PSI Bulletin: May 2025
No. 05/25 SUBSCRIBER EDITION
If you wish to receive these bulletins every month, please go to potatostorageinsight.com/subscribe to sign up as a Synopsis subscriber.
Dear Subscriber,
This is your May edition of our Synopsis bulletin. Apologies for its slightly late arrival this month (and, in advance for June) due to various commitments; we should be back on track by July.
The main activity for PSI recently has centred around the Strategic Potato Storage Day which ran on 21st May. Read more below in our Technical Insight section.
In the last couple of weeks, PSI has also announced that it will be running some more potato store management training this autumn. It will be a one day course to be held on Tuesday 2nd September at the Greetham Valley Hotel & Leisure Complex in Rutland, LE15 7SN. The course is limited to 16 delegates. Lunch is included and BASIS CPD points will be available.
The cost is £375 + VAT per person. At present, there is an early bird discount of £30 available to those booking before 1 July.
The first places are already being booked up, so please get in touch if you need further details and a booking form. Call 07970 072260 or email admin@potatostorageinsight.com
Best practice
Several stores are reported to still be loaded as prices start to ease down in response to new crop becoming available. In these circumstances, it is important to keep a regular check on quality and to try to maintain marketing flexibility through judicious selection of late sprout suppressant treatments, for example.
Another factor that needs to kept abreast of in long-term stored crops is the risk of senescence with some reports of significant deterioration coming through in recently-unloaded crops. Senscence results from tubers becoming overly-mature to such an extent that the physiological structure of the potato begins to break down causing discolouration of the flesh and, when fried, irreversible darkening.
Here is an adapted summary from work carried out at University of Greenwich and Sutton Bridge CSR taken from the AHDB archive. You can also download the associated research review conducted back in 2011 about senescence and, specifically, senescent sweetening.
Prolonged storage of potatoes leads to a form of sugar accumulation termed ‘senescent sweetening’ that is generally associated with a loss of cell membrane integrity within the tuber over time. Varieties differ in their susceptibility to senescent sweetening. Although the cultivars that are most susceptible to senescent sweetening tend to have short dormancy there are important exceptions to this rule such as Maris Piper and Pentland Dell.
Growth and storage conditions affect timing of sweetening: early planting, stress and warm storage temperatures - as we have experienced in recent harvests - all speed up its onset. The most widely accepted explanation for senescence is that breakdown of cellular function occurs and that this is responsible for not only sweetening but also tissue blackening, akin to bruise development, in mature tubers. Damage at the cellular level, especially membrane damage, facilitates enzyme access to starch granules thereby speeding up starch breakdown resulting in senescent sweetening. Physiological ageing of tubers is associated with increasing oxidative damage. The process of oxidative damage, and how tissues may protect themselves against it, is considered in some detail given its importance in the process of cell senescence. Strategies to assess physiological age and hence storage quality at harvest and during storage were considered.
In trials, a link between senescent sweetening and changes in the ability to protect against oxidative damage (antioxidant capacity) was established. This provides possible strategies to follow tuber damage and give an early indication of senescent sweetening. The research suggested ascorbate concentration, in particular, should be investigated as a simple indicator of changes in capacity for oxidative protection.
Technical insight
Our second grower-focused Potato Storage Day, following on from the one held in May 2024, ran successfully on Wednesday 21st May organised by Potato Storage Insight in partnership with Simon Faulkner at SDF Agriculture.
We would like to thank everyone who was involved in supporting the event in any way, be that as an exhibitor, sponsor, host or visitor on the day.
The day was very kindly sponsored by Farm Electronics and UPL and hosted by Lincolnshire Field Products at Holbeach. Geoff Hailstone from UPL welcomed visitors to the day and thanked them for supporting this initiative. He stressed the need to find ways to support the conduct, application and uptake of research, so the potato industry and storage in particular can continue to progress.
Around 120 attendees heard from:
Simon Faulkner of SDF on varieties and sprout suppression regimes
Adrian Cunnington of PSI on energy management and store assessment as a way of improving store efficiency and controlling costs.
