Alarm at impending crop storage research facility closure
© AHDB Calls are growing to save the Sutton Bridge Crop Storage Research (SBCSR) centre from the smouldering embers of AHDB Potatoes, after it emerged all its research activity will cease by May 2022.
In a yes/no ballot in March, the potato industry voted to scrap the compulsory AHDB levy following widespread discontent about how the levy fund was being managed.
In recent years a multimillion-pound slice of that levy has been invested in AHDB’s Sutton Bridge centre in south-east Lincolnshire.
See also: Opinion: We’re having the wrong debate about the AHDB
As part of recent announcements relating to the wind-down of AHDB Potatoes, all new research projects at the facility will stop with immediate effect, with just bare-bones knowledge exchange output continuing until May next year.
Ray Andrews of Norfolk-based potato storage specialist Crop Systems is seriously concerned by the swift nature of its closure, particularly at such a testing time for the storage sector.
Store managers no longer have access to the cost-effective sprout suppressant chlorpropham (CIPC) after its recent ban, and only limited alternatives are available, such as ethylene and mint oil.
Approval delays
SBCSR has been instrumental in testing new options such as DMN (1,4-dimethylnapthalene), but full UK approval has been delayed, despite the active being available in Ireland and other parts of the EU.
Mr Andrews believes that if the centre is closed, further delays of up to two years are possible, putting British growers at a significant competitive disadvantage to their European counterparts.
He also worries about the loss of the scientific expertise stationed at the facility, which has provided advisory, problem solving and testing services, among others, since the 1960s.
Mr Andrews said: “The pressing question for levy payers is simple: do you want to keep Sutton Bridge, or are you just going to let it slip away into oblivion? Could an industry-funded initiative or subscription-type model help raise the running costs?”
NFU horticulture and potatoes chairman Ali Capper said she was surprised by announcements on the winding down of SBCSR, before a final ministerial decision had been made on the future of the levy and AHDB Potatoes.
Eustice decision
Defra secretary George Eustice may yet decide to maintain a statutory levy – whether the same or slightly smaller – and that would see the mechanism by which SBCSR is funded continue.
However, if there is further delay to the already-overdue verdict, the NFU is urging Defra to step in and fund ongoing projects and staffing there to avoid an information hiatus and loss of valuable expertise.
Ms Capper said: “If it’s eventually decided that the levy should end, there will have to be a new system and the industry will work that out. I’m convinced that most growers are very keen for research into potato storage to continue in the long-term.”
Rob Clayton of AHDB Potatoes said there was no update on the future of SBCSR and its activity beyond what had already been published on its website.
He is aware of conversations taking place in the industry and among levy payers about what their future research needs are, including storage.
However, he said AHDB Potatoes could only provide “safe passage” advice and guidance on current practice and future ideas, rather than taking ownership and being directly involved.
What do growers think?
John Bratley, R Bratley (Quadring) Ltd, Lincolnshire
John Bratley believes there is little or no output from AHDB Potatoes that can’t be delivered by other organisations, including information and advice on storage.
Mr Bratley was one of the three original “AHDB Petitioners” who pressed for a yes/no ballot on the horticulture and potato levies.
He feels sympathy for the staff at SBCSR during its wind-down, saying blame for its impending closure could be attributed to bad management by the AHDB Potatoes hierarchy.
One example related to CIPC, he said, with many within the industry anticipating the ban long before a final decision was made.
However, AHDB Potatoes did not have the same sort of foresight or agility to quickly test the pros and cons of available alternatives before levy payers lost the long-standing product.
“There should have been crystal clear advice on the pros and cons of mint oil and ethylene by then, whether that’s in cold stores, ambient stores, in the fresh or processing sectors. Instead, we got very little clarity,” he said.
Mr Bratley suspects that a private research company or similar will acquire the Sutton Bridge facility, and if it is resurrected, could become a “pearl for the industry”.
However, given the decisive result in the levy ballot, he said it would be tough convincing “no” voters to buy into a facility effectively seen as dispensable in March, unless there was a clear and compelling plan to manage SBCSR more effectively.
James Harrison, EG Harrison & Co, Norfolk
With 80% of his potato crop in storage each year, James Harrison is very concerned about the closure of SBCSR.
In his processing crops, the business has relied on mint oil to suppress sprouting in store since harvest 2020, and has experienced significant tuber weight loss and increased costs.
He hopes this can be solved by DMN being approved swiftly but fears that without SBCSR research doing the relevant data gathering, it may not become available soon enough.
This also applies to other, as-yet-unknown innovations that will help growers improve store management, he says, at a time when production costs are only going one way.
Mr Harrison concedes that some levy board activity has not been great value to his business, such as marketing and promotion.
However, some elements do provide good value, such as defence of the industry – seen recently when shaping acrylamide legislation – and storage research, so he voted to maintain the AHDB Potatoes levy in the spring ballot.
As a member of the Growers’ Better Levy working group, he supports industry-funded non-competitive innovation and R&D, although the group has yet to propose how any new funding collection model would work.
“We also have to think about where the next [SBCSR experts] Adrian Cunnington or Glyn Harper are coming from,” he said.
“The industry needs a functioning Sutton Bridge to bring in the next generation of researchers. From where I sit, that is a massive concern if it is closed for good.”
Timeline: The impending demise of SBCSR
Mid-February 2021 AHDB Potatoes launches yes/no ballot on statutory levy
22 March Growers vote 66% in favour of scrapping potato levy
13 May AHDB declares winding down of all activity that could be restarted by grower associations, individuals or the supply chain, but makes no specific mention of storage research
9 June AHDB announces that all new storage research at SBCSR will cease with immediate effect
May 2022 A limited potato storage knowledge exchange programme, allowing completion of data and analysis work in current trials, will end
