News on The Potato Supply Chain from United Kingdom

Two of the newest machines within Tong Engineering’s wide range of vegetable handling equipment are proving invaluable in transforming post-harvest operations for Hampshire-based potato grower, Whitewater Potatoes.

Pepsico UK has joined forces with British clean-tech firm CCm Technologies to reduce their carbon footprint by turning their potato waste into fertiliser.

The total harvest of British potatoes this year will be 5.3m tonnes according to provisional estimates – up two point eight per cent (2.8%) on last year’s figure but just below the five-year average of 5.4m tonnes.

UK potato packing business Branston has submitted plans for a new facility.

The European Union brought in $4 billion of tariffs earlier this month. The tariffs will affect a whole range of imported products, with grapefruit and sweet potatoes among them.

The continued wet weather in late October/early November in the United Kingdom has extended the harvesting season beyond eight weeks for some, which is clearly not good news where stores have been part-filled and cooling systems unable to function correctly.

Sowing wildflowers into potato crops could reduce aphid-carried viruses and offer an alternative to declining access to insecticides for growers.

After much discussion and planning by the CUPGRA Executive Committee, it has been decided, owing to COVID-19 restrictions, to go ahead with a virtual conference to continue the unbroken run of 30 successful CUPGRA Cambridge Potato Conferences.

Next World Potato Congress webinar will be held on December 15, 2020, when Mark Taylor of the James Hutton Institute will speak on 'Developing the Pipeline from Genomics to New Products'

Videogame technology will be used to help develop the perfect potato as part of a ground-breaking new project involving Abertay University and a major potato seed supplier.

In the United Kingdom, Lockdown 2.0 is happening and it brings widespread closure of pubs and restaurants once again. AHDB reflects on what it means for the potato industry

One of the UK’s leading manufacturers of vegetable harvesting equipment has launched an innovative conversion kit that allows owners of the GRIMME GT 170 trailed harvester to convert to a windrower.

Haith Group has seen a resurgence of interest in its innovative bag filling machine after a video posted on social media was viewed more than one million times.

Preparations for NewCold's second UK deep freeze storage facility are fully on course, says the company and following the build commencement next month, the operation is expected to go live just one year later.

Nitrous oxide emissions (300 times more powerful than CO₂) are jeopardizing Earth's future climate. Agriculture caused almost 70% of global N₂O emissions in the decade to 2016.

Essex potato grower, Fairfields Farm, is excited to announce that it will be supplying HelloFresh with its low carbon footprint potatoes from October.

Fast food giant McDonald's is working with McCain Foods and Prince's Countryside Trust to help farmers in the United Kingdom improve soil health and boost resilience to climate change and Brexit

With the coronavirus pandemic hitting the UK domestic potato trade, we have estimated a 1% drop year-on-year in the GB potato area for 2020/21, with the provisional area standing at 119Kha.