News on The Potato Supply Chain from United Kingdom

PJ Lee and Sons please with potato store built by Thurlow Nunn Standen LTD and the fitted Omnivent suction and blowing ventilation system and OmniCuro automated control systems.

Purple Magic, a Northern Ireland potato with high anthocyanin content, was bred by Paul Watts at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute and just reached the finals of INVENT 2016, a Northern Ireland innovation competition.

Blackleg, caused by strains of soft rot bacteria known as Dickyea, has traditionally had little impact on North American potato production, but it now appears to be on the move throughout Europe and could increasingly threaten growers in the Eastern United States.

UK Potato handling equipment manufacturer, Tong Engineering is presenting its latest equipment range at the largest arable event in the United Kingdom, Cereals

AHDB Potatoes,has launched a new educational initiative to equip catering students with increased knowledge and practical skills to ‘prep’, ‘cook’ and ‘serve’ great tasting potatoes.

El AFBI (Instituto de Agroalimentación y Biociencias) de Irlanda de Norte ha desarrollado una papa morada, conocida como Purple Magic. Los investigadores la desarrollaron con la esperanza de que tenga propiedades anticancerígenas debido a los efectos beneficiosos de las antocianinas (los pigmentos), que son un tipo de compuestos antioxidantes.

A team of scientists from The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) and The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) have developed a new method to accelerate isolation of plant disease resistance genes and - using their new method - a brand new source of blight resistance genes in Solanum americanum, a wild relative of the potato.

QV Foods prepares to move its March potato packing operation and consolidate all the potato business at its Holbeach site

Delegates of AHDB Potatoes first ever Next Generation Programme overwhelmingly voted McCain Foods as their ‘Best Industry Host’, presenting the award at their final session at AHDB Headquarters, Stoneleigh Park, last month.

Elveden Farms, a West Suffolk estate is set to become a Regional Research & Demonstration Hub for potato growers and suppliers, thanks to funding from the Eastern Agri-Tech Growth Initiative.

“Harnessing the power of leading bloggers and vloggers, as well as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube channels will enable us [AHDB Potatoes] to reach more consumers and engage with them on a more regular and impactful basis. As research shows, this is clearly the way forward.”

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 new Haith system offers the end user a cost effective, robust, compact and reliable solution for potato processing intake lines.

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.

Branston (Potatoes) Ltd, based near Lincoln in the United Kingdom, has submitted a planning application with North Kesteven District Council for an expansion which would create 19 new jobs.

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