Over the last couple of years, I have been involved with an Innovate UK (IUK) funded research project focusing on improving storage conditions for potatoes. The fundamental aim is to improve the evenness of airflow in potato stores, allowing anti-sprouting agents to be distributed more evenly across the crop. The upshot of this is a crop of higher quality that stores for longer, meaning we, the consumer, can have potatoes all year round.

Not all potatoes are stored, however, with some going straight from the field to the supermarket via a packing house, where they are washed, graded and sorted. A recent BBC documentary (Supermarket Shopping Secrets skip to 39.40) featured a segment showing the process. Supermarkets are also interested in ensuring crop quality remains high, and have started to use ‘electronic potatoes’ filled with sensors to measure bumps and falls of the crop along its journey. The packing house featured in the programme is overseen by Branston, a major player in the potato industry and also one of the partners on the Innovate UK project. Vee Gururajan from Branston reported how they had used the data to identify problem areas and subsequently modified the process to reduce impact and damage to the crop, resulting in 30% less bruising.

Potatoes that are not good enough quality to be sold in a supermarket can be sent to a processing factory instead, which turns them into chips, crisps and such like. Even if a potato is not fit for consumption, it isn’t wasted. Branston has its own anaerobic digester (AD), which is fed with the waste crop, and then powers the factory. To find out how you could benefit from AD call us on 024 7669 8899 and talk to Oli or Elisa.

If you are interested in finding out more about the IUK project or how we can help you improve conditions in your potato store, have a chat to us at the Post-Harvest Showcase (Stand 32) at Sutton Bridge Crop Storage Research on Thursday 27 July or call me (Ed) on 024 7669 8887.