European agribusiness representatives visit to establish potato links

“The James Hutton Institute is globally recognised as a centre of excellence for potato research and James Hutton Limited manages some of the largest, commercially funded, potato breeding programmes in the UK"

James Hutton Limited, the James Hutton Institute’s commercial subsidiary, has welcomed two delegations of European visitors to the Institute’s Dundee site as part of efforts to share knowledge and ideas with a huge variety of interest groups across the globe.

A group of 20 visitors from the German-Irish Chamber of Industry and Commerce visited the Institute as part of a market research trip to investigate the potato supply chain in the UK and Ireland. The German-Irish Chamber of Industry and Commerce was founded in 1980 to promote and facilitate bilateral trade and investment between Germany and Ireland.   

After a brief introduction to the Institute’s work, the delegation visited the Commonwealth Potato Collection (CPC), the UK’s genebank of landrace and wild potatoes, which is held in trust at the Dundee site. They also took a tractor tour of the site and received a brief outline of the commercial potato breeding work undertaken by James Hutton Limited. 

Similarly, a group of 25 members of FIWAP, a non-profit organisation responsible for the promotion and improvement of potatoes and seed potatoes in the southern Belgian area of Wallonia, visited the Institute’s site in Dundee to gain a close understanding of the Scottish potato seed and exporting industries, hearing directly from their Scottish counterparts.

Besides visiting the CPC, the Belgian delegation was offered an overview of commercial potato breeding programmes at James Hutton Limited, an introduction to the newly launched PotatoSize app and seminars on the research and studies of potato pathology and potato genetics being conducted by Hutton scientists. Their visit was organised by AHDB Potatoes.

Dr Jonathan Snape, Commercial Director of James Hutton Limited and host of both delegations, commented: “It is a pleasure to be able to host such large groups of visitors and to make new links.

“The James Hutton Institute is globally recognised as a centre of excellence for potato research and James Hutton Limited manages some of the largest, commercially funded, potato breeding programmes in the UK, so we do have a lot to offer visitors with an interest in the science that supports a successful potato industry. 

“I do hope our visitors enjoyed their time at the Institute and have left with a strong flavour of the ground-breaking work being done here to support the global potato industry and the underpinning science that makes this possible.”