Sustaining demand for GB potatoes
Potato Council is working hard to sustain demand for British potatoes both at home and abroad, revealed chairman Allan Stevenson to 650 growers and processors at Potatoes in Practice (PiP) at Invergowrie, Dundee on 12 August.
Mr Stevenson noted that, in general, sales of potatoes had held up well during the recession, except for organic and loose potatoes.
“We are reaching out to our target audience of young consumers in particular and encouraging them to adopt more potato meals,” he said.
He went on to stress that the increasingly global nature of the potato market required the Potato Council to play a positive role in supporting the industry in its bid to increase exports of seed potatoes, with recent missions to countries like China, which has tremendous potential as the world’s largest potato producer.
Mr Stevenson said he was very proud that Edinburgh had been chosen to host the next World Potato Congress, in 2012, giving Britain the opportunity to showcase its achievements to international delegates.
The Dundee event also focused on important subjects today’s growers have to address, including biosecurity, diagnostics and environmental stewardship. Gerry Saddler from Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) spoke about the importance of balancing cost with risk where potential diseases are concerned. He advised his audience that the best option was to buy seed potatoes from growers in the Safe Haven scheme
