Finnish potato growers visit
A belief that the UK potato market was more consumer focused than the Finnish one, brought a group of 25 visitors from Finland, all involved in the potato industry, to visit R S Cockerill on Tuesday 25th March. The visit was organised by ProAgria, a nationwide advisory organisation, in conjunction with HZPC UK Ltd, to learn more about the UK market.
Juhani Rahko , the leader of the Finnish Group explained: ‘It was inspiring to see all the different potato products in the shop. In Finland , unfortunately , we have to sell to two big chains and their objective is to sell bulk potatoes at a low price; there is currently no room for special products, value added at a higher price, lower volume’.
During their visit to the UK, the group saw a wide range of potato products, especially as processing in Finland is marginal, and the majority of production is for table potatoes, peeled and also some pre-cooked product. The group visited R S Cockerill (York) Ltd, an integrated business managing all aspects of the processing supply chain, in addition to supplying a broad range of fresh potato outlets. As well as growing some of its own supply, the business supplies seed, specialist agronomic and technical support, and transport facilities to its supply base and primary processing customers.
After hearing about the background to the many functions of the business and its development, the UK market overall, and the comparison with the situation in Finland, the group toured the pack house at Providence Business Park. In recent years, considerable investment has been made in keeping up to date on innovation and technology, concentrated on high volume weight grading. Investment has also gone into reducing energy costs, and elevating the organisations environmental credentials.
Feedback from the visitors was that there are advantages in growing potatoes in Finland, late blight, and Potato Cyst Nematode are less of an issue, but the range of marketing opportunities available in the UK far exceeds anything they are used to.