Hansard

I am delighted to be holding this debate and I thank members for supporting my motion.

Last September, I was asked to host a British Potato Council round-table event. I will be honest. There were other events on in the Parliament that night and I thought, “I’ve got to go and talk about potatoes all night.” However, it was genuinely one of the most interesting meetings that I have ever been to in the Parliament and I left it a complete convert to the value of Scottish produce and the importance of potatoes, which we hardly ever talk about in the Parliament or, I would argue, do enough to promote.

Potatoes are affordable, environmentally friendly, a staple of a healthy diet, nutritious, and a leading Scottish product. I will admit to being teased about holding a potato debate this evening, but we need only look at Scottish potato exports. In the Parliament, we frequently talk about whisky and salmon as leading Scottish exports, which have targets to increase their global reach, and yet Scotland is the second biggest producer of seed potatoes in Europe. Almost 30 per cent of seed potatoes grown in Scotland are exported to EU and non-EU countries. We export to more than 40 countries, including Egypt and Morocco. That is quite impressive, but we do not talk about our exports or our global importance in that area.

We are not always grateful for Scotland’s weather but we have a great combination of soil and weather for producing a world-leading product—a product that many other countries rely on. At a time when we talk a lot about food security, potatoes are an important cornerstone of Scottish produce. We should be looking at ways to support and grow the sector. Like all areas of farming, there are yearly challenges and fluctuations in price and productivity, but in 2012 the estimated value of potatoes was £160 million. Eighty per cent of all British seed potatoes are grown in Scotland, with a sector value of around £100 million. It is a significant sector and a Scottish success story that we should celebrate.

I mentioned food security, but we could look at other global challenges, such as sustainability and addressing climate change. Food chains and production have a significant role to play in addressing those challenges.

Potatoes that are grown in Britain use just 29 per cent of the average amount of water consumed by the crop across the rest of the globe. The journey from field to plate is much shorter than it is for other comparable produce. If we think about the water, energy and air miles that are used to produce rice and pasta, we can see that potatoes compare very favourably. Work is, however, being done for the future. The James Hutton Institute is investing in research for the sector and developing varieties that require less fertiliser and water input, and so can be grown with a smaller environmental footprint. Potatoes that can withstand environmental pressures are good for the export market but they are also good for futureproofing our own produce against the impact of climate change at home.

However, the potato sector is facing significant challenges. Consumption has fallen across the United Kingdom, but more significantly within Scotland. Since February 2012, consumption of fresh potatoes in Scotland has fallen by 13 per cent compared to 9 per cent in England and 10 per cent in Wales.

We can suggest several reasons for that. Our eating habits have changed. We have seen an increase in the use of pasta, rice and noodles; we have many more options than we did generations ago, when meat and potatoes were the staples. Lifestyles have also changed: we lead busy lives combined with less meal preparation. When someone gets home from work, potatoes might not seem like the obvious thing to cook, if they plan to cook at all. The impression is that they take a while to prepare, but supermarkets and producers are trying to respond to that with more convenient but fresh produce options. Product development is trying to address the issues of consumption.

We have also seen a shift in the type of potatoes that we buy. We are in new potato season, and I hope that members will come along to the Potato Council event at lunch time tomorrow and try some new season potatoes. They will be most welcome. The consumer is increasingly buying smaller potatoes and smaller bags. Although that might help with consumption figures, it leaves the Scottish potato market vulnerable and too seasonally focused.

Research also has a significant role to play. We all like good-looking fruit and veg these days. Although there is a job to do with the consumer accepting produce that looks like it has actually been grown in a field, there are also advantages to improving the appearance and nutritional profile, reducing greening and sprouting, and developing better flavour. All those issues can contribute to how we increase consumption.

Of course, there is always the perception that potatoes make us fat. That is probably one of the most difficult myths to address and reverse. Starchy foods are our main source of carbohydrate and are important in a healthy diet, but the idea that potatoes are heavy in calories persists. When I spoke to people about the debate, I was surprised by how many people still have that impression. It is often not the potato, but the butter, the oil, or the salt that we add that is the problem. Potatoes with skins on are a great source of energy, fibre, B vitamins and potassium, as well as vitamin C. The UK Department of Health has recently changed its dietary advice to include potatoes with skins, along with wholegrains, as a source of fibre.

There is, however, no defined portion size for potato in the UK, unlike the 80g that is recommended for fruit and vegetables. It would be good to have clarity on that because it would help with the promotion of healthy eating guidance to consumers. If it was true that potatoes caused weight gain, we would not necessarily see falling consumption alongside increasing obesity figures.

Last year, I asked the Minister for Public Health about the goal of increasing potato consumption by 25 per cent, a target that was in the preventing overweight and obesity in Scotland route map, and then removed on the basis of advice from the Food Standards Agency. I understand the reasons for changing the advice, but it creates a confusing message for the consumer. I accept that part of that is the difficulty caused by the lack of an evidence base about health benefits, but that needs to be resolved and a clear message given about the nutritious value of potatoes and the role that they play in a healthy diet. While no one denies their value, potatoes miss out on positive promotion as they are not part of the five-a-day message, and they miss out on positive promotion as a starchy carbohydrate because they are not a wholegrain, which tend to be the focus in that category.

Potatoes are affordable. We have seen an increase in cost in recent years, but we have seen an increase in food prices across the shopping basket. Food prices are predicted to rise faster than incomes every year until 2018. There is significant pressure on global food prices and feeding a family gets more difficult. Potatoes remain an affordable product and one that people can grow themselves. I know that the Potato Council, as well as representing the sector, has been doing a lot of work with schools and has been supporting them through the grow your own potatoes project.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings and the British Nutrition Foundation is using that opportunity to highlight the potato with what it describes as new nutritional insights into an old wartime food hero. Potatoes can seem old-fashioned and the consumption figures that I mentioned are even starker when we see that consumption is falling much faster among under-40s.

Bearing in mind the global food challenges that we face, and issues such as affordability, nutrition, sustainability and the environment, I believe that we have a Scottish product that we should celebrate and be proud of.