Tam's Tall Tales

- Scots Spuds Bashed


Kerr's Pink Potatoes




Potato Farmers Launch Advertising and Educational Blitz

In contrast to the haggis bonanza, the potato is in deep water, with farm gate prices having dropped from £250 a ton three years ago to a measly £75. A bumper potato harvest across Northern Europe last year pushed down prices and reduced the value of spud sales. As one newspaper report commented: "Potatoes may have had their chips..." That contributed to an overall slump in Scottish agricultural income

Farmer Russell Brown said: 'The younger generation are not eating so many potatoes. They do not want to be bothered with peeling - convenience is king. Young people want oven-ready chips, ready meals and fast food such as pasta and rice. It is affecting us badly.'

To compete, potatoes on sale in supermarkets are now more likely to be on display after being well washed or even peeled and in plastic bags rather than having good earth clinging to them.

Potato farmers are trying to fight back and are applying for public funds to launch an 'advertising and educational blitz.' Despite the "government health advice to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day in Britain, it seems that it is not just lower sales of potatoes that hve gone down - Britons are buying less fruit and vegetables than they used to.

A spokesman for the Potato Council said: ' In their raw state there is nothing sexy about potatoes - where people fall in love with them is with what ends up on their plate. It is the "ugly duck" syndrome.'

I hope the farmers get their market share back - nothing to beat a good Ayrshire Early or Pentland Dell or Kerr's Pink!


Please give me whatever feedback comes to mind via tamfromrampant@gmail.com.

Tam O'Ranter
May 2014

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