Riviera: The Very Early Dutch Potato Grown for Speed, Not Sweetness

Riviera is a first-early table potato from the Netherlands, not a sweet potato. Bred by Maatschap Boerhave VOF from Minerva parentage and introduced in 1998, it is marketed by Agrico. It forms quite large, oval-round tubers with yellow skin and light-yellow, rather firm (type AB) flesh.

Its main asset is speed. In Russia, where it entered the State Register in 2013 for the Central, Central Black Earth and North Caucasus regions, register data show a first dig 45 days after emergence yielding 134–225 c/ha, rising to 273–312 c/ha by day 55. Marketable yield is given as 189–366 c/ha.

Agrico rates its earliness 8 and lists good early yields, an excellent skin finish and resistance to wart (F1) and golden nematode Ro1/4. PotatoPro notes heat tolerance and good virus resistance. In Russian trials in the Moscow and Belgorod regions, Riviera showed the lowest yield variation of six early varieties at the first planting of a two-crop season.

The weaknesses are serious. Agrico scores it very susceptible to foliage late blight (3), powdery scab (2) and spraing (4), and susceptible to tuber blight, common scab and black dot. It is unsuitable for fries and crisps, and dormancy is medium.

Agrico aims Riviera at export markets in the Middle East and North Africa and at early fresh production in Southern Europe.

Growers choose it to reach the early market first or to fit two crops into one season, accepting a heavy blight-protection programme in return.

Sources: Agrico, Riviera variety sheet; PotatoPro, variety profile; Russian State Register data (potato variety database); Sychev et al., Soil Fertility No. 4, 2022 (FAO AGRIS)