Claire celebrates the Scottish Spud

MSPs gather to celebrate 10 years of the Grow Your Own Potatoes programme in Scotland

MSPs joined representatives from the Scottish potato industry on Thursday, 5 June 2014 at a lunch event in the Scottish Parliament to celebrate 10 years of the Grow Your Own Potatoes (GYOP) programme in Scotland’s schools.

In the past decade the GYOP programme has inspired o

ver two million children to grow their own food and taught them about the health benefits and sustainability of home grown foods like potatoes. Today the programme is run in over 800 schools across Scotland involving 20,000 children each year.

The event was sponsored by Claire Baker MSP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment,

and sought to highlight not only the success of the GYOP initiative to date but also to celebrate the Scottish potato as a sustainable, affordable and healthy product which contributes £219m in seed exports and retail value to the Scottish economy each year.

The event followed a members’ debate on the issue in the chamber on Wednesday 4 June brought forward by Claire Baker MSP to acknowledge the contribution made by the potato industry to the Scottish economy and address the worrying decline in potato consumption in Scotland.

Despite being a home grown Scottish product and a source of vitamins B6 and C, potassium and other nutrients, consumption of fresh potatoes in Scotland has declined by 13% since February 2012 compared to 9% in England and 10% in Wales.

Claire Baker MSP said: “I was delighted to be able to host both the event and the debate in Parliament. The grow your own scheme is an excellent initiative for introducing children and encouraging them to grow their own food.

“Potatoes are both a staple of the British diet and a Scottish success story with 80% of all British seed potatoes grown in Scotland. With a sector value of over £100 the potato sector is one of our leading food industries and should be congratulated.

“I was therefore pleased to see the cross party support from across the chamber for my debate and the encouraging words from the Scottish Government. The event was a great success with many MSPs and industry leaders in attendance and I look forward to continuing to work with the Potato Council in promoting the Scottish spud.”

Robert Burns, head of seed & export at the Potato Council said: “Initiatives like Grow Your Own Potatoes are incredibly important given the public health issues we currently face in Scotland and the need to promote healthy, sustainable food sources like potatoes.

‘As well as their health benefits, potatoes are also an important part of Scotland’s economy and we’re pleased to see so many MSPs turning out to support the industry and the Grow Your Own Potatoes programme.”