I just got back from Potato 2015. This is a biennial event in the potato calendar and is held in Harrogate at the new International Centre.

It is mainly organised by the AHDB Potatoes (the old Potato Council that is the levy board for potatoes in GB). Visitors get to snoop around the various exhibits and inspect some very large boy’s toy’s in the machinery section.  These toys get bigger and more costly every time they have the event. You can catch up with the latest research and collect some very useful “how to” leaflets culled from research results.  You can even attend one of the many seminars on crop production if you can fit it in.

It also gives potato people the chance to talk to officials in AHDB, SASA (Science Advice for Scottish Agriculture who maintain nuclear stocks of all of our varieties as tissue cultures) and APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency who help to get our seed crops certified).  But it is also a great opportunity to catch up with old potato friends; I was amazed at the number of Bangor University graduates I met who now have great jobs in some aspect of the potato industry.