Factory Ready for Production, Potatoes Needed

The director of the company Jānis Garančs admitted that one of the trump cards of Aloja Starkelsen is the starch made from organically grown potatoes. "We are developing our company based on global food production trends. In 2008, we started processing organic potatoes and producing organic potato starch. This is precisely our main direction of activity. The organic potato starch produced in Aloja is known not only in 97% of stores in Latvia but also in all of Western Europe and Scandinavia. Most in Germany, France, Italy. We are still one of the leading suppliers of organic potato starch in the United States and Canada. Currently, we are also developing the Latin American and South American markets, it is more difficult with the Asian markets,” said the director.

By concluding contracts with farmers, the areas from which organic potatoes are delivered increase by 30 to 40 percent every year. J. Garančs informed that Aloja Starkelsen processed around 15,000 tonnes of potatoes in two months, half of which were organically grown. "With this volume, we are among the top three organic starch companies in the world. However, we could sell at least twice as much as we produce, but we cannot produce, not because the company lacks capacity, but because it lacks potatoes. We cooperate with any farmer who wants to supply potatoes, no matter how much they are able to produce, but, of course, each grower has to consider the volume when it is profitable,” said the head of the company and added that at that moment contracts had been signed with more than 120 farmers: “The contract is concluded for three years at a fixed purchase price, so growers can be sure of the future. In addition, if there is a reduction in the yield in one year, we will not impose sanctions on growers.

It is often said that organic potatoes do not produce large yields, but J. Garančs says that this is a deep-rooted myth that does not correspond to the truth and does not stand up to any criticism. "People think that organic potato growing is for small gardens – I planted and it grew the way it grew, but it is not that way. Last year, the best result from organic potatoes in terms of yield per hectare was eight tonnes of starch per hectare, which means a yield of around 40 tonnes per hectare. On the other hand, from the potatoes supplied by conventional growers, calculated in relation to the areas contracted, we have produced five or six tonnes of starch per hectare.  Thus, the average conventional indicator is lower than the best organic. Proper land management can lead to very good organic yields,” the director was convinced.

Aloja Starkelsen cooperates with Finnish and Swedish starch producers. "Without partners, it would be very difficult," said the director of the company. Starch production is seasonal, potatoes are processed from the beginning of September to the middle of November; however, packing departments work every day, but there is still free capacity and there is a great desire to develop production and sales. In addition to the production of potato starch, the company also produces other food products, the most popular of which in the Baltic States are dry mixtures - Aloja jellies and Aloja kissels.