Dr Food’s prescription for the potato industry

The potato industry will have to fight ever harder for its place on the plate. But there are still plenty of opportunities for the world’s favourite tuber. Those were the messages from globally-recognised food market expert Professor David Hughes at a seminar organised by GB Potatoes at the British Potato Event in Harrogate.

“The UK is not in the medal positions, but with potato consumption at around 70 kilograms a head a year, we do have Premier League status,” said Prof Hughes, or Dr Food as he’s widely known, at the seminar entitled Securing the potato’s place on the plate

“As with most countries the processed proportion is increasing and will continue to do so.”

He said that it is a surprise to many that the UK is only 63% self-sufficient in potatoes, when it has the ideal conditions for growing potatoes, but the crop is not alone as only 55% of fresh vegetables consumed in the UK are home-grown and 17% of fresh fruit.

“Despite the UK area being three-times that of the Netherlands and Belgium, much of the potatoes and chips we import are from those countries, with France also expanding its potato area rapidly.”

The way Gen Zs and As are consuming food in different ways requires food companies to respond and do so quickly.

“My young teen grandson’s generation are digital natives who define convenience completely different from their parents and certainly differently to me and my mother. Will they ever buy fresh meat or vegetables? If they do, they’ll need someone to hold their hand in the supermarket and they’ll need help preparing it!”

There is greater competition for store and digital shelf-space for potatoes and potato products, said Prof. Hughes.

“Fresh potatoes have never been a feast of retail theatre and the amount of space dedicated to them is shrinking as shoppers are increasingly looking for meal solutions.”

Some innovations are providing opportunities for potatoes and potato products, with companies such as McCain’s developing products for air fryers. However, the rapid adoption of GLP-1 weight control drugs does pose a challenge for carbohydrates as users will inevitably eat smaller portions.

“Health attributes are becoming more important for shoppers and if you have a bona fide health benefit then why not shout about it? Zespri Kiwi Fruit shouts about having three times as much vitamin C as an orange, John West is selling Immunity+ tuna and Joyvio Blueberries use the slogan: Do your eyes a favour. Meanwhile, bananas are famous for their potassium, but how many people know that a medium baked potato has twice the potassium as a medium-sized banana.”

The fight to keep potatoes on the plate will not get any easier, concluded Prof. Hughes, but potatoes do have a good story to tell.

The seminar also heard from Cedric Porter, editor of World Potato Markets. He described how European potatoes have made inroads into the UK, especially in processed form, with imports of frozen chips hitting an all-time high of more than 850,000 tonnes this year.

“Most of those products have come from Belgium and the Netherlands, but they are now seeing greater competition from new players in the market, including China and India. China has seen its chip or fry exports double to more than 350,000 tonnes over the last year and India’s have jumped 40% to 234,000 tonnes. Those are big numbers, but combined they are still little more than Belgium and the Netherlands export in a year.”

Summing up the seminar, chair James Young, vice president of agriculture at McCain and GB Potato board member said:

“GB Potatoes organised an insightful and thought-provoking seminar that stimulated a lot of debate in the room and afterwards.”