How did you get started out in this business ?

As the daughter and granddaughter of farmers who were potato producers, I created Labelterre in 2000. Jointly managed by my father and his partner, the company washes, packages and sells potatoes. We are located in Champien (80) in Picardy, in the rich, very productive Santerre area. My grandfather was one of the first farmers from the region to use a stapling machine to bag potatoes in 1970. My father, Guy Donnez, took over the farm (300 hectares) in 1975. His partner in this production is Mr Bertrand Magnier, who has a farm like my parents’. Labelterre sells, from scratch, an annual volume of 12,000 tons; I am in charge of the commercial side, the accounts, personnel recruitment, management and work organization.

How did the company develop ?

In the beginning, we used to sell 8,000 tons of potatoes. Then we set up a packaging and washing line to meet the needs of our customers, who are wholesalers, supermarkets and foreign buyers. We later added a second packaging and washing line to meet the increased demand for export, as well as from supermarkets, ten wholesalers from Rungis and others public interest markets (MIN) in France (Lomme, Lyon, Rouen, etc.) by reason of one wholesaler per MIN. We are present in several EU countries like Spain, Italy, Greece and Great Britain. I developed the Spanish market using a simple formula: one city, one wholesaler. With ten customers at Rungis, including one customer per pavilion, we avoid competition between customers. We also supply the food processing industry (3% to 4%).

What varieties do you sell?

Labelterre now sells 12,000 tons of potatoes a year. Washed potatoes represent 80% of this total. We produce about twenty varieties, including the very popular firm varieties like Charlotte, Amandine, Franceline, Marylin, Galante, Vitelotte, Ratte, et al. and consumption varieties like Monalisa, Agata, Liseta, Cyrano, Pomefine, with a yellow or white pulp that is good for mashed potatoes, chips or soups. There are also special-order grades like new potatoes (28/35), particularly for the English market.

The Marylin and Galante varieties are excellent quality. The former is superb in terms of taste and the latter stores better. Furthermore, we will be replacing the Monalisa variety with the Oriana variety very shortly.
Today, all our volumes are stored in Palox crates (1.25 tons, wood) at controlled temperatures, with regular inspections every month. As a result, we no longer have any bulk storage at all.

What is your development strategy ?

Our development strategy consists in better satisfying the clientele’s increasingly high demands, with a quality product at a price that corresponds to the market. We have to optimise our production through faster execution by modernizing our work tool; this means installing better machines to obtain a more attractive product. Furthermore, we are considering creating a partnership with producers close to the company to guarantee large volumes to our customers. In addition, “organic” produce is a development opportunity for our company that we plan to introduce in the next campaign.
As we already have “Eurepgap” certification, we have set up a quality department in the company with a laboratory to test the packaging once the product is finished.

What is your analysis of the potato market ?

It is a difficult market, particularly at the CAP level. Wheat and beet productions have dropped and we are seeing the emergence of new potato producers who are deregulating the market. Moreover, the potato is a product that is vulnerable to climatic changes and both domestic and European markets are dependent on this.
Rather than increasing our production volumes, we have focused on the traceability of our products, listening more to our customers when choosing varieties and greater segmentation. Potato production has to be top qualityand each type of potato should correspond to a type of clientele. For years now we have been working on improving the taste of the product, rather than the appearance, but consumers still have trouble understanding this.

What do you think of Rungis Market ?

Rungis is the ideal intermediary for finding out the end consumer’s opinion and defining the different varieties’ culinary qualities. The feedback is increasingly detailed. Working with Rungis is an opportunity, because it is a great showcase and an unbeatable calling card. However, we have noticed a slight drop in the number of buyers.