British Potato Council
| Motto | Supporting the British Potato Industry |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1997 |
| Legal status | Division of a non-departmental public body |
| Purpose | Potatoes in GB |
| Location |
|
|
Region served
|
Great Britain |
|
Membership
|
2,900 potato farmers and 400 potato distributors/purchasers |
|
Director
|
Mrs Margaret Mogridge |
|
Main organ
|
The Board of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board(Chairman - John Godfrey CBE) |
|
Parent organization
|
Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board |
|
Budget
|
£6m (from the levy) |
| Website | www.potato.org.uk |
The Potato Council is an organisation that aims to develop and promote Britain's potato industry. Previously an independent non-departmental public body, it has been a division of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board since 1 April 2008.
Set up to replace the Potato Marketing Board, the Potato Council was originally known as the Potato Industry Development Council, and then the British Potato Council until April 2008, it was merged with other similar levy-funded organisations to form the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board in 2008, where it operates as a specialist division focused on the potato industry.
It was set up by the Potato Industry Development Council Order 1997. It levied farmers under powers originally delegated from the Industrial Organisation and Development Act 1947 but now through powers granted to its parent organisation. It was also funded through the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) and the National Assembly for Wales Agriculture Department (NAWAD).
The Potato Council works to help improve the competitiveness and sustainability of potato growers, while also promoting the alleged health benefits of potatoes. The Council invests in teaching children about healthy eating and showing how potatoes are grown. Many of the industry's farmers spend time working with children in schools and on their farms, showing how they plant, grow and harvest their crops.
Its publication is the Potato Weekly, which mainly lists current prices of potatoes per tonne. The Council visits agricultural shows and extols the virtues and health benefits of potatoes, with a resident cook on hand.
Its main functions are:
The Potato Council raises all of its money from a compulsory levy paid to AHDB by potato growers and seed merchants and receives no funding from the government. The grower levy is £42.62 per hectare and the purchaser levy is £0.1858 per tonne. Its main base is at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire, and there is a Scottish office in Newbridge in Midlothian and an experimental station (SBEU) in Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire.
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