population growth, resource scarcity, and shifting consumer preferences.“

crop.zone in Vision 2050: At present, the major changes that need to be made are becoming increasingly clear and innovative agricultural technology, as part of the potato industry and agricultural systems, must face up to them. These are turning points that are necessary to master the challenges. To Lukie Pieterse’s list, we would like to emphasize some more specific aspects such as the rapidly changing weather conditions, the increasingly demanding logistics, the question of biodiversity and the handling of soil as probably the scarcest non-renewable resource.

Lukie Pieterse writes: „One of the central pillars of this vision is the development of climate-resilient potato varieties.“

crop.zone in Vision 2050: From crop.zone’s agricultural engineering perspective, climate-adapted potato varieties are important, especially if they require less crop protection. However, as has unfortunately happened too often in the past, this must not lead to soil protection and soil regeneration as well as adapted agricultural technology being neglected. After all, the potato is also nourished by the soil and the soil promotes its quality. It is a complex interplay in which all aspects must be managed together: Complexity management is the name of the challenge.

Lukie Pieterse writes: „In tandem with these biological innovations, the integration of precision agriculture and digital technologies will revolutionize potato farming. The use of data-driven insights, artificial intelligence, and autonomous machinery will allow farmers to optimize every aspect of potato production.“

crop.zone in Vision 2050: It is the task of innovative agricultural technology such as crop.zone to fill the individual aspects rightly mentioned with very specific content. In many places, it will no longer be a question of making individual technical aspects a few per cent more effective. Potato cultivation in particular already utilises many aspects of precision farming. Better AI-based information can help even more farmers to do the right thing even more often and or autonomous AI systems to make competent decisions and support farmers as very good employees. Potatoes ultimately grow in the World of Things, and the Internet of Things can help. However, the concrete tools for fundamental progress remain up for grabs. This is precisely why we need to rethink in many areas. Instead of a little less herbicide or a little more energy-saving ploughing, solutions in plant management are needed, such as siccation with electricity, which do not require any chemical agents and do not move the soil.

Field logistics under the increasingly difficult weather conditions caused by the climate will also be easier if there are simply no more waiting times due to herbicides because siccation is carried out using electricity. Harvesting can take place when the potato is sufficiently firm and that is all that counts.

crop.zone documents all the relevant treatment parameters on the field with precise area accuracy. The data is available to the farmer and is used by crop.zone for further improvements and recommendations on the optimum use of machinery. In this way, once the expertise has been acquired, it can be easily shared and effectively utilised by all users under all complex farming conditions. This helps to alleviate the shortage of skilled labour in the field and turn (semi-)autonomous expert systems into ever better employees for the farmer.

Lukie Pieterse writes: „By 2050, the industry must fully embrace sustainable practices that prioritize environmental stewardship, resource conservation, and waste reduction. This includes adopting regenerative agriculture practices that restore soil health, implementing circular economy principles that turn waste into resources… .“

crop.zone in Vision 2050: In many cases, the regenerative protection and reconstruction of soils will only succeed if soil movement only takes place for absolutely necessary reasons. Ploughing, tilling and hoeing for weed control or to kill growth or green manure are not part of this. This is where electrophysical methods such as those from crop.zone have to step in, without chemical residues and without soil movement and therefore with a very positive influence on soil life.

The crop.zone process has been proven to have no negative impact on soil life during electric potato desiccation. The improved haulm separation by crop.zone reduces losses in the field and also makes sorting work easier for autonomous potato harvester systems. Large working widths compared to haulm toppers and stalk pickers minimise soil compaction between the ridges, which will also help autonomous systems to separate potatoes and clods of soil. Intermediate ridges in potato fields to retain water and minimise erosion are maintained until harvest, which is particularly important during heavy rainfall. Potato ridges are less damaged than with mechanical haulm removal, which in turn maintains quality and reduces crop losses due to green potatoes. Insecticide spraying during the siccation phase can be avoided as the stems do not turn yellow and become attractive to aphids. As crop.zone, unlike haulm topping, does not produce aerosols that are highly contaminated with plant diseases, additional crop protection products or disease-related yield reductions are also avoided in neighbouring fields. crop.zone requires 10 to 40 times less energy than thermal siccation methods that were previously used in organic potato cultivation (from the perspective of 2050). Fossil resources are conserved or no longer needed thanks to fewer passes and the use of regeneratively generated electricity as an active ingredient. Green manure, which binds nitrogen from the air, replaces natural gas for artificial fertilisers. If additional nitrogen is needed, then it will come from green hydrogen or directly from electricity. A circular economy, even with residual materials, only works if residues and pollutants do not enter the cycles in the first place and cannot accumulate there. It is therefore important to systematically prevent residues from being produced in the first place, e.g. using electrophysical processes.

