Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW JULY/AUGUST 2022 13 POTATO MARKETS S COTTISH potato industry professional Claire Hodge has published a new Nuffield Farming report which looks at how connectivity in the seed potato supply chain can be improved, after spending time studying the markets globally. Findings from the report, which was sponsored by the MacRobert Trust, were initially presented during the 2020 Nuffield Farming Virtual Mini-Conference Series and the 2021 Nuffield Farming Annual Conference, and have now been made available to the potato industry as a whole. Claire travelled Kenya, India, South America, USA, and Europe for much of Connectivity in the supply chain New Nuffield Farming report makes recommendations for seed potato market improvements. her study, speaking with experts across the supply chain in both emerging and established markets. She explored different supply chain frameworks and established how digital tools and business structures support connectivity in the supply chain. “I chose to travel to emerging markets such as Kenya, India and South America, where the population is high, and potatoes offer an opportunity to increase production in these emerging markets, where the number of growers is high and many of the supply chain frameworks are in their infancy. I compared these to well-established markets in the USA, the Netherlands and the UK, where, in contrast, numbers of growers are falling and supply chains are multi-level and complex,” Claire states in the report. “Throughout my travels, I observed that connectivity was not just about the framework of the supply chain but, most importantly, about the mindset of the people within it,” said Claire. “I found that the global potato industry is full of opportunities and is constantly expanding in its ability to connect. “On reflection, the UK has a complex supply chain that has become technically detailed in order to produce a consistent product. These chains are often linear and not circular, and there is a need to ➜ Spraying in India.