News on The Potato Supply Chain from United Kingdom

Potato Council, Horticultural Development Company (HDC) and the Commercial Horticultural Association (CHA) returned in force to the Fruit Logistica to build their promotion of seed potatoes from Britain and raise the profile of the diversity and quality of UK horticultural crops.

Potato Council’s latest campaign to encourage shoppers to trade up from generic whites to a named potato variety has been a great success.

Supporting the chipping sector is high on the agenda for Potato Council all year round, but with Chip Week (17 – 23 February) just around the corner, the team is more focused than ever on helping chips shops improve the quality of their chips and drive sales as a result.

UK's leading potato supplier Greenvale is ramping up support for its fresh potato brand with a £1.5m TV advertising campaign, which goes on air from Monday 3 February.

Next month over 200 potato growers, packers, processors, retailers, researchers, specialists, consultants, and international visitors are expected to attend the Storage 2020 International Conference at Peterborough Arena, Peterborough, United Kingdom

Potato Council is calling on the UK industry to help promote the ‘Natural Goodness’ of potatoes, by applying for a new Potato Council car sticker which is now available to all its levy payers.

Potato yield increases in the United Kingdom have stuttered to a halt in a similar manner to cereals in recent years and experts believe improving the state of British potato-growing soils will be vital to drive yields higher again.

Crop Systems Ltd’s new TaperStor^TM offers operators total control over the stored crop and the environment in which it is kept, combined with the ability to maximise the volume of storage available on any given footprint and so reduce storage costs per tonne.

Following the successful first-time collaboration by the British potato and horticulture sector at Fruit Logistica 2013, Potato Council, Horticultural Development Company (HDC) and the Commercial Horticultural Association (CHA) return with their industries to this massive event in February 2014.

The potato industry flocked to Harrogate for BP2013, with organisers reporting a 20 per cent increase on the usual 6,000 attendance.

Chip Week has become one of the biggest awareness weeks in the calendar, but, as important as it is, it is still only one aspect of the work that Potato Council does to support the sector.

Dewulf, specialist in harvesting technology of potatoes and carrots, proudly presents number 300 of the R3060, 2-row self-propelled potato harvester.

Tong Peal Engineering is set to showcase its latest range of in-field handling equipment at LAMMA 2014.

Profits have fallen by more than £10m at McCain Foods GB after Britain's market-leading frozen chip maker was hit by a severe shortage of quality potatoes in the UK as a direct result of the extreme weather conditions in the 2012 growing season.

Grimme has introduced its flagship Varitron 470 four-row self-propelled potato harvester to the UK. One machine has been undergoing testing in East Anglia, while another has already been sold for red beet harvesting.

Greenvale provides opportunities to graduates each year to work in up to four different areas of the business over a 2 year period, before taking up a position with the company at the end.

Educating children about the importance of food, farming and healthy eating is a priority for Potato Council and the ‘Grow Your Own Potatoes’ project does just that. Now entering its tenth year, the project has reached over 2 million children to date.

Tong Peal will debut its brand new suite of packhouse equipment, alongside its market leading grading and handling equipment at this year's British Potato 2013, held on 27th &28th November.