News on Potato Varieties and Seed from United Kingdom

Gordon MP Richard Thomson has welcomed confirmation from DEFRA that exports of seed potatoes from Scotland to Northern Ireland can restart from September 30, but has reacted with disbelief that the UK Government hasn’t raised the issue of exports to the EU since March.

The UK potato sector has been going through a better spell this year, but it did take a long time for the potato shortage to feed back to growers as there was still crop from the previous year on the market and the prices didn’t increase until around mid-May.

A new predictive method has shown a way to better select parents for new potato varieties, offering a blueprint for better potatoes and a way to speed up the production of higher yield varieties.

HZPC UK, a member of the Royal HZPC Group, a leader in potato varieties and seed production for the entire potato industry in the UK, announced the acquisition of TLC Potatoes, one of Scotland's leading minituber producers.

Defra and UKRI, as part of the Farming Innovation Programme, recently announced funding for 'Potato-LITE' – a multimillion pound project over four years

Gordon MP Richard Thomson has been advised by DEFRA that new requirements which will allow quality Scottish seed potatoes back into their Northern Irish markets are expected to be in place for autumn this year.

Launched in 2017, the potato variety Kingsman has developed quickly in popularity to become Scotland-based potato breeder Cygnet PB Ltd.’s first globally successful variety.

BP (British Potato), the key calendar date for all those operating in or supplying to the British potato industry, will have a new owner/organiser for its next event in November 2023.

An international research team featuring the James Hutton Institute has shed further light on the evolution and biology of potatoes as a genetically complex global food crop.

A meeting of Scottish seed potato growers in Forfar this week has agreed to set up a co-op to represent the sector. The new body, which is as yet unnamed, aims to deliver four outcomes for the seed potato sector

Potato industry leaders in Great Britain who are driving forward proposals for a new representative organization funded by voluntary subscriptions say they have a 'clear mandate' to make plans for the next stage.

On 9 December, the European Parliament will hold a public hearing on 'the impact of Brexit on European agricultural markets'. Europatat would like to use this opportunity to highlight the impact of no agreement on their sector.

Seed breeders work closely with potato growers to develop desirable agronomic traits, and with the wider supply chain for those crucial characteristics such as dry matter distribution, sugar formation, and storability.

Waitrose and Partners is set to be the first major retailer to sign up to The UK Robust Potato Pledge, which will see the group move away from the use of copper-based fungicides on organic fresh potatoes in order to combat late blight Phytophthora.

The home of the much-loved Pembrokeshire potato has added a new iconic product to supermarket shelves with the launch of the UK's first carbon-neutral potato.

Fish and chip shop owners and restaurateurs have been to see where one of their key produce comes from. Up to 60 varieties of newly harvested potatoes were on display.

NFU Scotland vice president Andrew Connon has described the post-Brexit cessation of seed exports to Europe as 'purely political and totally unacceptable'.

A trade row between Brussels and London threatened to erupt tonight after UK ministers banned the import of seed potatoes from EU countries in a victory for Scottish farmers.