CEO Andre Jooste says the industry body recently successfully petitioned to have the permissible deviation in class two potatoes raised from 15% to 25%. 

He says this was largely necessary due to the impact of stormy weather. He says too much size variation results in potatoes that are actually good quality being down-classed.

He explains that the classing deals with, for example, deviations in the size of potatoes in a bag. He says class 1 potatoes should not have more than a 10% deviation and class 2 potatoes were, until recently, at 15%.

“If the deviation is higher than that then potatoes are downgraded to class 3 potatoes.”

He says they are hard at work to find further solutions that will ensure producers are not unnecessarily punished. “There isn’t any excuse for a variety of size groupings being found in a single bag. The dispensation will still not make provision for that.

“The problem we have is where the potatoes are, in terms of what you see with the eye, very uniform. They are still very good quality potatoes and we don’t want to punish the producers for that.”

- OFM News