Scotlands Rural College (SRUC), Science & Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) and The James Hutton Institute, the three major Scottish knowledge, consultancy and research centres for potatoes in Scotland, have launched a new collaborative potato initiative for Scotland.

The new partnership brings together the combined complementary skills and outputs of the three institutions to create a world-leading centre for all aspects of potato science, knowledge exchange and consultancy activity. The strategic partnership creates a platform for cooperation with all external stakeholders in the sector, making research rapidly accessible to the industry and helping drive new, innovative research.by linking industry partners to academic expertise.

Dr Philip Burgess heads Scottishpotatoes.org on behalf of the partner organisations. Philip’s role is to drive the initiative forward and to advocate for the industry, providing leadership for the consortium’s potato activity both nationally and internationally and developing international research and consultancy activities. ScottishPotatoes.org initiative seeks to develop whole industry initiatives around key industry challenges, and accelerate the development and uptake of new technical solutions.