We have an eye
for the entire
potato value chain
Say potato, say Agrico
About Agrico UK
Agrico UK is a part of the powerful Dutch cooperative Agrico and a force for innovation within the potato sector, creating, strengthening and increasing the sustainability of potato value chains. Agrico UK operates independently to accommodate for the home market, but has the advantages that come from being part of a larger organisation.
Agrico UK choose varieties that cater for the domestic consumer preference, and that grow well in the UK climate. By working with a carefully selected team of growers on a technical level, we then multiply these varieties up to sell seed potatoes commercially to customers in the table, chipping, crisping and processing industries.
Organisation
Based at Castleton of Eassie in the heart of the Strathmore valley, Agrico UK employs 10 permanent staff covering Sales, administration, production and technical, storage and grading, logistics, research and analysis as core functions.
With administrative support from HQ, Sales, Country Team Management/Product Management colleagues are based in Lincolnshire and Derbyshire.
Co-operating on the best solution
Commitment to cooperation and partnership is in our DNA and a key factor in our aim to achieve the best solutions. We like to share our experience, insights and knowledge with our growers and customers. At the same time we like to listen to your experiences, insights, knowledge and preferences. This enables us to deliver top products and solutions.
We are a cooperative and operate under the conviction that we can achieve more together than on our own. Good growth is our motto. Good growth entails focussed research, optimised varieties, suited to local conditions and better advice to deliver larger yields, contributing directly to a sustainable, healthy and fair world. We commit every day to achieving optimal growth for all of our stakeholders. In this, we invest in the growth of our growers and buyers, and feel deeply involved with them and their progress.
Agrico have been supplying the UK market with certified seed for over 40 years. We are committed to bringing forward the next generation of varieties across all market segments with an extensive pipeline of seedlings near to market. UK origin seed for these varieties being available upon request for evaluation and observation trials with our commercial partners.
Agrico UK also proactively collaborate with industry partners on a range of research and development projects from trialing phage products to control blackleg to Nematode trials to assess how new cultivars can contribute to the control of prevalent pests in the soil and thereby underwrite sustainable soil health.
Our work on consumer sensory science in collaboration with Abertay University, Dundee is breaking new ground and will offer exciting insight into future consumption trends.
What we do
Multiply seed
Agrico multiply their potatoes over a period of many years to create enough quantity of seed to sell commercially. We do this by working with our officially approved growers through the Seed Potato Classification Scheme (SPCS). All stages of production are regulated to required standards.
Once the multiplication process is completed we market and sell our seed potatoes both conventional and organic to our customers, often through contracted agreements.
Crop management
We use a number of crop management tools to support our rigorous quality assurance assessments, such as DJI drone’s to evaluate canopy development, maturity and quality from above. A Gejo Smart grader for accurate sizing, counting and weighing samples. We work with our growers to achieve the best results and are always happy to offer advice.
Sell seed potatoes
Our commercial team is fully integrated with our customer base allowing us to annually produce the correct volume of seed potatoes, at the right field generation for each variety, to meet our customer and grower requirements. Ensuring our customer and grower needs are always met. We market and sell both conventional and organic seed potatoes through our network of wholesale customers.
Act as potato ambassadors
We act as ambassadors for the potato industry with a natural commitment to UK seed production. A number of Agrico UK employees sit on the boards and committees of various national organisations (BPTA, James Hutton Institute, Pre-Basic Growers Association, Scottish Society of Crop Research and Food and Drink Federation) that help guide and influence the UK potato industry.
Industry relations
We engage with our customer and grower base at an in-depth level, consulting with them to ensure we have topical knowledge of the markets and consumer profiles and understand their wants and needs to ensure we provide them with the best variety suitable for their market, helping contribute as much as possible to their income.
Knowledge acceleration
The basis for the acceleration of our variety introduction programme is the country team. It consists of colleagues from both Agrico NL and Agrico UK combining to identify and evaluate varieties suitable for the UK market. Delivering a staged introduction process to gain market acceptance of a new variety.
Corporate social responsibility
We have constructed our corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy around our strategic goals, which are based on five pillars aligned with the United Nations’ Strategic Development Goals and interests.
Would you like to know more about our seed potatoes?
Agrico UK aims to go beyond simply supplying high quality seed potatoes. We are committed to our growers and pro-actively engaged with our customers, we are more than happy to provide guidance on; cultivation, harvesting, storage methods and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques.
Agrico UK also invests extensively in research and development, actively participating in field based research covering Potato cyst nematode and Pectobacterium ssp, (Blackleg) while helping develop improved IPM best practice. Our Next Generation varieties with multi gene resistance to blight also contribute to our ambition around achieving carbon Net Zero.
If you have a specific question, or if you would like to know more about what Agrico can do for you, please feel free to contact us.