A focus of Adrian's presentation was to identify stores' relative performance in relation to energy consumption.
He advised delegates that PSI has recently released this Electricity Usage Guide which focuses on measuring for each store's average energy consumption in kWh per tonne per day. The guide is based around figures generated from energy use surveys in real businesses over several years. By converting each store's usage to these standard units based on electricity use, stored tonnage and storage duration, it allows comparisons to be made within sectors for whatever the store's circumstances may be.
As part of his presentation, Adrian also encouraged the submission of CIPC residue data in his role as independent chair of the CIPC Residues Management Group (see feature below).
Debbie Rees of Greenwich University/NRI on crop physiology and respiration impact on weight loss & temperature control
Barbara Correia of B-Hive on remote detection of potato pathogen development using 'electronic nose' sensing.
Guy Willetts of Assimilate Systems on a new modular storage concept to optimise store airflow and control
Around 15 commercial stands also were in attendance from:
Burgess Farms | BioFresh |
Certis Belchim | CIPC Residues Monitoring Group |
Cornerstone Systems | Crop Systems |
Fireward | Frontier Agriculture |
CIPC Residues Monitoring Group | HK Timbers |
Potato Storage Insight | Omnivent |
Restrain | UPL |
Welvent |
Professor Debbie Rees from Greenwich University presented some data from the SPot store monitoring of respiration in 2024/25 using the SCS P-Pod system (similar to the one shown below)
The P-Pod system holds a small sub-sample of the stored crop in an enclosed environment, allowing its atmospheric conditions and real time weight loss to be monitored closely.
CIPC data call: please contribute
We are continuing to repeat the call from the CIPC Residues Monitoring Group for more CIPC residue test results. Thank you to those who have sent data through in recent weeks but we are still short of our target of 125 samples.
The data are needed to maintain to help retain the temporary MRL for chlorpropham (0.35 mg/kg) that allows us to continue using stores previously-treated with CIPC.
Any multi-res test result that has included chlorpropham can be used providing:
the test is from a crop held in store during the 2024/25 season for 60 days or more
the store has a history of at least one CIPC application in its lifetime
the test has been carried out at a UKAS accredited laboratory
Zero (or below Level of Detection) residue results are entirely acceptable as long as the criteria above are satisfied.
If you can help, please contact adrian@potatostorageinsight.com and you will be sent a simple data form (or download it via the link) to return with a copy of your lab result sheet. It’s as simple as that - but a vital role potato store managers can play to assist our industry.
Further information is available on the GBP webpage at:
Or call Adrian on 07970 072260.
Webinar: Strategy for potato research in the UK
International Day of the Potato: 30 May
A free-to-attend webinar is being held, hosted by the newly-formed National Potato Innovation Centre, to look at the main opportunities and challenges affecting potato production in the UK and examine global production and what that means for the UK and beyond.
It will also look at how marker-assisted breeding is helping to fast-track new disease-resistant varieties, together with a catch up on the latest opportunities in gene editing.
It will discuss PotatoLITE, a project delivering novel, sustainable cultivation approaches to minimise tillage on soil health, and conclude with the latest on late blight monitoring through Flight Against Blight and related programmes.
Friday 30th May 2025, 9.00-11.00
Hosted by the National Potato Innovation Centre (NPIC)
Register now at https://hutton.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6ea2f2bae8ac7b47c1ab009fa&id=86027d053b&e=5cfee31404
NPIC, based at The James Hutton Institute, works in partnership with stakeholders, academic, industry and government in the UK and beyond to carry out scientific research to future proof the potato industry and support economic resilience and growth. We do this through innovation, generating new findings and innovating products. We are currently planning a state-of-the-art innovation centre to support the work of NPIC.
