Innovation Visit- Potato Innovation and Sustainability- Scotland- January 2027

The study trip will enable growers to see innovative optical grading systems to improve consistency of grading and reduce labour requirement.  Also on the storage and handling theme they will see energy efficiency including integration of renewable energy into potato storage systems and the use of new storage systems to manipulate in field growth characteristics.  From a field growing perspective growers will see sustainable practices including management of PCN through rotation and resistant varieties regenerative farming practices incorporated in potato systems.  On the management side one visit will focus on the use of farm management software and crop benchmarking

Innovative practices that will be seen include:

• AI driven optical crop grading systems in a range of settings.
• Ethylene fogging for crop storage and crop management
• Management of PCN through Resistant Varieties
• Renewable energy and efficiency in potato storage.
• Rainwater harvesting
• Regenerative potato production
• Use of farm management software to benchmark production.