News on Potato Varieties and Seed from United Kingdom

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.

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.

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.

The Scottish Government has said the seed potato industry is facing disaster through the Brexit deal. Exports of seed potatoes - a vital Scottish export - will not be part of a trade deal between the UK and EU

Next World Potato Congress webinar will be held on December 15, 2020, when Mark Taylor of the James Hutton Institute will speak on 'Developing the Pipeline from Genomics to New Products'

With the coronavirus pandemic hitting the UK domestic potato trade, we have estimated a 1% drop year-on-year in the GB potato area for 2020/21, with the provisional area standing at 119Kha.

Farmer shareholders at Haverfordwest-based Puffin Produce have relinquished control of the co-operative in a management buyout deal.