•
INTERVIEW
•
THE
VEGETABLE
FARMER •
JANUARY 2017
I
t was back at the time when
the Industrial Revolution
was in full flow that the
humble potato started to really
find its way into people lives.
Urbanworkers facedwith long
working hours in dirty factories
were the first real champions of
the cropPotatoes were grown in
small backyards and used as a
cheap source of calories and
nutrients to keep them
energised.
You could never imagine all
those years ago, that the talk in
2016would be centred around
efficient growing through the
use of intelligent and innovative
mechanisation. But the use of
automationwill likely be the
thing that takes the sector into
the next century and beyond.
For many years, the British
Potato Council (BPC) very
effectively took up themantle
of looking after the industry’s
interests and now it is the turn
of AHDB Potatoes. Rob Clayton
has been on that journey for
many years, first with the BPC,
and now as Potatoes Sector
Director at AHDB Potatoes.
Challenges
The organisation has recently
produced a comprehensive
business plan for 2016-2019.
This talks about the twomain
challenges being focused on
creating a situationwhere
growers can profitability and
efficiently produce crops that
compete withmainland Europe
and can offset imports, against
a backdrop of reduced pesticide
availability and intense
regulation such as theWater
Framework Directive.
Also, it says there is an
intention to drive consumption
for all potato formats and seed
through innovation andmarket
development. Trade in general
during 2015was relatively firm,
and returns for growers were
reported to be ‘marginally
above’ the cost of production,
according to AHDB Potatoes.
The AHDB Potatoes business
plan also addresses some
important strategic themes for
2016/17 and beyond. These are
to boost competitiveness and
sustainability as well as grow
market opportunities through a
series of measures that include
improving technical and
business efficiency.
“There is always going to be a
challenge around increasing
consumption,”Mr Clayton tells
The Vegetable Farmer. “There
has been amodest recovery in
the last year and steady growth
in the processing sector. But
despite this, we are still facing a
fiercely competitive
carbohydrates sector and a
trend towards amuchmore
globalised diet. Brexit will mean
we will have to carefully
consider what challenges there
will be in terms of trade
agreements, whether or not we
will have to deal with tariffs
and our ability to negotiate on
a bi-lateral basis.”
Opportunities
But as well as challenges
there aremany opportunities
on the horizon as well. “The
biggest single opportunity has
to be around increasing the
volume of British crop going
into the processing sector. We
have the ability to really take
this on through our approach
to highly effective cost control.”
There is also the opportunity
for more export of seeds
underpinned by the UK’s
strength in the area of plant
health regulations and
standards. “There are two trains
of thoughts here; howwe
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Sample riddles
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Perforatedwasher belts
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A FRESH PERSPECTIVE FOR THE
POTATO INDUSTRY
AHDB Potatoes is helping drive efficiency and productivity
on behalf of growers and other stakeholders in the
industry.
Adrian Tatum
talks to its Sector Director, Rob
Clayton about planning for what the industry’s future
might look like.
Rob Clayton, AHDB Potatoes Sector Director.
