Potato Review

POTATO MARKETS Ivette had been involved in setting up a national blight monitoring service which was helping farmers manage field risk and advise growers what action to take. This programme followed in the footsteps of an initiative set up in the UK in the early 2000s, ‘Fight Against Blight’. However the Chileans took it further by associating each area to a risk code, which allowed farmers to know when to act. Claire said this was a great example of connecting people with data by using digital platforms. “For this reason, internet poverty is rising up the political agenda in all countries because of the power of educating people it can bring with it,” she said. “Building these strategic partnerships proved extremely powerful for the farmers that I met, where they had trust in sharing information and could then look forward to building their businesses. An important element to this, which was out of their control but proved to be critical to success, was understanding the markets that they were supplying.” The Chairman of the Chilean National Potato Association told Claire the challenges to the potato industry in his country are not on the farm but in the country’s geography, and there is limited access to external markets. “The domestic market population is small, whilst oceans and mountain ranges add large transports costs to access any export markets. This transport disadvantage is exacerbated by the lack of investment in Chile’s processing facilities which means limited facilities can process crops, to extend their shelf life for export,” he said. Furthermore, shipping containers that arrive from Europe and the US to take back other Chilean produce such as cherries, avocados and wine, arrive containing processed potato products that the Chilean growers struggle to compete with. Certified potato seed use around the world is below 10% and emerging markets such as India, Brazil and Kenya suffer from plant health policies which restrict the import of seed potato varieties – despite the fact that newly developed varieties often offer the grower a higher yield or protection from pest and disease. Claire said the potential for potato growers in Kenya would be increased by greater access to higher yielding varieties e.g. from Scotland. Meanwhile, in India, she was made aware that seed fraud is a major problem, with businesses that invest in innovation and creating high standards for their product becoming a target for scams. “Where limited regulation occurs on the ground and it is hard to police seed quality certification, the integrity of seed marketing can be majorly corrupted,” she states. ` Recommended action points: Claire’s report makes the following key recommendations: • There should be a focus on types of information that can be shared without losing commercial advantages. • Shared goals and incentives should be created through the whole supply chain. • There should be shared investment in technology and innovation. • Transparency in production data should be increased to create value for all parties The report states that the UK potato industry can lead the future of potato production through global collaboration. Nuffield Farming member countries span the globe, with established programmes in Australia, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Kenya, and Zimbabwe; Associate countries also include Brazil, USA, South Africa, and Southern Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan). Sponsors are drawn from across agriculture and the food industry. To view a copy of the full report, visit www.nuffieldscholar.org/reports or download from bit.ly/3w0vI6D. “Apical seed is a technique not often used in the UK market. However, when access to quality clean seed is limited, this propagation technique is an affordable approach.” Nuffield presentation in 2021 www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW JULY/AUGUST 2022 17