UK: Putting spuds on the SPot

SCOTLAND’S Strategic Potato Farm (SPot) is getting ready to reveal its full trials programme to the potato industry at its next Open Day. Organised via AHDB, the nationwide SPot Farms are intended to drive research into practice through the demonstration of cutting-edge techniques – appropriate to the region and market sector – in a commercial-scale growing environment. Bruce Farms in Perthshire joined the SPot network last year with an initial focus on cultivations, but 2017 has seen its work significantly expanded. AHDB knowledge exchange manager Claire Hodge explained: “We were able to launch SPot Farm Scotland a little early last year, which allowed us to carry out the initial cultivation trials. These threw up some exciting results which we will share with growers at the Open Day on Tuesday July 18. More