News on Industry Associations from Europe

In the United Kingdom, AHDB Potatoes has announced that it is searching for the first farmer host for its new Scottish Strategic Potato (SPot) Farm.

The Europatat Congress 2016 will take place in Brussels (Belgium) on 1 & 2 June 2016, under the slogan “Not business as usual!”

Delegates of AHDB Potatoes’educational programme ‘Next Generation’ spoke on spuds and the needs of the £4.1bn GB potato sector on an informative visit to Westminster (parliament) and NFU London last week.

Dr Jon Pickup, Head of Virology & Zoology at Science & Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) will lead on one of three AHDB Potatoes Fellowship Awards, specifically seeking to secure critical potato nematology expertise for the future.

With reports again highlighting a concerning lack of knowledge amongst young adults and the origin of the food they eat, educating the next generation remains an important focus

Nick Vermont, CEO of McCain Foods GB is this year's British Potato Industry Award winner

UK Seed potato exports are booming with big strides being made to open even more new markets.

BP 2015 is the first time this event held every two year for the British Potato Industry is entirely indoors. Visit BP2015 in Harrogate in 8 days from today...

EU and US negotiators were meeting this week in Miami, USA for the 11th round of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. Negotiations on tariffs and quotas could have serious implications – either positive or negative - for the agricultural and primary food transformation sector as markets would open up.

The Dutch Association of Arable Farmers of (VTA) finds an average yield of 53.622 kg/ha, 8% below last year and on par with the 5-year average. Although tubers are large this season, the VTA predicts low factory yields as a result of a host of quality issues, resulting in an increased demand for potatoes per ton finished product.

This November over 6,000 growers, packers, processors, retailers, researchers, specialists, consultants, journalists, students and international visitors will head to the Harrogate International Centre, for the biennial potato industry event, BP2015.

With a major new campaign to promote fresh potatoes across Britain and Ireland about to break, AHDB Potatoes and Bord Bia (the Irish Food Board) are calling on industry to get behind it and help change the way consumers think about potatoes.

The extreme weather in Switzerland will affect the upcoming potato harvest. Tubers are small, so the supply is expected to be tight.

In the annual VTA sampling of the development of the Dutch potato crop development, mid August a yield was found 16% lower than last year and 7.1 below the 5 year average.

Spain's potato sector is once again hampered by a price crisis, with producers failing even to cover their production costs.

The AHDB Potatoes ‘Next Generation’ tour kicked off in Yorkshire last month, visiting two progressive Yorkshire based potato processing businesses.

New branding and a proposed new way of working for the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) was formally launched at the Cereals event in Lincolnshire earlier this month.

AHDB Potatoes launched its first ever ‘Next Generation’ programme, a series of 9 business and technical days that - for a selected few - will provide exposure to the whole supply chain.