Potato Review

8 POTATO REVIEW JULY/AUGUST 2020 GROWERS UPDATE G rampian Growers, the farmer- owned co-operative based near Montrose in Scotland, has announced that it won’t allow the current Covid-19 pandemic, or uncertainty over Brexit, to divert its focus on future investment and innovation. e organisation continues to invest on behalf of suppliers and customers and says it is always looking for new, innovative products and services to aid decision making and increase returns to seed potato growers. It’s been a busy year so far for Grampian Growers. e joint venture breeding programme, GPS, of which Grampian Growers is a partner, has been carrying out extensive trials throughout the UK to learn about the di erent agronomy and husbandry requirements of its selections. is year ve GPS varieties showing drought tolerant characteristics are also being tested in Israel to see how they perform under hot climate conditions. Having last year teamed up with SAC Consulting and SoilEssentials in a project designed to use the new cloud-based model Tuberzone, this season Grampian Growers has continued to fund a smaller spin-o from Tuberzone in its commercial Gemson seed crops, entitled Targeted Sampling. Using GPS, satellite imagery, weather information and crop zoning will give Grampian Growers speci c dig points for optimum timing of test digs. At the same time Grampian Growers’ wholly owned subsidiary, Bennett Seed Exports, is widening its reach, with sales of Scottish seed to Morocco, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, ailand and Indonesia, and the co-operative is on target to unveiling a major new French variety as part of its involvement at the variety demonstrations centred around Coldham, Crowland and Caythorpe, still scheduled to take place on Wednesday and ursday, September 9th and 10th. Variety showings At Coldham, alongside12 selected European varieties from partners in Holland, France and Denmark, Grampian Growers will show its most advanced material from the GPS programme, which has been facilitated by Focussing on future innovation Launch of newsalad variety, ongoing trials in theUKand beyond, andmore tech take-up is keepingGrampianGrowers busy this year. James Hutton Limited near Dundee. GPS now has 13 promising varieties across all markets, some with dual PCN resistance, and will be entering two crisping varieties for National Listing later this year. All 13 varieties will be on show at the Coldham Variety Days and GPS also hopes to showcase its varieties at Potato Europe 2021 in the Netherlands. Grampian Growers represents the varieties of the Netherlands company, Agroplant Holland BV, a family-owned and run potato business established in 1924. e Agroplant breeding programme is focused on the fresh, crisping and chipping sectors. Better disease resistance, sustainability and storability is the aim. On show from Agroplant will be the “New technologies will play an ever-increasing part in the industry as times move on and growers look for innovative tools to back up their decision making.” Caption: Caption: