AHDB official: ‘Brexit could be a mixed blessing for potato sector’

While the wider potato industry might be much less exposed to some of the post-Brexit trade risks which could be disastrous for other sectors of agriculture, the industry still faces many challenges in the coming years. Speaking at the country’s foremost sector event, Potatoes in Practice (PiP), held outside Dundee yesterday, David Swales, head of strategic insight with the Agricultural & Horticultural Development Board (AHDB), said that, while most other areas of agriculture needed frictionless trade with the EU to remain viable, “a bit of friction” would actually be good for ware growers. “The domestic market is very important for those who grow ware crops – and as the country also imports a lot of value added processed potato products, import substitution would offer considerable opportunities for this sector of the UK potato industry,” he said. However, he admitted that the situation was slightly different for Scotland, where a deal of the focus was on seed production. Read the full story in The Scotsman