The Potato Council is seeking a three per cent levy-rate increase from the potato industry for the second consecutive year.
The board of the council, which is a division of the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board, is proposing this latest rise as part of its three-year plan.
Potato Council director Rob Clayton said: “Our proposed levy for 2011-12 would result in a grower paying £41.38 a hectare and a purchaser levy of 18.04p a tonne. If we had kept in line with inflation over the past eight years, the levy in 2010 would have been 27 per cent higher.”
The council’s board had identified three key strands for investment on behalf of levy-payers: one to give the potato industry a collective voice working with trade bodies and unions and ensuring a consistent consumer-facing message, one relating to seed business and the third to ensure the council is interacting effectively with policy-makers and the relevant government departments to cover health and education as well as DEFRA.
Clayton highlighted the council’s work in campaigning to increase demand for potatoes, which has produced more than 12 hours of TV and radio air time and £6 million-worth of press coverage in the past year. The council has also reached 1.25m schoolchildren in the Grow Your Own Potatoes initiative.
An independent survey found that 65 per cent of levy-payers were happy with the way Potato Council budgets are allocated. The council is now consulting with its levy-payers on this latest proposed increase.
No comments yet