It is a warm September morning in a potato field very close to Dahl in the north of Luxembourg. Several tractors with trailers are waiting for one of the three harvesters to deliver the potatoes: the season is in full swing. Marc Nicolay has leased this field; in total, the enterprising businessman grows his potatoes across 400 hectares within a 50-kilometre radius. However, his headquarters are in the south-west of the country, in Fingig. Over the past 25 years, the traditional mixed farm – which used to keep dairy cattle, beef cattle and grow wheat – has increasingly specialised in potato cultivation, developing new processing methods and establishing an efficient distribution network in the process. For years, potatoes of various varieties have been stored in the air-conditioned warehouses in Fingig and Ulflingen to supply the Luxembourg market with consistent quality all year round.
The fields that Marc Nicolay farms are mainly in the Éislek region, even across the border – for example, here near Dahl or further up in the area around Troisvierges. The soil here is less loamy than in the Gutland and is therefore particularly well suited to potato cultivation – the many stones in the soil also ensure better drainage, which is a clear advantage in wet weather. Although the fields are worked using state-of-the-art machinery from large contracting firms, manual labour is still required; over a dozen workers help with the sorting. “Abroad, nobody sits on the machine anymore – only the driver. I don’t want that: if you want to deliver quality and supply the market with fresh produce, you also need good people …”
The potatoes are processed in Fingig, where there is a high-capacity washing plant that removes the soil from the potatoes in accordance with customer requirements. This is followed by quality control: a video-controlled sorting machine automatically detects potatoes with defects and sorts them out. Right next door, the potatoes are packed into paper bags or larger sacks for wholesale customers and are then ready for delivery under the Chamber of Agriculture’s ‘Produit du terroir – Lëtzebuerger Gromperen’ label. Marc Nicolay is now the country’s largest potato producer; everyone in Luxembourg knows his ‘Lëtz Frites’ or ‘Lëtz Chips’, which are processed in collaboration with La Provençale – further proof that taking the risk of investing in new niche markets can certainly pay off.
The regional market has given me the opportunity to specialise my business in potatoes. Without our loyal local customers, this development would not have been possible.