Strategy for potato research in the UK
Webinar agenda:
Speaker sessions | Chair: Ingo Hein, The James Hutton Institute (15 minutes each):
Potato Production: Risks and Rewards | Alex Godfrey (GB Potatoes)
Potato’s place in the World | Cedric Porter (World Potato Markets)
Molecular Tools in Potato Breeding | Vanessa Young (JHI Scientific Services)
Can editing deliver for potato? | Ewen Mullins (Teagasc)
Regenerative Agriculture in Potato Cultivations | Paula Misiewicz (Harper Adams Univ)
Late Blight IPM | David Cooke (The James Hutton Institute)
Q&A session | 30 minutes
Snippets
PotatoEurope event announces panel for 2025 award
The organizers of the annual PotatoEurope trade fair, being held in the Netherlands in 2025, have announced the members of their expert jury for the event's Innovation Award. In collaboration with PotatoWorld magazine, which - like PotatoEurope – focuses on innovation, this prestigious award recognizes the most groundbreaking developments in the potato sector. The trade fair will take place on September 3 and 4 at the Wageningen University & Research (WUR) Open Crops location in Lelystad, the Netherlands.
Together with PotatoEurope, PotatoWorld magazine is organizing the Innovation Award to highlight key innovations within the industry. The judging panel consists of Johan Warringa, Business Unit Manager at WUR Open Crops; Jan Gottschall, Policy Officer at NAO; Rob Donker, Director of the National Cooperative Council & Chair of the AgrofoodCluster; Roger de Groot, mayor of event venue city Emmeloord and Jaap Delleman, Editor-in-Chief of PotatoWorld magazine.
DormFresh sprout control product now has extended shelf-life
DormFresh Ltd. says its 1,4-SIGHT® potato dormancy enhancer now has a shelf life of at least four years, enhancing reliability for its use in long-term storage in the UK. This extension, validated by Good Laboratory Practice testing, underlines the product’s efficacy and stability. Benefits include improved inventory flexibility, reduced waste, and consistent sprout control, solidifying 1,4-SIGHT’s reputation in the industry.
Forthcoming events
If you are hosting a potato or agricultural industry event, please send details to admin@potatostorageinsight.com. Key dates for your diary with relevance to the potato sector in the coming months in UK and Europe include:
May
Fri 30 INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE POTATO
Fri 30 Webinar: Strategy for potato research in the UK. See above for details.
June
Wed 11- Fri 13 EuroPatat Congress, Lille, France
Tue 17 CUPGRA field day 1, Cambridge
July
Thu 17 HL Hutchinson Field Trials Day
at AH Worth, Holbeach Hurn, Lincs. PE12 8LR.
Save the date!
Thu 31 WCM Potato Trials Day 2025
at Low Grange Farm, Market Weighton, Yorkshire. YO43 3PZ
August
Tue 5 CUPGRA field day 2, Cambridge
Thu 7 Potatoes in Practice. James Hutton Institute, Dundee.
Wed 27 - Thu 28 UK Breeders' Potato Variety Days 2025
Caythorpe Farms, Lincolnshire. NG32 3EZ
September
Tue 2 PSI One Day Store Management Course, Rutland.
See details above
Wed 3/ Potato Europe International working exhibition, Lelystad, The Netherlands
Thu 4
November
Wed 19 - Thu 20 BP2025 - the British Potato Event, Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate
Exhibition, seminars and industry awards dinner. Save the date!
Details from: bpinfo@warnersgroup.co.uk
December
Tue 9 - Wed 10 CUPGRA Conference, Cambridge
Please note that you, or a colleague, can subscribe to Synopsis at any time by going to potatostorageinsight.com and clicking on SUBSCRIBE. We can also now take payments by credit card. Call Adrian on +44 (0)7970 072260 if you have any questions.
Subscriptions: we issue invoices as individual subscribers reach the anniversary of their payment. A full year's subs is great value at just £9.50/month (£114 + VAT per annum), so please renew promptly. Unpaid subscriptions will be closed within 8 weeks of invoice issue. Thank you.
Synopsis is written by Adrian Cunnington and published by Potato Storage Insight Ltd., 45 Main St., Gedney Dyke, Spalding, PE12 0AJ. UK.
© Potato Storage Insight Ltd. 2025
Comments