Branston Limited

Potato farmers face many technical and commercial challenges, whilst operating within extremely tight financial margins. Climate, pests and diseases can compromise the quality of whole crops - gradual phasing out of many chemical controls leaves few options for intervention. At the same time there is a shortage of skilled labor, progressive climate change...

This project, led by Crop Intellect in collaboration with NIAB, SRUC, and Branston Ltd., aims to innovate foliar fertilizer technology for potato crops using photocatalysis. By converting air pollutants like NOx into beneficial nitrates, this advanced fertilizer significantly reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers while maintaining crop yield and qual...

Healthy, high-quality potatoes are the foundation of the UK's annual 4.8M tonne potato production. For seed potatoes, the SPCS (seed potato clarification scheme) inspects the quality of seed potatoes throughout the production chain to the point of sale. Unhealthy seed may result in downgrades, reducing income, or even total rejection of crop. Loss or infe...

The potato industry is worth £4.7Bn to the UK economy, but margins are tight and reducing farm waste is a high priority. The size profile of potatoes is crucial information; if the tubers are too small then they will not be within specifications for customers, while tubers that are too big lose market value and this can be a massive source of waste. Potat...

Potato farmers face many technical and commercial challenges, whilst operating within extremely tight financial margins. Pests and diseases can compromise the quality of whole crops - gradual phasing out of many chemical controls leaves few options for intervention. At the same time there is a shortage of skilled labour, progressive climate change is lead...

Stocking potatoes on supermarket shelves on a daily basis might seem like a simple and low impact task; however, producing potatoes in the UK is a high energy- and cost-intensive process with a high carbon footprint and damaging to the environment. From the intense cultivations that cause extreme soil damage, release large amounts of carbon, and destroy t...

In the UK, approximately 5.5 million tonnes of potatoes are grown every year with around 64% of growers in England (AHDB, 2021). Typically, 40% of fresh potatoes do not meet customer specification, with around 20% being attributed to damage from the field including pest. Wireworm is becoming a major pest issue in potato farming as chemicals previously use...

The UK's potato industry is valued at £778M (5.37Mt); the majority of potatoes are produced in England, with growers relying on high-quality, disease-free seed, which is primarily purchased from a specialised group of growers in Scotland. Whilst the Scottish climate is perfect for minimising many potato disease, it can encourage blackleg disease; the most...

Determining the correct date on which to harvest potatoes is one of the most critical decisions potato growers must make. If they lift their potatoes too early, they may be below the optimum size resulting in less than the maximum potential output being produced, if they lift them too late, they may be too large to meet buyer specifications making them un...

Bacterial pathogens of fresh produce are responsible for substantial losses through disease, damage and failure to meet market specifications, with no specific controls. Diseased crop and waste-food disposal, plus additional agricultural land and water required to achieve sufficient marketable yields all add up to increase the carbon footprint of food pro...

"Throughout the UK, over 5.5 million tonnes (mt) of potatoes are grown every year (AHDB data). Potatoes grow in different size and shapes and there is vast variability across the field. Currently there is no full set of quality and size data available at the time of harvest to maximise marketable yield. Only sample data is available which does not cover t...

"Potatoes are the UK's largest vegetable category, producing 5-6 million tonnes p.a. valued at approximately £1.1bn. Production is relatively stable but prices and supply are volatile, with underlying issues including weather effects and related to these, disease. Bacterial pathogens of potatoes in particular are responsible for substantial losses through...