Potato News from United Kingdom

Storing potatoes long-term is challenging, especially so if you rely on ambient ventilation. In the UK it is seldom possible to hold crops at optimum temperature in ambient stores beyond early May. Can refrigeration help?

A ballot to decide the future of the AHDB Potato levy has concluded and the voting report has been passed to Ministers for a decision on what happens next.

Planting a Green Headland on uncropped areas around potato and field vegetable crops can capture nutrients worth £200/ha over the growing season.

As the first month of import and export data of potatoes and potato products after Brexit is in, the AHDB takes a closer look at the data and what they could mean. Across all potato product categories recorded, UK imports and exports have fallen from December with figures at the lowest reported this marketing season.

UK Potato chips manufacturer Kent Crisps is staying true to their signature approach of working with Kent producers to create classic flavours with a local twist: their latest flavour - Lamb and Rosemary - is made using grass fed Romney lamb from Kent Shepherd.

Lamb Weston teams up with The Sausage Man to inspire operators with innovative, celebratory dishes for the coming summer months. And Chef Philli Armitage-Mattin has joined the two companies to help kick-off the collaboration in style!

New research to tackle the growing scourge of Potato Cyst Nematode (PCN) has been identified by a specialist Scottish Government working group.

The harvest of the famous Jersey Royal potato has started on the island, the initial volumes are small and are sold via wholesale markets in London and Southampton, before moving across the rest of the United Kingdom.

A move to cut down on food waste by selling unwashed potatoes – and in doing so potentially double their shelf-life - is being launched by Tesco.

The joint venture behind Mackie’s Crisps is investing £750,000 (just over 1 million USD) in a new production facility to scale up production of a new snack brand.

As part of the company’s ongoing development programme, Tong Engineering has unveiled several updates to its range of vegetable polishing equipment.

Our new marketing campaign 'The new packed lunch' has already proven to be successful by catching a spot in the top ten UK Twitter trending topics on 9 February 2021.

UK Potato Storage Specialist Crop Systems Limited is responding to major growth in its business with further investment at its factory and new appointments, including Tony Barnes as Sales Manager.

Agri-Food Chain Platform KisanHub has launched Paperless Load Passports. This solution allows users to manage the movement of products through the supply chain all on their mobile devices.

AHDB Head of Export Trade Development for Potatoes, Patrick Hughes spoke of the importance of the EU market to seed potato growers and how he was hoping for a rapid resolution to the prohibition on UK exports to the Continent.

To ensure the research AHDB funds has the biggest impact and benefit for the potato industry, they work to connect growers with researchers and scientists with initiatives like their Strategic Spot Farms.

The Scottish seed potato industry has harnessed willing buyers in Europe to support their efforts to get the European Commission to re-think its current ban on the importation of UK seed stocks – yet the chances of success remain 50/50.

AHDB is launching a new marketing campaign this February, with the amazing jacket potato (baked potato) at its heart.