Around 80 people attended potato and root vegetable experts Agrimarc’s open day on Wednesday (12th September).

The day, for its potato and vegetable growers, was held at its trialling and warehousing site at Hope Farm, Southery, Downham Market in Norfolk.

The event offered an opportunity for growers to learn about latest trends and technical developments and see new varieties being trialled.

Joining Agrimarc was sister organisation and grower organisation Fenmarc, and the day, which attracted growers, breeders and technical staff, was supported by a number of Agrimarc’s partners including Lankfers who supply the brassicas as well as experts from Syngenta, Kantar and the Potato Council who gave presentations on a wide range of subjects.

The morning concluded with a lunch featuring Rudolph Potatoes, cooked and served by TV chef Rachel Green.

Nigel Allam, an agronomist and general manager of Agrimarc, has more than 25 years’ potato growing experience, and leads a team of three across Agrimarc’s own and partnership crops.

“We are always looking for soemthing better than we have at the moment,” he said.

“We invest a lot of time and resource into varietal development as a business so it’s always rewarding to see a variety reach commercial viability.”

It had been a “productive” day, he said, with a lot of interest in what they were doing, he said. They were able to demonstrate what they were doing with courgettes and peppers as well as potatoes.

“I think with any sort of trialling, if you trial 40 new parties of anything and put them up againist your existing portfolio, if you find one or two that are actually better then what you have got you are doing quite well.”