‘BRINGING together the right sort of people’ is how the British Potato 2025 event, held in Harrogate before Christmas, has been described by many who attended.
The event drew a cross section of people from across the industry, including growers, breeders, agronomists, packers, processors, researchers, nutrition specialists and innovators.
Many were there to discover ways to help them address challenges, and made good use of the knowledge offered by expert speakers and those on exhibition stands.
The seminars, organised by GB Potatoes, proved popular, and covered late blight, what has been happening in the markets, securing the potato’s place on the plate, Scotland’s PCN Decision support, future changes in the UK’s supply of seed potatoes and a commercial talk.
One of the big draws was Dr David Hughes, an Emeritus Professor of Food Marketing at Imperial College London, who updated delegates in his seminar on trends in the food retail sector, highlighting that for many consumers, price is still the primary decision-making factor. Known as “Dr Food”, David is a much sought-after speaker at international conferences and seminars on global food industry issues, particularly consumer and retail trends. He has lived and worked in Europe, North America, the Caribbean, Africa and South East Asia.
Seminars on late blight also grew particular interest, with Dr David Cooke of the James Hutton Institute, who manages Fight Against Blight (FAB) focusing on cultivar resistance and the troublesome EU46 clone.
