Potato Review

14 POTATO REVIEW JULY/AUGUST 2022 POTATO MARKETS connect the seed producer at either end of the chain, to researchers and the consumer at the other, so that the whole industry can respond to challenges and change faster.” Before embarking on her Nuffield research trip, Claire, who hails from a farming family in the Scottish borders, worked for potato grower and packer, Greenvale AP, and has also worked for the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB). From her learnings Claire makes recommendations that the Scottish potato industry should consider redesigning its current structure to make better use the technology available globally and address consumer demands. “Now is a good time for the Scottish potato industry to establish how potatoes will be grown in the future and be part of the growth in potatoes as a global food. This will require strong connectivity throughout the industry with a focus on customers, the environment, policy, technology and the economics of production,” she said. Objectives The objectives of the study were to explore how connectivity in the potato industry impacts farming systems and to identify strategic partnerships and factors which will enhance connectivity through the potato supply chain. Claire said: “Through my career in the potato sector I have been fortunate to have visited and learnt from countries with standards and systems that are similar to well- established ones in the UK. For my Nuffield travel, I wanted to ask new questions and consider different ways of potato production. “To do this, it was important to meet with seed growers and their customers and all the people involved in delivering the product on the shelf. It was therefore important to capture people’s views from a wide range of positions: Farmers, researcher, lobbyists, politicians, marketeers and consumers.” Potatoes and the Environment In emerging markets, where production systems are low input and reliant on manual labour, there is a greater opportunity to integrate systems more closely with environmental considerations, Claire states in the report, citing examples in Punjab, India and Kenya. “During my time in Punjab I met with researchers, students and farmers who were conscious that current systems are unsustainable. They see that potatoes are a crop that could provide new opportunities as potatoes rely on much lower levels of water and offer high nutritional output. “Potatoes are planted after rice where the seasons allow multiple crops in one year. This utilises established irrigation infrastructure and produces food with the highest calories per litre of water compared with maize, rice and wheat. As with all crops, yield to water efficiency is dependent on water application timing. “Additionally, this improved efficiency of land use by increasing potato production will need to be supported by seed supply to match demand. With potatoes now beginning to be seen as a valuable crop which can contribute to meeting world food demand, the potato industry has a real opportunity to promote, foster and support that demand.” In Kenya, she was particularly struck by the difference in approach growers have to land development. Some of the findings now outlined in the report had previously been presented during the 2020 Nuffield Farming Virtual Mini-Conference Series and more recently at the 2021 Nuffield Farming Annual Conference. Seed potatoes in Brazil. Planting in India.