Speaking at the second day of the World Potato Congress in Edinburgh, Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said, “For generations, potatoes have been a key crop for Scotland and, with Scottish seed potato production worth around £100 million, the same is true today. We have a worldwide reputation for producing high quality seed potatoes and 75 per cent of UK seed potatoes are produced in Scotland"."Scotland has seen a 70 percent increase since 2001-02 – reflect the huge amount of hard work put in by our exporters and growers. This year is set to be another record breaker for Scotland’s seed potato exports".
With over a month of the season still to go, e
xports of seed potatoes to non-EU countries have already hit an all-time high of 77,277 tonnes.“Huge efforts are also being made to maintain Scotland’s high-health reputation and I’m pleased that Scottish potatoes remain free from serious diseases such as Dickeya, brown rot and ring rot, although we must remain vigilant, continued Lochhead.
Robert Burns, the Potato Council’s Head of Seed and Exports, said, “We have a first class potato industry with a truly global reputation. The unique partnership of Government, Potato Council and our trade members has allowed our industry to flourish and we are now seeing the dividends in the year on year increases in export tonnages.“