This week, Europatat, the European Potato Trade Association, celebrated its annual Congress in Brussels (Belgium), gathering 90 members and participants from across Europe. During the meeting of the General Assembly, Europatat’s members elected a new Board to lead the association for the coming four years. Following the allocation of responsibilities within the newly elected Board, the association is pleased to announce the appointment of Peter Ton as its new President.
The European potato community gathered once again in Brussels in the framework of the Europatat Congress 2026. During the General Assembly, members elected a new Board for the 2026–2030 mandate. Following the Board’s decision on the allocation of responsibilities, Peter Ton, from Royal HZPC Group and representing NAO (Netherlands), was appointed President of Europatat, succeeding Tigran Richter (Norika/DHKV, Germany), who has successfully served on Europatat’s Board over the past four years. Vlastimil Rasocha (Medipo Agro/CBS, Czechia) will continue as Vice-President of the Association, while Francisco Moya (Vitalis Group/Fedepom, France) will continue in his role as Treasurer.
Europatat’s membership also approved the association’s accounts and reviewed the implementation of the Strategy for the period 2025–2028, adopted last year. Whilst key topics such as trade, plant health, food safety and RUCIP remain at the core of Europatat’s priorities for the year to come, other dossiers such as sustainability reporting and measurement, water, nutrition, the promotion of potato consumption and potato-related research are also a fundamental part of Europatat’s current work.
The Europatat’s 2025-2026 Activity Report, which provides an overview of the Association’s work since June 2025, was also presented to the membership during the meeting of the General Assembly. A digital version of the report is now publicly available on Europatat’s website.
Peter Ton, Europatat’s new President, is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Royal HZPC Group and he is actively involved in the Dutch potato sector through NAO. He has also been actively engaged within Europatat in recent years, serving as a member of the Advisory Committee since 2022 as outgoing Chair of Europatat’s Seed Commission.
“Being active in the potato sector all my professional life, I consider the member’s vote for me as Board member and their support to become President of Europatat as a sign of trust and confidence. Trust that their concerns and interests are in good hands, confident of being able to consider all voices and opinions. It is my ambition to build further on Europatat’s position being the ambassador of our industry, as well as the platform for all European organisations representing (part) of the potato value-chain. I thank all members for their trust and promise to represent them with dedication and pride. Looking forward to working with our fantastic team in Brussels!” – Peter Ton, new Europatat President
