AHDB Potatoes, previously known as the Potato Council, is a

trade organisation A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. Through collaboration between compani ...

focusing on the promotion of the potato industry in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. Previously an independent

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...

, it has been a division of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board since 1 April 2008. AHDB Potatoes' 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 Midlothian (; ) is registration county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh council ar ...

and an experimental station (SBEU) in

Sutton Bridge Sutton Bridge is a town and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A17 road, north from Wisbech and west from King's Lynn. The village includes a commercial dock on the west bank of the ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. Its publication is the ''Potato Weekly'', which mainly lists current prices of potatoes per tonne. It visits

agricultural show An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which selective breeding, bree ...

History

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.

Potato Marketing Board

The organisation was originally established in 1934 as the Potato Marketing Board by the ''Potato Marketing Scheme (Approval) Order (Great Britain) 1933'', under powers given to potato producers under the Agricultural Marketing Acts of 1931 and 1933. The scheme was mainly set up to put an end to the unstable market conditions of the 1920s and 1930s. The board was to regulate the marketing of the industry by registering producers and prohibit sales by unregistered producers. Upon the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Ministry of Food took control of all agricultural production. With the passing of the ''Potato Marketing Scheme 1933 (Modification and Suspension) Order 1939'', all of the board's activities were suspended. In 1955, the ''Potato Marketing Scheme (Approval) Order 1955'' repealed the previous order and created a new, similar entity. Amendments to the scheme commenced in 1962, 1971, 1976, 1985, 1987 and 1990. The board was largely producer-elected; however, it had a few ministerial appointees. Many of its powers were delegated to committees such as the Executive Committee and the Retailers' Committee. In 1958, the board bought the former RAF base, RAF Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire, and set up an agricultural experiment station, now known as Sutton Bridge Crop Storage Research.

British Potato Council

In 1997, under the ''Potato Industry Development Council Order 1997'', the name was changed to the ''British Potato Council''. 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). In 2005, a report by Daniel Lewis from the Efficiency in Government Unit (jointly sponsored by the

Centre for Policy Studies The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a centre-right think tanks, think tank and advocacy group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," lo ...

and the Economic Research Council), called ''The Essential Guide to British Quangos'', looked into the role of quangos in British politics and potential efficiency savings that could have been made. The report named the British Potato Council as one of the nine "most useless quangos". In 2008, it was merged with other similar levy-funded organisations to form the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), where it operates as a specialist division focused on the potato industry. In 2007, the British Potato Council received £6 million in funding from British farmers. Despite this, the organization had to drop the word ''British'' from its name due to EU rules. This was to avoid the impression that it receives state subsidies.

Agricultural experimental station

The

agricultural experiment station An agricultural experiment station (AES) or agricultural research station (ARS) is a scientific research center that investigates difficulties and potential improvements to food production and agribusiness. Experiment station scientists work with ...

is located alongside the

River Nene The River Nene ( or ) flows through the counties of Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk in Eastern England from its sources in Arbury Hill in Northamptonshire. Flowing Northeast through East England to its mouth at Lutt ...

between the Sutton Bridge Power Station and the A17 road. It occupies the former RAF Sutton Bridge airfield site that was acquired in 1958 by the Ministry of Agriculture. The National Archives (The National Archives document reference No.: FY): Records of the Potato Marketing Boards, 1933–1997.

References

External links