Reduce waste rather than push up potato yields

Almost half of the potatoes grown in the United Kingdom do not make the full journey to the consumer with waste and rejection cutting down potential sales at every point in the growing and processing chain.

That was the staggering finding of a major exercise covering 40 English producers growing potatoes for supermarket giant Waitrose.

Simon Bowen, of Solanum which supplies the retailer, told growers meeting at Perth that work he had carried out showed some 42% of the crop was discarded or lost at some point or other in the production line.

Earlier Stuart Wale, potato specialist with the Scottish Agricultural College, had stated that potato producers in this country would have to concentrate more on reducing waste than in targeting bigger yields.

“We are unlikely to be able to continue to push up yields but there are plenty opportunities to improve efficiency and cut out waste. In fact, growers throughout the world will have to cope with far more restraints on their production than has previously been the case.”