Commodity Watch
The biennial potato variety event will take place at Greenmount campus on the 3rd December 2014. As with the 2012 event this will be supported by the UFU and this year will use the event to promote a recent industry campaign to reverse the declining trend in potato consumption.
Chairing the morning sessions will be UFU Deputy President Ivor Ferguson who said: “Potatoes 2014 is a major event, covering a range of topics, delivered by top industry speakers. The event will focus on market trends in potato consumption, the impact of CAP reform and the latest farming technologies. This event will be very beneficial to potato growers however, it is imperative that we get the buy in from our growers if we are to overcome the decline in consumption.”
As with the 2012 event the proceedings will begin with a series of three talks the first of these will be from Keith Johnston (DARD) who will outline the shape of the new CAP payments due to be implemented from 2015. This will be followed by Lorcan Burke from Bord Bia who will provide an insight into consumer trends in potato markets and will also explain some of the industry attempts to reverse this trend south of the border. Finishing of the morning session will be Ian Duff who will present the plans developed by a local industry committee to promote potato consumption within Northern Ireland.
Over lunch growers will have the opportunity to view new varieties currently being developed at AFBI loughgall and some of the most promising varieties emerging from the Crossnacreevy recommended list trials. There will also be an opportunity to talk to industry representatives and discuss the impacts of changes to CAP support regimes with members of the CAFRE Crops and Business Development teams.
During the afternoon there will be a series of optional seminars on Potato related issues. The first of these will be Dr Mark Stalham from the NIAB Cambridge University Farms potato trials unit. Mark has recently been involved in a series of trials examing the effect of various cultivation methods on potato yields and soil structure and will discuss the relevance of these trials in practical potato production.
This will be followed by Vincent Lumb, Pan European Potato enterprise Ltd (PEP) who will discuss the lessons to be learned from the success of the Scottish seed potato sector and the potential opportunities for the Northern Ireland industry. In the final seminar Rodney Martin from DARD will outline the impacts of the changes to the EU Seed Potato Directive.
The event will begin at 10.00am and the last seminar will conclude at 4pm. The event is free to attend and lunch will be available to purchase from the college cyber cafe or Manor Restaurant. We would like to encourage all potato growers to attend what should be an informative event for anyone involved in the potato sector.