Lukie Pieterse writes: „The ability to respond to shifting consumer demands, adapt to changing trade policies, and build resilient supply chains will be critical in maintaining the industry’s competitive edge.“

crop.zone in Vision 2050: The world will also grow together in terms of its demands on food production. As a result, it will become less and less possible to use herbicides in certain regions that are already banned in other parts of the world for good reasons. This applies in particular to non-selective herbicides, some of which are highly toxic, which crop.zone is replacing with electricity. At the same time, resilient supply chains also require a secure supply capability despite changing weather and climate conditions. Dispensing with siccation or other crop protection methods or returning to ploughing are therefore not options, as they reduce the resilience of the soil and the entire production system.

Especially with the desired global expansion of the organic potato market, it will be necessary to harvest the potatoes on time and firm in their skins in order to be able to deliver them to the supermarkets packed in bags and also to avoid food losses due to rotting. This will only work on a large production scale with crop.zone as a non-chemical siccation process with a wide range of applications.

New and innovative modes of action, such as electricity, will generally be required to maintain current supply chains, which are also threatened by increasingly resistant weeds.

Lukie Pieterse writes: “Empowering smallholders and promoting social equity will be key components of the industry’s vision for 2050.”

crop.zone in Vision 2050: The trend towards sharing innovative technology will spread worldwide. Small farmers in particular are often unable to afford innovative technology on their own, even if it could make cultivation significantly more environmentally friendly. At the same time, they and their neighbours are particularly and directly at risk from the use of highly toxic, non-selective herbicides. The lack of qualified labour and increasing environmental regulations show that even medium-sized farmers (which means something completely different in various regions of the world) can only survive if they use highly innovative technologies. There will only be social and economic justice in open trading systems if everyone avoids residues at the same high level and produces in an environmentally friendly way. To this end, crop.zone is making its contribution on the agricultural technology side in the area of residue-free crop cultivation for farmers of all sizes.

Lukie Pieterse writes: „Finally, the industry must prioritize ethical sourcing and supply chain transparency, responding to growing consumer demand for products that are produced sustainably and ethically.“

crop.zone in the Vision 2050: Especially when consumers can obtain more and more information directly or via dynamically customised quality seals thanks to blockchain, they will increasingly demand compliance with high and obviously feasible standards. The pressure will then also come from potato processors and their legal protection insurers against consumer complaints. If potato siccation without chemical residues in the environment is feasible and well documented, it will have to be implemented on a broad basis. At the same time, the transparency of supply chains down to the last detail also offers farmers, for example, the opportunity to show that they can grow potatoes and at the same time provide excellent protection for the soil. The farmer who then has 150-250 earthworms per square metre in his potato fields thanks to very good care, including compost and green manure, should then receive more for his product. However, this will also exert market-driven pressure on those who have so far been content with 40 earthworms or less or have ignored this parameter altogether.

It will also be even less explainable ethically why in some countries agricultural workers still work with herbicides that have a skull and crossbones on the packaging or can cause permanent damage to the young, while these have often been banned for the same crop in other parts of the world for decades. In the area of non-selective, highly toxic herbicides, e.g. in potato desiccation, but also far beyond this, crop.zone can offer ethically acceptable alternatives worldwide. 

Lukie Pieterse writes: „By embracing innovation, sustainability, and collaboration, the potato industry can not only meet the demands of a rapidly changing world but also lead the way in creating a more equitable and prosperous future for all.“