Averis Seeds B.V.

Averis Seeds B.V. is a Dutch plant-breeding and seed-potato company based in Veendam, Netherlands, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coöperatie Koninklijke Avebe U.A., the Dutch starch-potato cooperative. Averis focuses on the development, propagation and trading of starch potato varieties, representing varieties that are grown in all starch potato growing areas in the Netherlands and Germany. Its commercial and administrative activities are managed from the head office in Veendam, while a dedicated sales office, Averis Saatzucht GmbH, operates in Visbek, Germany. The company's core activity is plant breeding aimed at starch potato varieties that are optimally profitable and can be grown sustainably in the Avebe growing area. Its breeding programme is carried out at the breeding company in Valthermond, where new varieties are developed with new or improved characteristics. Averis states that it provides at least 80% of the seed potato supply to Avebe growers. 'Optimally profitable' in Averis's own definition means sufficient marketable content that forms the basis for Avebe's products, the lowest possible input (fertilisation, crop protection, labour, etc.) with the highest and most stable yield, thus maximising the value per hectare of starch potato growing. Averis Seeds traces its breeding lineage to KARNA (Cultivation Institute for Potato Varieties for the benefit of the Dutch Potato Starch Industry), founded in 1954 by the joint potato starch factories. KARNA's aim was to cultivate varieties with a high starch yield that were also resistant to various diseases and plagues in the cultivation area. The first KARNA variety with resistance to nematodes, Ehud, was included in the Catalogue of Varieties in 1967, followed by varieties including Astarte (1976), Elkana (1978), Karnico (1988) and Kartel (1994). More modern varieties include Aveka (2002), Altus (2008) and Axion (2008), which combine excellent starch yield with resistance to various nematode pathotypes, wart disease and Phytophthora. Averis Seeds B.V. was formed as a distinct company around 2001, when the multiplication and sale of KARNA seed-potato varieties was reorganised. Up to 2001, KARNA's seed-potato varieties were largely multiplied by seed-potato farmers who cultivated and sold their own seed potatoes under licence contracts; multiplication of high-quality seed potatoes was also outsourced via Avebe to seed-potato trading companies such as ACM (later ZPC) and HZPC Holland B.V. The creation of Averis consolidated breeding, propagation and trading under one Avebe subsidiary. Today Averis Seeds operates as the breeding and seed-supply arm of the Avebe starch-potato chain, with a wide range of varieties enabling it to provide starch growers with seed potatoes suitable for their individual conditions. The company is implementing a new strategy, Route 2030, aimed at guiding its next phase of development. Its activities remain closely tied to the Avebe cooperative's starch potato growing area in the Netherlands and Germany.

The history of Averis Seeds is rooted in KARNA (Cultivation Institute for Potato Varieties for the benefit of the Dutch Potato Starch Industry), which was founded by the joint potato starch factories in 1954. The aim was to cultivate varieties with a high starch yield that were also resistant to various diseases and plagues that occurred in the cultivation area. After the research institutes in Wageningen started crossing with resistance to nematodes, the sector decided to incorporate its own cultivation company to breed this resistance into starch-potato varieties. Increasing the starch content was another important objective in those days. The first KARNA variety with resistance to nematodes, Ehud, was included in the Catalogue of Varieties in 1967, followed by varieties including Astarte (1976), Elkana (1978), Karnico (1988) and Kartel (1994). The more modern varieties include Aveka (2002), Altus (2008) and Axion (2008). These varieties combine an excellent starch yield with resistance to various nematode pathotypes, wart disease and Phytophthora. Up to 2001, KARNA's seed-potato varieties were largely multiplied by seed-potato farmers who were responsible for cultivating and selling their own seed potatoes by means of a licence contract. On the instructions of KARNA, multiplication of high-quality seed potatoes was outsourced via Avebe to other seed-potato trading companies, such as ACM (later ZPC) and HZPC Holland B.V. Through the existing network of seed-potato growers, the KARNA varieties were multiplied for Avebe on the basis of commission. The multiplied seed potatoes were sold by Avebe to third parties. The formation of Averis Seeds B.V. around 2001 reorganised these activities into a dedicated company. Averis Seeds B.V. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coöperatie Koninklijke Avebe U.A. and focuses on the development, propagation and trading of starch potato varieties, representing varieties that are grown in all starch potato growing areas in the Netherlands and Germany. The commercial and administrative activities are managed from the head office in Veendam. Averis also has its own sales office in Visbek, Germany: Averis Saatzucht GmbH. The company's breeding activities take place at the breeding company in Valthermond, where new starch potato varieties are grown that distinguish themselves with new or improved characteristics. Averis is implementing a new strategy, Route 2030, to guide its future development. Its vision is to develop, by means of plant breeding, potato varieties that are optimally profitable and can be grown sustainably in the Avebe growing area, and to provide at least 80% of the seed potato supply to the Avebe growers.

• 2026

  Avebe launches Customer Portal (news item dated 05 Jan 2026).

• 2008

  Modern varieties Altus and Axion included in the Catalogue of Varieties.

• 2002

  Modern variety Aveka included in the Catalogue of Varieties.

• 2001

  Formation of Averis Seeds B.V. as a dedicated company within the Avebe group.

• 1994

  Variety Kartel included in the Catalogue of Varieties.

• 1988

  Variety Karnico included in the Catalogue of Varieties.

• 1978

  Variety Elkana included in the Catalogue of Varieties.

• 1976

  Variety Astarte included in the Catalogue of Varieties.

• 1967

  First KARNA variety with resistance to nematodes, Ehud, included in the Catalogue of Varieties.

• 1954

  KARNA (Cultivation Institute for Potato Varieties for the benefit of the Dutch Potato Starch Industry) founded by the joint potato starch factories.

Breeding and seed-supply arm of the Avebe starch-potato cooperative, focused on optimally profitable and sustainably grown starch potato varieties for the Netherlands and Germany.

• Starch potato varieties

  Varieties developed, propagated and traded by Averis Seeds, grown in all starch potato growing areas in the Netherlands and Germany.

• Seed potatoes

  Seed potatoes supplied to starch growers, with Averis providing at least 80% of the seed potato supply to Avebe growers.

• Aveka (2002)

  Modern starch potato variety combining excellent starch yield with resistance to nematode pathotypes, wart disease and Phytophthora.

• Altus (2008)

  Modern starch potato variety combining excellent starch yield with resistance to nematode pathotypes, wart disease and Phytophthora.

• Axion (2008)

  Modern starch potato variety combining excellent starch yield with resistance to nematode pathotypes, wart disease and Phytophthora.

1. 1Home - Averis Seeds B.V.averis.nl
2. 2History - Averis Seeds B.V.averis.nl
3. 3About Averis - Averis Seeds B.V.averis.nl
4. 4Vision - Averis Seeds B.V.averis.nl
5. 5Averis Seeds (Netherlands) - Wikidatawikidata.org