News on Industry Associations from United Kingdom

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.

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...

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 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.

In the latest Consumer Category Report of the Potato Council, one of the topics addressed is the online sales of fresh potatoes - including actual growth, comparison to competitive products and grocery in general as well as future opportunities

Late last week, the Potato Council published its annual GB Potatoes Market Intelligence report, wrapping up all key information about the GB potato market in order to inform decision-making and provide answers for common questions about the industry.

Building on the growing success of its collaboration over the past two years, Potato Council and Horticultural Development Company (HDC) brought the largest collaborative UK stand yet to this year’s Fruit Logistica event in Berlin.

'Potato Council' will become 'AHDB Potatoes' later this year as the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) operating divisions will be rebranded to create a simplified family of levy-payer facing brands under the AHDB name.

Cuban visitors were given a focused tour encompassing Scottish Government’s SASA’s plant health facilities, a seed potato micro-propagation facility, and visited a leading Scottish seed grower and exporter.

The dates have been set for the famous UK Potato Week 2014; running from 6-12 October the campaign will celebrate the humble potato and encourage mums to ‘trade-up’ from generic whites to named varieties.