News on The Potato Supply Chain from United Kingdom

AHDB secured nine emergency authorisations for potato, herb, celery, carrot, parsnip, cherry and plum for UK growers to protect their crops.

Albert Bartlett, leading supplier of fresh potatoes in the United Kingdom, is to launch chilled potato products with major UK retailers and food service customers.

AHDB Potatoes is encouraging seed potato producers to consider Cuba as an export destination after recent meetings with Government officials in the country.

The weather has not been kind to potato growers in the United Kingdom. AHDB potatoes offers some helpful tips and guidance to make it a successful potato growing season nevertheless.

United Kingdom potato trade saw strong performance from its processed potato sectors in the first seven months of the 2017/18 marketing season. Trade of frozen potato has seen strong growth both leaving and entering the UK, although imports still outweigh exports by ten-fold.

This year has seen the latest ever planting of early potatoes in Northern Ireland as farmers battle poor weather conditions, according to industry leaders.

Late Blight control strategies in the United Kingdom will have to change this season if potato growers are to combat the spread of a new aggressive, fungicide-insensitive/ resistant strain of the disease, leading agronomy firm Hutchinsons says.

Great Britain potato stock levels held by growers are estimated at 2.4Mt as at the end of January. This represents the largest end-January stocks figure since the stocks survey began in 2010.

Although PCN testing of soil for seed potato cultivation is typically strictly regulated, different procedures are in use for the testing of soil for ware potatoes - and which one is used has huge consequences for the reliability.

The potato growers supplying McDonald’s in the United Kingdom can get a free agronomy skills training to improve crop performance and quality with the launch of the MacFry Potato Academy.

AHDB Potatoes announced earlier this month that GB potato stock levels for the end of November are estimated at 3.6M tonnes, the highest level for this point in the season since 2011/12.

Priory Vodka made from a small acreage of potato crop that is otherwise destined for McCain’s and McDonald’s fries won two prestigious Gold awards at the Global Spirits Masters in autumn 2017. Priory Vodka will go on sale shortly.

A research project aims to improve the accuracy of the ‘AHDB Potatoes potato cyst nematode (PCN) pallida calculator’ which is currently used as an educational forecasting tool for potato growers in the United Kingdom.

Sales at potato firm Albert Bartlett have climbed 18 per cent to £146m, but operating profit was again impacted by price pressures in the supply chain.

Following an investigation by the Animal and Plant Health Agency earlier this year, it has been confirmed that ulluco tubers imported into the UK from a number of different sources were infected by harmful viruses, highlighting that there is uncertainty about the disease status of this crop in general.

Aldi’s potato sales in Wales have risen by a third since the retailer began sales of Welsh potatoes five months ago, highlighting the popularity of homegrown produce in the country.

AHDB is seeking 15 up-and-coming professionals with a passion for driving the potato industry forwards to join the 2018 Next Generation programme, launching in April next year.

AHDB Potatoes will officially launch its Potato Data Centre (PDC) at BP2017 at Harrogate on 22 and 23 November.