The British Potato Council has launched a service to help levy-payers profit more efficiently from industry-wide research.

Grower Gateway, a monthly E-newsletter is designed to give growers a round-up of the latest research-related news and topical information.

“Recent reviews and feedback suggest that, while growers are aware this information is available, they are not always able to find it quickly,” says BPC knowledge transfer manager Rob Clayton.

“The new service should achieve this - there are links contained in the newsletter that go directly to the BPC website where you can find more information on a particular topic.”

The first Grower Gateway was launched on July 18, and topics covered range from the latest results on blight fungicide trials to the value of compost in improving soils.

“We’re keen to ensure we deliver the right information at the right time to growers and would value any feedback that will improve the service,” said Clayton.

The newsletter adopts a tired approach, containing short summary points on six-to-eight items of research and links through to short articles that expand on the latest developments in this area, or highlight previous research that may be topical.

In addition it contains links within the articles to the research documents themselves, or third-party websites where more information has been published.

Clayton said: “It also gives us the opportunity to remind growers of forthcoming events, new research-related publications that may be available or R&D material that has recently been published.”

For those levy-payers who do not currently have access to the internet or e-mail, a paper version is also available.

“But to get real value out of the service, and instant access, we are encouraging all growers to sign up for the e-mail version,” Clayton added.