Monday 6th February saw the first board meeting of GB Potatoes (GBP). The board made up of representatives from across the GB potatoes industry and including some of the members of the original working group, met to put in place the governance required for the organisation, as well as starting to bring together ideas for what the organisation should focus on.
Time was taken to look at the future direction of GBP. The inaugural Chair Mark Taylor explained that for the organisation to be able to represent the industry with authority, the number of members needed to be able to demonstrate that the group had a mandate for representation.
Mounting pressures on potato production
“GBP has the opportunity to raise political awareness in a way no other existing body can do today,” Mark said. “We must make the voice of the potato sector heard. We are not just facing a ‘single issue’ but an increasingly long list of pressures and impacts that potentially will change UK potato production forever. We need to act as a collective group now!”
Need for a unified voice
Mark Taylor further said, “There is a need for a voice within the potato industry to represent all areas. GB Potatoes aims to become that voice and to act as a hub to facilitate communication, provide a platform for members to work in partnership and to defend the reputation of the industry. To do this, we need growers and other industry partners to sign up now.
“Waiting to see how it goes will not work, as without the membership it cannot exist. It is a chicken and egg situation where in order to achieve our aims we need to have sufficient membership; without that membership we cannot achieve anything”.
Interested parties can get more details and register at https://www.gb-potatoes.co.uk/
Source: GB Potatoes
Related: Board member of GB Potatoes: ‘We need a strong champion for the Great British potato industry’
Photo: Courtesy Needpix
