Modern cooks too lazy to peel a potato?

A reluctance by so-called cooks to peel a spud is causing a crisis for Westcountry potato farmers, the first day of the Bath and West Show heard.

National Farmers’ Union Somerset County chairman Nick Bragg is poised to lose more than £70 on each of the 8,000 tonnes of potatoes he is growing in the county because the price has crashed.

NFU spokesman for the South West Ian Johnson said the potatoes might end up helping to fuel an anaerobic digester plant because it would not be worth the cost of cleaning and bagging them.

Mr Bragg, one of a dwindling band of commercial potato farmers in the South West believes the rise of ready meals is making it uneconomic to grow potatoes to be sold as a fresh vegetable.

But he is doing his bit to educate the cooks of the future about the importance of knowing what goes into their food, taking part in a scheme involving 38 South Somerset Schools learning about food production and preparation.

His concerns about a drop in potato sales, however, were backed up last week at the Devon County Show by Tesco’s director of agriculture Tom Hind who admitted sales of fresh potatoes had fallen in their stores – along with sales of red meat, particularly beef.