As Potato Council and the GB seed potato sector prepare for next months’ Potato Europe event in Germany, recent export statistics confirm that GB seed potatoes continue to be in demand around the world, with the 2013/14 figures revealing a new seed exports record from Britain.

Potato Council has been working hard to raise the profile of potatoes amongst Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), promoting their health and sustainability credentials and creating awareness of the significant contribution they make to the Scottish economy.

Cheshire potato growers gathered at Aston Grange Farm near Runcorn, at the end of June 2014, to discuss the opportunities for the local crop at Potato Council’s Cheshire Potato event.

Potato Council’s One Voice campaign is fast gaining momentum, with people from all sectors of industry getting involved and doing whatever they can to help spread positive messages about potatoes.

The West Midlands Potato Day attracted a good crowd of industry visitors on 19 June when potato grower Jonathan Bubb of J.M. Bubb & Sons hosted Potato Council’s technical field day at Lynn South Farm, Newport, Shropshire, where they grow around 400 acres of potatoes.

In the United Kingdom the value of fresh potato category is growing with a 3.8% rise over the last year, while the volume of fresh potatoes sold has dropped by 8.0%. The Potato Council is figuring out what can be done about it.

A vision for the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) was outlined by the Food and Farming Minister George Eustice and the new AHDB chairman Peter Kendall when they addressed AHDB employees.

This week saw the Potato Council division of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of its Sutton Bridge Crop Storage Research (SBCSR) facility, near Spalding in Lincolnshire, United Kingdom

Potato Council acts as a knowledge house for Government raising the importance of the potato. Two years since this work programme started there has been a real increase in knowledge about potatoes amongst parliamentarians with 83% now regarding potatoes as an important crop.

Potato Council, Horticultural Development Company (HDC) and the Commercial Horticultural Association (CHA) returned in force to the Fruit Logistica to build their promotion of seed potatoes from Britain and raise the profile of the diversity and quality of UK horticultural crops.

Potato Council’s latest campaign to encourage shoppers to trade up from generic whites to a named potato variety has been a great success.

Supporting the chipping sector is high on the agenda for Potato Council all year round, but with Chip Week (17 – 23 February) just around the corner, the team is more focused than ever on helping chips shops improve the quality of their chips and drive sales as a result.

Potato Council is calling on the UK industry to help promote the ‘Natural Goodness’ of potatoes, by applying for a new Potato Council car sticker which is now available to all its levy payers.

Potato yield increases in the United Kingdom have stuttered to a halt in a similar manner to cereals in recent years and experts believe improving the state of British potato-growing soils will be vital to drive yields higher again.

Following the successful first-time collaboration by the British potato and horticulture sector at Fruit Logistica 2013, Potato Council, Horticultural Development Company (HDC) and the Commercial Horticultural Association (CHA) return with their industries to this massive event in February 2014.

The potato industry flocked to Harrogate for BP2013, with organisers reporting a 20 per cent increase on the usual 6,000 attendance.

Chip Week has become one of the biggest awareness weeks in the calendar, but, as important as it is, it is still only one aspect of the work that Potato Council does to support the sector.

Educating children about the importance of food, farming and healthy eating is a priority for Potato Council and the ‘Grow Your Own Potatoes’ project does just that. Now entering its tenth year, the project has reached over 2 million children to date.